Covid-19

PRAYER DIARY 9th June 2020

I have been following this viral infection with interest since January this year when the virus was only thought to be in China. As Christians we are told to “Watch and pray” and that is what we have been doing. The spread of the virus has been rapid, affecting most countries in the world to a greater or lesser extent. At present Mexico and South America are worst affected. In the United Kingdom over 40,000 people have died with this virus, most of those already had illnesses which put them at greater risk.

Various commentators have different takes on the virus. Some say it was spread deliberately, others that it was an escape from a laboratory, others that it was a purely incidental transfer between an animal and human. Conspiracy theorists posit that the virus is being used as an excuse by governments to exert control, to bring in a cashless society, to restrict movement and create a one world government.

Some Christian commentators who say they are prophets are saying this is a sign of the end times. However, all I will say is that we are 100 years closer to the end than 1918-1920 when a bad influenza virus killed about 50 million people worldwide, many of them young and healthy. Only God knows the timetable for when “that day” arrives.

Remember these verses:
1 Thessalonians 5 vv 16-24 says:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Each one of those deaths, each statistic is a cause of grief to friends and family of those that have passed away and we can pray in faith that our loving Heavenly Father takes each of those grieving people into His arms to give them peace and comfort in their hour of need.
As Christians, in the midst of an easing lock-down we can be assured that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.

Romans 8 vv 37 to 39 is quite clear:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This virus cannot separate us from the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can be assured that whether we live or whether we die it is with the Lord, and our salvation and ultimate wellbeing lies with Him.
Without the Lord we are nothing.

Romans 14: vv 7-9 declares:
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

We must never look at those verses as if they are in any way negative, as they are the basis of our whole being in Christ our Saviour. Our faith gives us the confidence to pray for this situation, knowing that God will use all things for His purposes and His Glory.
Let’s lift this whole situation to our loving Lord:

Loving Heavenly Father, we thank You that whatever the situation, You are always there for us and listening to our prayers. You are always with us and you are always faithful, even when we are not.
Lord, we lift this disease up to You knowing that you are already aware of all that is going on. You created all things and we know that You can learn nothing from us.

Father we pray for those suffering the loss of loved ones, husbands, wives, friends – we lift them to You and pray that they will know the Peace that passes all understand and the comfort of Your Holy Spirit in their lives. We pray for the sick, that they may know Your healing hand.

Most of all, we pray that people of all nations will look again at their frailty and mortality, to realise that their first hope is faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Your son Jesus Christ. Father, we acknowledge that there is no other way to You, but by Your saving Grace and the love that you extend to “whosoever believes” in Your Son – will be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven and have eternal life. We accept that gift of salvation and give You the greatest thanks we possibly can.

We pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.