Lord Have Mercy – Sunday

  1. Psalm   Ps 123:3 (but please read the whole psalm – it’s only 4 verses).  “Have mercy, on us Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt”.

Our eyes look to the Lord – until he show us his mercy.  That is what we are doing in prayer today – we are crying out to the Lord.    We have endured much contempt – and we ask the Lord to pour forth his Spirit on this land.

We have three songs on this final day – Here is worshipful version of Ps 123 in Hebrew from Israel.

  • Jesus Have Mercy – Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”   We are crying out to the Lord for mercy.  In this beatitude he tells us that we are ourselves to be merciful.  That’s a great prayer for us today.  May the Lord enable us to be a merciful people.

Here is a song from Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant – Lord, have mercy.

  • Have mercy on Australia –  Today we pray for Western Australia.  There have been 1,062 cases – only 93 of which were locally acquired.   There have been 9 deaths.  WA benefits from its isolation.  The biggest difficulty is going to come when they eventually open up to the rest of Australia and the rest of the world.
  • Have mercy on the World –   Today we pray for New Zealand and South Korea.  In NZ there have only been 2,937 cases and 26 deaths.  Only this week NZ has gone into lockdown because of a handful of cases. There have been 2.6 million doses of the vaccine – 51 out of 100 people.  South Korea, like NZ, was initially doing well – but the Delta variant means they are now seeing a higher number of cases.  There have been 233,000 and over 2,200 deaths. There have been 34 million doses – 66 out of 100 people.  We don’t have the figures for North Korea, which claims to be Covid free – and like Australia, China and New Zealand have been operating on a zero covid policy.
  • Have mercy on your Church –   On this day – the Lord’s Day – when we remember the resurrection of the Lord and we (usually) gather together; let us pray that the Bride of Christ would be beautified and made ready for his return.  As his Bride we should be longing for that and calling ‘Maranatha – even so, come soon, Lord Jesus’
  • Have mercy on our families –   Each of us falls on our knees and pleads with the Lord to protect our families – not just from this plague and its consequences but also to bring those who do not yet know him to that knowledge of Christ.  May it be that this time of lockdown, stress and at times enforced loneliness – will draw us back into better habits of prayer and family worship.
  • Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ – we cry out to you.  Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.

We confess our sins and how far we have wandered from you.

We confess the sins of our nation and plead with you to work in this land.

We confess the sins of your Church and ask you to cleanse and purify.

We confess our personal and family sins –

Lord if you should count them, who could stand?

Lord from the depths to you we cry,

Lord, hear us from on high.

And give attention to our voice,

When we for mercy cry.

In Your Name and for your glory.

Amen

  • Praise

The last part of that prayer was from Psalm 130 – this day we plead for the Lord to hear our cry for mercy – and we wait for him.   Why not sing this prayer?  Here the Getty’s merge a contemporary version with a traditional Scottish metrical version of that Ps 130.  It’s powerful!

Todays YouTube meditation

Lord Have Mercy – Week of Prayer – Saturday