Isaiah 26:3-4

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.

“He is precious.”

1 Peter 2:7

As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights center in our Beloved. The glances of His eyes outshine the sun.  The beauties of His face are fairer than the choicest flowers.  No fragrance is like the breath of His mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by His preciousness.

Peter tells us that Jesus is precious, but he did not and could not tell us how precious, nor could any of us compute the value of God’s unspeakable gift. Words cannot set forth the preciousness of the Lord Jesus to His people, nor fully tell how essential He is to their satisfaction and happiness.

Believer, have you not found in the midst of plenty a sore famine if your Lord has been absent? The sun was shining, but Christ had hidden Himself, and all the world was black to you.  Or it was night, and since the bright and morning star was gone, no other star could yield you so much as a ray of light. What a howling wilderness is this world without our Lord! If once He hideth Himself from us, withered are the flowers of our garden; our pleasant fruits decay; the birds suspend their songs, and a tempest overturns our hopes. All earth’s candles cannot make daylight if the Sun of Righteousness be eclipsed. He is the soul of our soul, the light of our light, the life of our life.

Dear reader, what wouldst thou do in the world without Him, when thou wakest up and lookest forward to the day’s battle? What wouldst thou do at night, when thou comest home jaded and weary, if there were no door of fellowship between thee and Christ? Blessed be His Name.  He will not suffer us to try our lot without Him, for Jesus never forsakes His own. Yet, let the thought of what life would be without Him enhance His preciousness.

- C.H. Spurgeon

COVID-19 Crisis Prayer - Pastor Mike

Today's Prayer

Psalm 67

COVID-19 Crisis Prayer Topic:  Pray for Plans Diverted

In our current crisis and related shelter in place orders, many significant life events have been cancelled and diverted.  Events such as graduations, weddings, funerals, camps, conferences, church gatherings, family reunions, vacations and holidays, the birth of a child, and the death of a loved one to name a few.  Our Lord knows the sorrow of missing these significant life events.  It is HE who can walk us through that sorrow by His grace and by His Spirit.

Pray that we would not despair in the dismissal of these events.  Pray that we would trust the fact that God is working in this crisis.  Pray that we would remain hopeful that He will somehow restore a sense of peace in His will and His ways.  Pray for creative ways to recognize and celebrate these important life events though we are restricted in doing so face to face for now.  Pray for an extra measure of grace for the death of a loved one, where the family could not visit that loved one in the hospital.  Pray for the reminder that though that loved one may have died without the physical presence of a loved one, Jesus Himself was present for the believer, receiving them unto Himself that where He is, they would be also.

Pray for the birth of babies.  With the restrictions in place for hospitals, family members are not allowed to celebrate that birth as was before.  Pray for hopeful hearts to hold that child in arms in the future.  Pray for those young people whose school accomplishments will not be recognized with ceremonies.  That they would not believe their accomplishments are lessened by the lack of a graduation ceremony.  Pray for families as this spring/summer looks quite different and challenging for us.  Pray for the grace and peace of God to navigate these next months in particular.  

Pray for a restoration of the ability to acknowledge these life events and to do so for the glory of God, while trusting in God by faith.  Pray that the Lord would show us how He will take what was intended for evil and use it for good for His glory and our good. 

“God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, that Your Way may be known on earth, Your Salvation among the nations.  Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You” Psalm 67: 1-3