LORD,
We know that you are God, and that there is no other. You declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done. And we know that you desire us to pray to you, casting our anxieties on you, and that you work through means like prayer.
COVID-19 continues to kill, harm, disrupt and complicate the lives of those around the globe. Please give energy, insight and stamina to scientists and healthcare workers as they work to develop an effective vaccine.
Please give wisdom, discernment and help to school teachers and administrators as they navigate how to handle school in the coming months. Please give endurance, patience and grace to parents as they navigate their children attending school remotely or differently than usual. Please help children to focus, engage and learn.
Please protect those who are in danger in their own homes, or where the environment is physically safe but emotionally and spiritually toxic. Please work mightily to bring light to dark places and to effect change. Please enable the Church to be a means through which this can happen.
Please give wisdom and prudence to our local, state and federal government leaders. Please propel them to execute their sworn duties faithfully, and to govern their citizens well.
Please work mightily in the hearts of people, enabling them to hear and understand their neighbors or enemies, so that healthy and productive discourse can take place rather than dissonant rancor that marks dialogue between many with disagreements, opposing beliefs and worldviews today. Please convict the hearts of Christians as needed relative to how they interact with others. May your gospel and Word have an effect on how we view and treat others.
Please help us combat injustice, bigotry and racism in our communities. Please help us to teach and guide our children well in these areas.
Please help and provide for those whose incomes have been lost, reduced or disrupted as a result of COVID-19.
Please bless the Fikkert family as they begin their sabbatical. Please give rest and rejuvenation to their bodies, minds, souls and family relationships. Please keep them safe as they travel. May this sabbatical have its intended effect on Jim and his family.
Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for dying for us while we were your enemies; thank you for making us alive when we were dead in our trespasses; thank you for sovereignly working in our otherwise hard and callous hearts. Thank you for Jesus, through whom this reconciliation is possible, who taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily break,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.Amen.