MORE GRACE
As a nation we are wearied by the impact of our multiple challenges. Many have missed key events including births, weddings, or funerals. Others such as public transport workers, teachers, doctors , nurses, or workers in aged care homes have had to miss work and felt overworked, unappreciated, not respected, or tired and detached from their jobs. They want better conditions of pay or to leave organisations feeling burnt out or undervalued. But Jesus – “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labours increase. To added affliction, He added His mercy. To multiplied trials His multiplied peace”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzhKGPireAA
Some parents have lain awake at night, their minds racing with thoughts of how to balance their work with financial challenges as well as their newfound role as home-schoolers. Senior citizens have grown weary of isolation. Unemployed workers have fretted over jobs lost, seeing benefits running out, or rent payments overdue especially with rising inflation. Members of a minority community have felt they have been shouldering an unfair burden of the impact of COVID. We all have felt its impact should be over, but the virus has had its own timetable. Lockdowns have not necessarily crushed this opportunistic pathogen. Social isolation, unemployment and forced quarantines have had a significant effect on people’s mental health with resilience becoming an essential skill to survive the pandemic and thrive. Organisations have tried to help their employees be more resilient and adopt more positive, optimistic mindsets to cope with the ongoing challenges.
Let’s pray:
* That more and more Australians know Jesus is the one who gives more grace when burdens grow greater, more strength when labours increase. Pray that we would come to experience His mercy when there are added afflictions and find His peace in multiplied trials.
* For more people to know Jesus as the one who knows and understands them and can forgive and restore them. That in Him they find their hope, their strength, and their peace.
* That more people, especially Christians, have a greater compassion and understanding for those who are stressed and come to know Christ as the way, the truth and the life, despite whatever has caused their stress.
DON’T LET DIVISION DESTROY OUR NATION
Where there is division, there is distrust resulting in an endeavour to control outcomes so they conform with the views of those in charge. In such circumstances the best interests of a nation are rarely to the fore. There are many lines of division in our nation from political divisions, ideological divisions, cultural divisions, religious divisions. None of these serve the best interests of our nation and must be set aside if the best interests of our nation is to be achieved.
Let us pray:
* Division has as one of its roots, fear. Fear can only be cast out by love. True love is a characteristic of God. Pray therefore for an outpouring of God in our nation that will deal with our fear of each other and eliminate the many divisions that currently separate us from one another.
* for a growing sense of self- worth as a nation, a growing sense of God’s love for us as a nation, and a growing acceptance of God’s love by the people of our nation both corporately and individually.
* that as we overcome our divisions through accepting and experiencing the love of Christ that we will also by the power of the Holy Spirit begin to grown into the prophetic vision spoken over our nation that we would be known as part of the great south lands of the Holy Spirit.
INDIGENOUS PUPILS HIT 94% COMPLETION RATE
Since 2008 the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) has awarded scholarships to more than 1200 students from over 400 communities. The scholarships assist hundreds of students to cover boarding fees and cost-of-living expenses at schools and universities. In 2021 the AIEF achieved a completion rate of 94% among its scholarship students, with 92% of its alumni now engaged in employment or completing further studies. Kym Samuelson, who is now completing a degree in commerce at Macquarie University after finishing at Knox Grammar last year, said, “I think the most important thing in our culture right now is having educated Indigenous kids.” Founder and director of AIEF, Andrew Penfold, said a new partnership with the NSW government was already setting a high benchmark for Indigenous education programs across the country, but noted that other state funding sources continued to lag behind.
Please pray:
“Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labour which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after the wind and there was no profit under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:11
* that all Indigenous children can have access to school education. Pray that parents and carers and the communities they live in see the value of education and encourage and support their children to succeed.
* thanking God for organisations such as AIEF which support and fund Indigenous children to obtain a high standard of education.
* But as Solomon found out, all the achievements in the world are empty without a knowledge of God’s love and purpose for our lives. Pray that all our students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, would come to know that only God can satisfy that emptiness. Pray that they would experience His love and friendship.
PRAYING FOR ISSUES IN THE NEWS
* Parts of Sydney and the NSW east coast are experiencing their 3rd flood in the past year and their 4th in 2 years. Without experiencing it oneself it is hard to imagine the devastation and sense of hopelessness those affected must feel. Please pray for all those affected by the floods that they would be given assistance by Government and their fellow citizens to deal with the repeated financial and emotional losses and the trauma of stress that must accompany such devastation.
* The winter spread of the new strains of the Covid virus is once again placing significant stress upon people and strain upon medical and hospital resources including our already overworked doctors and nurses. Please pray that the virus will be brought under control, that its impact upon people will be lessened so that hospitalisation will not be required in as many cases, and that the number of people dying from the virus will be greatly reduced.
PRAYING FOR OTHERS
This week let us pray for Algeria. Algerian believers face harassment, beatings, threats and even imprisonment for their faith. Praise God that a strong Church remains and pray it grows.
Source: Australian Prayer Network
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