Thoughts for Life: Four Prayers to Find Pandemic Peace

Ron Hutchcraft- I've discovered there are actually two Manhattans. One, the madness and mayhem on the street. Two, the breathtaking view from the top of a Manhattan skyscraper. One just stresses you out. The other "peaces" you out. The perspective from that observation deck is a whole other vibe! (Manhattan)

In a way, there are two views of this coronavirus crisis. One, the compounding stress when you're in the thick of the breaking news and fearful possibilities. The other, the view from higher up. Where many people go up with stress and come back down with peace.

Peace is pretty hard to come by these days. But that's when it's good to take the "elevator" to a place above the fray and fear. The elevator's called prayer. The "higher up" is God's presence - which you enter when you pray.

During a little corona-worry time, this Bible verse transported me "upstairs." "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace" (Psalm 29:11).

And God's not just occupying that throne from which the galaxies are governed. He's inviting us to come in to trade our burdens for His enabling grace. "Come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most" (Hebrews 4:16). Like now.

Some of the things we'll bring to Him are obvious. We'll pray about health and healing. Needs and fears. Money and people we love. But there are deeper things I find myself praying for, too. Decisive factors, not so much in my situation - but in me. They are the focus of four prayers I've found are keys to inner peace in the middle of a storm.

The first one surfaced four years ago in the brokenhearted days following my wife's sudden passing. I wrote my prayer in my journal . . .

"Lord, help me to not waste this grief."

You can fill in your own battle where I said grief. I had no choice about the loss. Just like this coronavirus blow. But I did have a choice as to how it affected me in the long run. I would either emerge with a harder heart or a softer heart. Closer to my family or farther from them. Closer to God or farther from Him. More about my hurts and needs or those of others.

God answered that prayer, growing a more compassionate, more caring, closer to God guy. Demonstrating again that "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God . . ." (Romans 8:28). So there's something bigger going on than the disturbing circumstances we see.

He's weaving a tapestry. These are threads. I keep telling myself - "If you're going to get the pain, get the point!" - right now, in this crisis. Because I've seen some of the greatest gains in my heart and life come from my greatest loss.

I've also learned to pray . . . "Lord, help me to do just one day at a time."

When our kids were little, we used to make their meat manageable by cutting it into bite-size chunks. With a monster like this Covid19 thing, those "chunks" are called days. Which is how God meant for us to do life. That's why the Bible talks about daily bread, "strength equal to your day," being "renewed day by day," and God's mercies "new every morning."

We sink when we let worry drag tomorrow's burdens into our today. We're wired by our Creator to do life as days - not what might happen tomorrow, next week, next year. That's His department. Doing life as days makes the daunting manageable.

"Lord, help me see who needs me today."

Another peace-yielding prayer. It gets your eyes off yourself and onto others. And right now we're surrounded by needy people. People who need a call, a text, a smile, a financial helping hand, a delivery, a prayer.

If I dwell on my needs, my world shrinks and I reinforce the clouds of anxiety and discouragement. But if I force myself out of myself to bring sunshine to someone else, it ends up shining on me, too. "Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed" (Proverbs 11:25).

I think it's this last prayer that promises the most peace. For now - and for the rest of our life.

"Jesus, take the wheel."

That's a prayer most of us wouldn't even consider until we hit something that reveals how needy we really are. Suddenly I realize the wrong person's driving my life. Because, in the Bible's words, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16).

But things got all messed up. Because I - and all my fellow humans - changed it to "created by Him, living for me." I told my Creator, "I'll drive, thank You." And that sin of spiritual hijacking put a wall between me and God. Separating me from the only One who has the love, the meaning, the heaven I need.

But God's love was bigger than my sin. Big enough for Jesus to die for my sin. So I would never have to live another day away from God. I came to the place where I knew I wasn't supposed to be driving me.

Ever since I said, "Jesus, You take the wheel" - well, there's been this unshakeable peace in my soul. And this love I could never deserve, but I'll never lose.

This resurrected, death-crushing Jesus is driving me through the worries and the wreckage of these fearful times. It's bigger than I am. But He's bigger than it is. And I know, with Jesus driving, I'll make it safely Home.

Four Prayers to Find Pandemic Peace

(Italics added for emphasis)

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Let's pray-

"Father, I have received Jesus as my Lord and You are transforming me into the Real Me . . . the person You created me to be. Forgive me for being judgmental and critical toward others . . . I choose to conduct myself with all humility, gentleness, and patience. I choose to accept others with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties us together. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. Father, thank You for healing the pain that I carried, and helping me see my life clearly that we might live for Your glory and Your honor, in the name of Jesus!" Germine Copeland

Prayers That Avail Much

221-225 of 300 one-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more this week-

221- Ps. 92:5 "O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep."
222- 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."
223- Eph. 4:26 "Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath."
224- Num. 6:25 "The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee."
225- Ps. 116:17 "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD."

Today's quotes-

~ The Pocket Testament League "God's Word penetrates, divides, and judges -- it does not leave room for doubt or uncertainty. The message is crystal clear. When we get confused by God's Word it is usually because we are trying to hold on to or reconcile one of our beliefs, practices or ideas with what God is telling us to do. Many times our old ideas are just wrong and need to be thrown out -- they can't be reconciled."

~ N. A. Woychuk- "God's Word is superior in origin, superior in thought, superior in promise, superior in beauty, superior in purpose, superior in power, superior in results. We are at once impressed by its profound simplicity, its inimitable brevity, its unhurried clarity. The Bible fascinates the child and entrances the sage.
It's superiority is seen in the fact that the Word of God has in it nothing but truth. Its superiority is seen in the fact that the words of Scripture are entirely right and are all truth on every subject that they touch. Its superiority is seen in the fact that it contains promises that are backed by God's infinite resource and power."

Today's guest post-

Mental Exercise

Rusty Lang

"I inserted 'unacceptable.'”

It fit with the correct number of letters. But as I tried to complete the other clues, it did not fit well at all. The crossword clue was "Inexcusable."

Special attention:

Beginning Wednesday, March 18, the pastors of CFC churches began joining together to provide a daily devotional for the CFC churches.
"Streams in the Desert" will provide a short scripture reading and a brief message from one of the pastors every day for the coming season.

The home pages of the website: https://www.cfconline.org/

[Online daily Streams in the Dessert devotional]

The livestream link: https://www.cfconline.org/live

[Sunday services with the various pastors]

Sermon listing: https://www.cfconline.org/sermon-library

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