Here are this weeks prayer notes (I prepare them very week for the Christians United ‘Call to Prayer)
It strikes me that all the promises about society getting back to normal because of the vaccine are coming unstuck. The world has just had the worst week for Covid infections, the UK is progressing but staying with some draconian restrictions, and Australia has decided to turn itself into a giant prison – apparently, the policy is that we won’t be let out until Covid is eradicated in the world!
Meanwhile this photo of the Queen at the funeral of her husband is a depressing one – showing the cruelty and insanity of lockdown rules. Who decided that having your family sit with you at the funeral of your husband is somehow a danger to public health?! Does no one see how mad (as well as cruel) this is. And it has absolutely nothing to do with ‘the science’. Whatever happened to humanity and compassion and common sense?
Call to Prayer
Psalm 97 Please read the whole Psalm:
10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful one and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. 12Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.
When it comes to the one who reigns over all things – it is the Lord. We don’t. The politicians don’t. The media don’t. The demons don’t. The Lord reigns. Remember that we are coming to the King who reigns when we pray. Then we will experience light and joy.
“The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the very marrow and kernel of all the Scriptures; the scope and centre of all divine revelations: both Testaments meet in Christ” (John Flavel).
Petition: Please join with us in praying for:
1.The World – The number of confirmed cases is 141,008,659 (+ 5,247,102 – a 10% increase). The number of deaths of people with Covid has passed the three million mark 3,014,725 up 82,486). India is now getting over 250,000 cases per day.
2. Australia – There have been 29,519 cases in total (up 114 compared with 57 the week before, with 4 being community transmission (+4 last week).
| State | Total Cases | Weekly Change TW/LW | Total Deaths | Change in Deaths TW/LW |
| ACT | 123 | +0 (0) | 3 | 0 |
| NSW | 5,376 | + 46 (30) | 54 | 0 |
| NT | 119 | +7 (+0) | 0 | 0 |
| QLD | 1,518 | +16 (13) | 7 | (+1) |
| SA | 682 | +16 (7) | 4 | 0 |
| TAS | 234 | + 0 (0) | 13 | 0 |
| VIC | 20,494 | +11 (1) | 820 | 0 |
| WA | 973 | +20 (+6) | 9 | 0 |
The 4 ‘community’ transmission are returned travelers in quarantine who are believed to have contracted Covid from other travelers. There are 44 people in hospital (-21) with 3 in ICU (+2). There were 243,886 tests with 0.2% positive. There are 155 active cases (+23).
3. Vaccine and Cures – It is extremely concerning that China has admitted that its vaccine is only around 50% effective. The consequence of this for the world is serious. For example, in Chile, where one third of the population have been vaccinated (the highest in South America), infections and deaths have risen to a new high. Details here.
The Pfizer vaccine will require a third dose after 12 months.
4. Church – This coming Sunday is Anzac Day. Let us remember all those affected by war and conflict. Here is a short article explaining why Christians should remember those who have fallen.
5. Personal and Family – Give thanks that families in New Zealand and Australia can now be reunited. Pray for those who are still separated throughout the world.
A Prayer of Repentance: Lord, we say that we love you, yet too often we do not hate evil. We do not rejoice because we do not see how you are working out your plans in this world, and we listen to the voices of despair, rather than your voice. Forgive our spiritual deafness and our foolish hearts. Enable us to truly worship you, in Jesus Name, Amen.
Song: As we come to Anzac Day, I think of Psalm 46 – which is often used at this time. Here is Shane and Shanes beautiful version – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2emelR7lGmw
A Prayer of Thanksgiving: Lord Jesus Christ, we praise your holy Name. You reign. Let the earth be glad. The heavens proclaim your righteousness, and all peoples see your glory. You guard the lives of your faithful ones, and deliver them from the hand of the wicked. We rejoice in You, Amen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zVI4r2nW5w
A beautiful rendition of a work composed as a result of internecine religious strife.
A particular shout out for Brazil, where we are starting to read stories like this:
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-patients-tied-to-beds-and-intubated-without-sedatives-as-coronavirus-crisis-worsens-in-brazil-12276739
For me, Brazil is the counter to the ‘lockdowns don’t work’ argument (depending on what you want them to do of course)
And it’s going for younger people
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/16/spreading-faster-hitting-harder-why-young-brazilians-are-dying-of-covid
So much for Bolsonaro wanting to protect the economy, these folk are the economy!
That doesn’t prove that lockdowns work – just that Brazils policy isn’t working. Europe, the EU, UK and India all had lockdowns – yet they have also had some of the highest rates.
True. There is an irrresistible logic that says for a respiratory disease, keeping people away from each other is the way to go. But as soon as India announced lockdown 1 , I saw pictures of packed trains. When London was about to go to tier 4, St Pancras was rammed. When the French announce a lockdown, the whole of Paris simply take to the road.
Our own government’s failings are just too numerous to recall, from the magic NHS staffing tree to having a test and trace that patently doesn’t work. If ever we needed a legit way to get them out….. For all that they act as a temporary windbreak against radical woke policy, I’m not sure the country can afford the human cost. Price of everything and value of nothing. Which is pretty much the case with Brazil , from what I see, where the policy, if there is one, is simply to do very little, recommend discredited treatments, and tell everyone to stop complaining. The fear with Bolsonaro is that he will use any atttempted impeachment to stage a coup. He needs to go.
Well, with all the prayer, I wonder why the course of Covid is just what one would expect if there was no outside help with the disease. All those prayers seem to be unanswered and no help with the disease that we have not done ourselves. Maybe, just maybe, the prayers help the people praying and have no other effect. If that is so, and it is, one might wonder if it is likely that there is no god and we are on our own.
So far as the shutting down of society, we all need to wait until the experts say it is safe to get back to normal. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a danger to society.
Your faith is in ‘the experts’ _ I guess you’ll never be free. My faith is in God and I’m free!
“All those prayers seem to be unanswered …”
Actually, ALL prayer, offered in faith, and in the name of the Son, is answered! It’s just that we don’t always receive the answer that we want, or expected. If you are expecting that prayer works like some ‘magic formula’, then you do not understand prayer.
The more pertinent, and important, question might be “Why is God not dealing with this virus?” The answer to that may well be related to the fact that, as a society at large, we have pushed Him so far away that He is using something like this to help people to realise that all of our scientific ‘knowledge’ is, itself, severely limited!
He is still in control – whether we acknowledge Him, or not!