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Psalm 119:33-40

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,
that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word.
Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.
Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.
How I long for your precepts!
In your righteousness preserve my life.

God does not want us to be robots. He wants us to worship Him willingly with all our being. To that end, we need understanding — and so we pray for that understanding. We need direction and teaching — then we will follow, keep, obey and delight. Doesn’t that sound delightful?

Prayer Points

1. The World. There have been 246,690,756 cases of COVID-19 globally (+3,084,473, a slight increase). There are now 4,999,442 deaths of people with COVID-19 (+51,894, a slight increase).

The Chinese government ordered the north-western city of Lanzhou to be locked down last Tuesday as officials carried out widespread testing to quash a small outbreak of the virus. Lanzhou, a city of about four million people, reported six new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and a total of 39 over the past week. China, where the coronavirus first emerged in late 2019, has been battling a recent flare-up of new cases that have been spread by domestic travel, largely in the north-west of the country.

China country enforces a strict “zero Covid” policy, carrying out widespread lockdowns and testing to eliminate even small-scale outbreaks.

Looking at the rest of the world, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Germany, Serbia, the Netherlands, Singapore and Greece have seen substantial increases in the number of cases. India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Mexico, Vietnam, and Cuba are thankfully seeing considerable decline.

2. Australia. There have been 170,458 cases in total. (+11,911, a 40% decrease).

State	Total Cases	Weekly Change TW/LW	Total Deaths	Change in Deaths TW/LW
ACT	1,775	+65(+139)	11	+0 (+2)
NSW	73,500	+ 1,778 (+2,101)	568	+16 (+28)
NT	225	+0 (+0)	0	0
QLD	2,071	+4 (+11)	7	0
SA	918	+0 (+3)	4	0
TAS	237	+ 0 (+ 0)	13	0
VIC	88,824	+10,061(+13,158)	1,122	+81 (+78)
WA	1,112	+0 (+0)	9	0

The removal of lockdown has not seen an increase in either NSW or Victoria. Indeed, numbers in NSW keep falling — both cases and numbers in hospitals. NSW, Victoria and the ACT are opening their borders to each other and overseas. The other states remain in isolation. There have been 1,151,210 tests in the past week. There are 1,064 people in hospital (-248), with 211 in ICU (-54). There are 30,054 active cases (-4137).

3. Vaccine and Cures. 3.89 billion people in the world have received at least one dose of vaccine, or 50.7% of the population. Australia now has 76% with one dose, 65% fully vaccinated. There is growing evidence that the vaccines weaken after 5 months.

4. Church. Pray for preachers, that they may be able to faithfully proclaim God’s Word to His people and to all the world. Pray for freshness, faithfulness and fruitfulness.

5. Personal and Family. Many young (and not so young) couples are finding themselves in the situation where they cannot afford housing. Priced out of the housing market, some are finding rental difficult to secure as well. Pray for justice in the housing market.

A Prayer of Repentance

Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to Your word.
(Psalm 119:36-37)

Listen to this beautiful meditative song: Shelter by Maureen Macleod.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

We give You thanks Lord for Your Word and we worship You willingly.
“Teach me, Lord, the way of Your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law and obey it with all my heart.”
(Psalm 119:33-34)

Originally published at ChristiansUnited.online. Image by Luca Bravo at Unsplash.