Dear Church Family,
Good day and I hope that you are enjoying a blessed Wednesday!
It’s easy, when all the news is directing your attention one way, to lose sight of other things that are going on. Take, for example, this hideous Sex Education bill written by Planned Parenthood and being forced on our public education system here in Washington. There are many parents distracted by the demands of shutdowns and stay-at-home orders, who will be shocked when it begins being implemented.
That is one of the negatives, but there are good things going on too, as people adjust and find new ways to do things. Like those who have been making masks in their homes to help make up the shortage, or businesses that have completely reworked their operations to provide ventilators and other supplies.
Another good thing that has come out of this is that God’s people are more prayerful about things and less willing to take things for granted.
As Christians, we pray not because we believe that we can sway God if we pray often enough and loud enough, but because it is a blessed profession of our faith—our faith in God’s Word, where He commands prayer and promises to hear and answer it. Jesus said…
Luke 21:36 You, watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
In the Old Testament we read this promise…
2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
It is a profession of our Faith in God Himself. By prayer we express our faith in Him as the omniscient and omnipotent Sovereign over all things. We trust, when we call on Him, that He really can do exceedingly abundantly above all we can think or ask.
Jeremiah 32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.
By our prayers we confess our faith in Christ. When we pray, we confess our confidence in His redeeming work, the satisfaction for our sins that results in our having a place at the throne of grace to which we may come boldly to find help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
It is also a profession of our faith in God’s mercy and grace toward us in Him. We are weak and helpless, and things like this remind us just how easily our imagined independence can end. We pray because we believe that when He calls on us to pass through deep waters or fiery trials, He will uphold us with His powerful, righteous, right hand.
O Father, we pray! We love to pray in Jesus name, to call on you and express our faith in You. You are the One who knows all our needs before we ask, but who has promised to hear our petitions and even catch our tears in your bottle.
Thank you, Lord, for this privilege and for our blessed Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, and for God the Holy Spirit who turns our prayers into loving petitions, though they be but groans from the heart.
There is so much to be praying for, Father. We have friends and family that are forced to confront this virus face to face—protect them by Your grace. We have others who are dear to us, who must be out and about because they are a part of essential services; please set a hedge about them as well.
Meanwhile, Lord, we have many whose needs have nothing to do with the present concerns. Please Lord, be at work in each of these matters according to Your perfect will, Your great mercy and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revive Your Church, expand Your Kingdom and glorify Yourself! We thank You and praise You for all in Jesus name, Amen.
