COVID19 Call to Prayer – March 8: They Will Flourish
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming,
“The LORD is upright; He is my Rock,
and there is no wickedness in Him.”
~ Psalm 92:12-15
This is a song which tells us that it is good to praise the Lord because He is good, and the author of good. Humanity without God has no ability to measure, define or attain goodness.
“Senseless people do not know; fools do not understand.”
When our media are in an uproar and confusion about morality, we need to point to the One Who alone is Good. Those who acknowledge Him will flourish — even in old age.
“God is both further from us, and nearer to us, than any other being.”
~ CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Petition: Please join with us in praying for:
1. The World — The number of confirmed cases is 116,811,701 (up 2,774,324 from last week).
The number of deaths of people with Covid-19 is 2,592,693 (up 62,679 — static).
After declining for six weeks, new variants have seen an increase in Europe — except the UK whose vaccination programme is much further advanced.
2. Australia — There have been 29,037 cases in total (up 67 compared with 42 the week before, with 1 being community transmission — 2 last week).
| State | Total Cases | Weekly Change TW/LW | Total Deaths | Change in Deaths TW/LW |
| ACT | 122 | +4 (0) | 3 | 0 |
| NSW | 5,209 | + 32 (28) | 54 | 0 |
| NT | 105 | +0 (+1) | 0 | 0 |
| QLD | 1,351 | +22 (8) | 6 | 0 |
| SA | 618 | +3 (3) | 4 | 0 |
| TAS | 234 | + 0 (0) | 13 | 0 |
| VIC | 20,481 | +0 (2) | 820 | 0 |
| WA | 917 | +4 (+2) | 9 | 0 |
There are 29 people in hospital (+10), with 1 in intensive care (+1).
279,362 tests have been carried out in the past week, with 0.2% positive.
There are 97 active cases (+24).
3. Vaccine and Cures — 300 million vaccine doses have been administered. Israel is at 97%.
The UAE, UK, US and Serbia have seen almost a third of their populations vaccinated.
4. Church — The major obstacle for most churches now is that in New South Wales, we are unable to sing in church. Pray that this situation would soon be ended.
5. Personal and Family — The current emphasis in the media on sexual abuse should remind us to pray for those within families who are faced with this evil.
A Prayer of Repentance:
Almighty and everlasting God,
mercifully look upon our infirmities,
and in all our dangers and necessities
stretch forth Your right hand to help and defend us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
~ Book of Common Prayer
Song: Sometimes a cappella singing can be wonderful… as in this version of Are You Washed?
A Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Lord, how good it is to make music to Your name and to praise You.
How great are Your works. You are upright and there is no wickedness in You.
How profound Your thoughts! We sing for joy at the work Your hands have done. Hallelujah!
___
Weekly devotions by David Robertson via Christians United — COVID19 Call to Prayer.[Photo by Andrew Coelho on Unsplash]
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We, in Victoria, have only just been allowed to sing in church for the first time in 12 months. Why is there very little call to serious prayer at the start of some negative event like COVID19 or the terrible drought that’s still going on?? It’s always weeks,months before I hear Christians calling for united prayer. It’s possible we could minimise the harm done if we got our act together and took prayer more seriously. Most Christians seem to pay attention once the media finally decide to report more