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⁵ Who is like the LORD our God,
the One Who sits enthroned on high,
⁶ Who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap.
~ Psalm 113

This is a wonderful psalm to have for this week.
We move from the God Who is over all and transcendent,
to His blessings on all people — especially the poor.
He is sovereign, all-powerful, and yet He cares for individuals to the extent that He even knows the number of hairs on our head! This is the God we are praying to.

“Faith is that burning-glass which contracts the beams of the grace, and love, and wisdom, and power of Jesus Christ together, reflects these on the heart, and makes it burn; but without it, we feel nothing savingly.”
~ John Flavel

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. The World — There have been 211,798,109 cases. There are now 4,430,770 deaths of people with Covid-19. The US, Iran, France, Russia, Thailand and Mexico are all seeing substantial increases in the number of covid cases. The pattern now is that countries where there has been substantial vaccination, and where there are good health services, are seeing much less hospitalisations and deaths. It is of interest that over the medium to longer term, it appears that lockdowns appear to have little overall impact on the spread and effect of the virus.

2. Australia — There have been 44,028 cases in total (up 7,698) in the past two weeks.
(Note that the figures below are for the past two weeks.)

The situation in New South Wales has now got to the stage that it is not expected to go back to zero covid. The encouraging news is that the substantial rise in cases has not resulted in such a large increase in hospitalisations and deaths. There have been 1,502,460 tests in the past week.
There are 603 people in hospital (+180), with 107 in ICU (+45). There are 10,957 active cases (+6,230).

3. Vaccine and Cures — There have been 4.91 billion vaccine doses (+510 million). 64 doses for every 100 people. Australia now has 16.5 million vaccinated (65 per 100 people). Last week in NSW, there were 750,000 vaccinations.

4. Church — Yesterday was Australia Prays, where thousands of Christians and church leaders united to pray. Pray that that spirit of unity will prevail.

5. Personal and Family — Our hearts are burdened for those who are struggling with lockdown — especially with families in lockdown. Pray for creativity, patience and hope.

For those who are seeking hope in the midst of this pandemic, I have started a 3-4 minute devotional every day at 11 am — ‘Coffee with Job’ seeks to bring you Christ in the midst of Covid.
Here is the first one:

A Prayer of Repentance:
Almighty God, we are being humbled before You.
In our arrogance and pride,
we think we can control this virus,
but it is too much for us.
And so we turn to You
and ask that You would have mercy upon us —
and that You would remember us in love and compassion.
Help us to help the helpless,
and help us to admit our own helplessness,
in Your name. Amen.

Song: This is the song we finished with on Sunday — a beautiful prayer from Psalm 130 — combining an old traditional version with a more contemporary ~

A Prayer of Thanksgiving:

¹ Praise the LORD, you His servants;
praise the name of the LORD.
² Let the name of the LORD be praised,
both now and forevermore.
³ From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the LORD is to be praised.
~ Psalm 113