Subject: Covid-19, Day of Prayer
From the Pastor’s Desk. PRAYER
With all of our problems and concerns over Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) the President has set today as a day of prayer. I think that is a wonderful thing for Christians of all Faiths beliefs.
It gives Christians a chance to reflect inwardly about our personal faith in God. Also we can evaluate our outward faith in what we do and how our personal beliefs manifest themselves. This knowledge of self definitely has a great bearing on who we are.
I have friends that tell how many different ways there are to pray. I say there are only two. Short and long ones.
John 17:1-26 is generally known as Jesus’ Farewell Prayer given that it is an intercession for the coming Church. It is by far the longest prayer of Jesus in any of the gospels.
Then in a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is a classic in brevity and poignancy: "Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen."
I’m sure you remember what Jesus said about moving mountains but did you catch the last sentence?
Mark 11:22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” (NLT)
Long or short prayer. First you have to make your relationship right with God and then with others here on earth. Second you have to actually, really, deep in your soul believe that God will answer your prayer. Then you should whisper a prayer for you to accept what God does with your prayer.
