The Pandemic of Indifference and the Vaccine of Prayer

In the Gospel of Luke the eighteenth chapter starts with Jesus emphasizing that we ought to pray and not to become weary in this. Many churches have for years had midweek prayer meetings, a service which seems to be considered by many believers now as “optional” and not as important as it was to our brethren of yesteryear or even a generation earlier ! But prayer, as with reading the Bible, is one of the major disciplines for a growing Christian for in any thriving relationship there must be good communication. In prayer we actually get to speak to the Lord and He with us when we read His Word (amazing !!). Yet how many times have you heard a sermon about prayer and thought “I should be better about this!” ? Our mind then can search for a reason we haven’t been more diligent in prayer and so we may come up with “I am just too busy right now”.

While there is great cause for concern in a pandemic there is also great spiritual opportunity for God’s people and prayer should be at the core of this in our thinking and in our practice !! Most of us may have more time right now in this “forced pause” allowed by God to slow us down and get back to the basics of the Christian life. A longer quarantine affords more time to establish good habits and rid ourselves of wrong ones. There is much to pray for now, your nation, yea your world, needs your prayers. God’s people are crucial in this war against this unseen enemy (and I’m not just speaking of a virus !). Why not start a Pandemic Prayer List right now and write down as many requests as God brings to your mind and divide that into seven areas (one for each day of the week) so that you cover a wide range of requests and people every week !! For example, pray for God’s will to be done through this, for medical personnel, the sick, the leaders of the nations of the world and our President and VIce-President, for churches struggling to make it financially, businesses, the many now unemployed, counselors, police. You can take the rest from here !!

But how about one more thing to pray about? That I and my nation are drawn closer to God. It may be repentance is needed for a lifestyle that has not been all that pleasing to God, you may’ve been too busy for God even though you went to church (which He has now removed for who knows how long?), your love may have waned for Him and been replaced by self, things of this world, even your family! You see one will not truly pray in a heartfelt, powerful way if your love for God is not above all your loves !! So if you find that you haven’t prayed as you ought and you have “fainted” in this the simple powerful correction is to admit it to Him and ask His forgiveness and to commit to Him that He will be first in your heart by communicating with Him each and every day !! If you have been praying diligently, stay at it, don’t let the enemy discourage you, we are in a battle and the pandemic of spiritual indifference is all around us too and God is counting on you to pray “always” !!