We invite you to set aside this day as a day of prayer and fasting. Some are fasting from food over their lunch hour; others are fasting throughout this day.
The purpose of prayer and fasting is to seek God’s heart and to humble our hearts. Prayer communicates our complete dependence on God and our need for God. When you seek the heart of God, you should grow in your love for God and for people.
We want to humble ourselves before God today because our land needs healing, and we need healing, both physical and spiritual. The only thing more important than the condition of our bodies is the condition of our souls. And only God can completely heal both.
So, devote the time you would use to eat to humble yourself and to meditate on God. Use every hunger pain as a reminder of your need for God and a reminder to pray.
We also invite you to join us on Facebook Live and YouTube Live for a time of guided prayer at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8. Several Northsiders will be leading us in prayer as we lift up our community, our world, our families, our healthcare professionals and more.
A one-hour prayer cycle
Praying through Scripture aligns your prayers to God’s will, reorients your earthly perspective to a heavenly one and stretches you to pray in ways you would not have prayed before! Praying through Scripture is the perfect antidote for fear and anxiety.
Find a quiet place and spend the next hour, approximately five minutes per section, praying through these Scriptures. You will need access to a Bible to read the full-text of the Scriptures listed, and you will need the ability to play a song via Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube or the like.
PRAISE
Psalm 146:1-10
Psalm 147:1-11 – Praise the Lord, my soul. How good it is to sing praises to our God!
WAIT
Isaiah 64:4-9
Isaiah 40:28-31 – No eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength
CONFESSION
II 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
PETITION
Philippians 4:6-7- Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
INTERCESSION
1 Timothy 2:1-7 – I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people…
PRAY THE WORD
Isaiah 45:5-12
I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other…
THANKSGIVING
Psalm 100:4 – Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. . .
Isaiah 41:10 – So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
SING
Psalm 69:30 – I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
Find the song “Still in Control” by Jesus Culture on apple music / YouTube and sing along.
MEDITATE
Joshua 1:8-9 – Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to d everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous…
Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
LISTEN
Psalm 46:8-11
Psalm 32:7 – Be still and know that I am God…..You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Matthew 17:1-8 – This is my son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to him…
PRAISE
Psalm 148:1-5
Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts…
A Prayer during COVID-19
from Team Expansion
Lord God, in the midst of fear, anxiety, sickness and death, we declare that You are our eternal Hope. And Your hope does not disappoint because it is founded not upon wishful thinking but upon the immutable bedrock of Your character.
Father, we declare our trust in You, not just in seasons of health, but in seasons of sickness. Father, whether in life or in death, You are our Rock, our strong tower. We look forward to the day of Your final restoration, when all things will be made new, when every tear will be wiped away, when all that is wrong and sick and twisted in this world will be set right. We long for Your perfect Kingdom to come in all its power and glory, and we thank You that we are already citizens of Your coming Kingdom.
Father, You know our hearts, our fears, our anxieties for ourselves, our families, our nations. Please calm our hearts as we look to You, remind us of Your sovereignty, and help us to reflect Your loving care to those around us that do not carry the hope that You have entrusted to us. Help us to receive comfort both from You and from each other.
Lord, for the sick, we ask healing in Jesus’ name. Thank You that You are the Healer, the great physician. We ask for healing for all those affected by the virus, we ask for Your angels to surround and comfort the sick, we ask for Your Spirit to touch them and bring life in the face of pain and death, and we ask that You would receive all the glory for every healing. Father, we’re asking for multiplied signs and wonders to happen that confirm the preaching of the Word and turn many to You.
Father, in the midst of suffering, pain, and death, we ask that You would glorify Your name! Use this pandemic to bring millions to their knees in surrender to You, show people all over the world, from every tribe, tongue, and nation, their desperate need for Your grace and forgiveness! Break down the walls of false religion and empty materialism and break through in the lives of people at their place of greatest desperation. Let this virus be the cause of many millions turning to You!
You are the Head of the Church, Lord, and we ask that You would stir Your people to great outpourings of compassion in Your name. Move Your church, all over the world, from megachurches to house churches, to reach out in kindness and love, to wash the feet of their communities, in the name of Jesus. Soften the hearts of Your people, Lord, and through them soften the hearts of many lost people to the truth of Your gospel.
Lord God, we also intercede for those on the front lines of this global health crisis – the doctors, nurses, paramedics, caregivers, and police. Would You protect them from physical harm and sickness, but also protect them from hardened hearts in the face of so many needs. Grant them supernatural wisdom and revelation in this hour to know how to care for those around them. Please watch over their families as well as they are stretched so thin in so many ways. God, we also ask for breakthrough in the search for a vaccine, as well as for effective treatments for this disease. Grant wisdom and insight to researchers to be able to make connections, perceive clearly, communicate well, and produce effective medical answers for the needs of the hour.
Finally, we pray that each of us would be full of wisdom, faith, compassion, love and understanding toward those around us. Your perfect love drives out all fear, and we ask again that we would reflect Your perfect love through us, to our families, our neighbors, our communities, and our nations. Empower us, Lord, to respond in ways that glorify and exalt Your Son, Jesus. Help us to live as He would live, to walk as He would walk, and to be in our nations the very fragrance and aroma of God.