A Prayer To Our God Who Is Always With Us
Dan Gehris, our Business Manager, wrote this prayer for our 4:12 Prayer Time on Wednesday, April 22
Our most Holy God, our God who is love and has more mercy and grace than our minds could possibly fathom. We come to You, before Your very throne, and we worship and praise You. You are indeed a good, good Father. We find ourselves living in a world that has been taken by surprise by the COVID-19 pandemic. But what’s absolutely comforting to know is that You were not taken by surprise. You, our amazing and eternal Father in heaven, knew about this long before You even created the heavens and the earth. You are in total control. You always have been. You always will be. And You have a purpose that You are working out in all of this, at a global level and even right down to specific purposes for each of our individual lives. And we know that we can trust You, have faith in You, believe in You and look to You through everything that is going on, day by day, moment by moment. You knew there may be times in our lives that we might feel alone, might feel that You are not with us or near. So You tell us with absolute assurance in Matthew 28:20 that, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”. How deeply comforting that is, for us to be reminded and never forget that You are indeed with us, always, no matter how far away we may think You are, You are always close to us, always near, always in control. Especially in times like we are going through now as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, with many people losing their jobs, day to day life turning upside down, finances being hit hard … You still take care of us. You again give us great comfort through Your powerful Word.
In Matthew 6:25-34, You share these amazing words of comfort with us … “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Thank You, dear Lord, for knowing we would go through times in our lives where we would need comforting words like these, words of promise, hope and encouragement. We may not always understand the “why” behind what happens to us in our lives. But we can take courage and hope in Your greatness and in Your strength. You tell us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” How blessed we are to know You, to trust You, and to live for You. How blessed we are to worship a God so great that Your thoughts and Your ways are infinitely higher than ours. And when life seems to beat us down and knock the breath out of us, and we can’t seem to see past the mess that life has dealt us, we know this amazing Truth that You share with us in I Corinthians 2:9 … You assure us that, “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
May You bless us with an eternal perspective, to see past the hardships and the trials of this current life, and to know that what is yet to come, what You are preparing for us, is so great and so wonderful that it is beyond our wildest imaginations! May we stay strong when the days are difficult, may we look to You has the author and finisher of our salvation, may we place our hope and trust in You, and rejoice always for You are God, an amazing and great God who calls us Your own. Glory to You always and forever, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
