Being Specific in Prayer

 

 

 

The text for my sermon is Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. This meditation will focus on being specific in our prayers.

 

At time of writing there are over 3 million confirmed cases of  the coronavirus worldwide. The real total is probably at least 3 times higher with half of the world under social distancing measures. This pandemic is raging in tropical countries which means that summer weather will not make any difference to the virus. Most of the countries of the world have been ill prepared and caught off guard. The virus has turned out to be far more infectious than people expected.

 

However there is one country South Korea which has set the gold standard in combatting covid 19. They learnt a lot of lessons in combatting m.e.r.s another coronavirus 5 years ago. When the alarm was raised in China their laboratories immediately started producing test kits for the virus and they quickly introduced mass testing of the population. Along with this they introduced a phone app which allowed the authorities to track where the infections have been. See the link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE-cA4UK07c

 

By these actions an enemy which was invisible was now made visible and the government was quickly able to quarantine people and identify hotspots of infection. South Korea started with the second highest infection rate in the world but they have been steadily improving and the amount of people being infected is going down all the time.

 

We can believe the South Korean statistics because they are a free, transparent and democratic country unlike communist China where there will always be a question mark regarding their statistics as their reported deaths seem suspiciously low.

 

Here in the U.K there has been a first class reaction in setting up the Nightingale Hospitals and Oxford University has been very quick off the mark in producing a vaccine in record time. There are about 100 teams around the world working on vaccines and we hope and pray that they will be guided in their efforts in producing a vaccine that will work, be safe and long lasting. 

 

How does the U.K compare to South Korea. The U.K. has a population of approximately 66 million and South Korea 51.6 million. The U.K has had 26,000 deaths compared to just only 247 deaths in South Korea. See the worldometre  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries 

 

Clearly the world needs to follow the example of South Korea. The U.K. is getting there as the number of tests are going up all the time and eventually I expect there will be mass testing of the population, also contact tracing of people will improve. The World Health Organisation said, test, test, test as the way to beat the disease.

 

In South Korea everyone is encouraged to wear face masks, these do nothing to stop people getting infected but they are a  good help in stopping a person giving the virus to someone else. Because of a shortage of face masks and not to hurt the N.H.S. the policy of face masks has not been adopted.

 

The Bible encourages us to be specific in our prayers. We need to pray for those engaged in scientific research in developing vaccines that they will be guided in their efforts, that logistical supply problems of PPE and test kits will be overcome and that the government can organise more testing of the public and tracking and tracing of this disease with the help of a phone app. 

 

Also that the government will be given wisdom of when to ease the lockdown restrictions and manage the economy and that they will put people’s lives before the economy. We pray that the ministry of the church will be effective in this situation and for all those who have lost loved ones that they will be comforted out of the rich resources of God’s grace.

 

There is nothing too big to ask God for, see this illustration from the story of Napoleon.  It goes like this: The great French conqueror, Napoleon, in his quest to rule the world, was quite surprised on one occasion when he encountered unexpected resistance while attempting to capture an island in the Mediterranean.  The fighting was fierce and he lost many good men in the battle before finally overcoming the enemy.

 

Napoleon and his generals were having a celebration feast when from out of nowhere, it seemed, a young officer approached him.  Napoleon saw the young man and asked abruptly, “What do you want?”

 

The young man said, “Sir, please give me this island.”

The generals were deeply offended at the brashness of the young man.  But, suddenly, Napoleon asked for pen and ink, promptly writing out a deed to the island.  He then signed it and gave it to the impetuous officer.

 

By this time the generals were astounded.  They asked their leader, “How could you give away the island to that young man when so many of our men paid such a high price to obtain it?” Napoleon responded, “He honoured me by the magnitude of his request.”Did you catch that?  “He honoured me by the magnitude of his request”!!

 

You know, I think sometimes we simply pray too small.  We pray prayers that might come to pass on their own because we’re afraid to believe for the impossible.  We pray safe prayers, for things that we can make happen on our own with hard work and perseverance.  We pray for mud piles, but God wants us to pray for islands!

 

This story about Napoleon provokes us to ask God for the impossible, implausible, and downright grandiose.  I believe the Lord is honoured by those kinds of prayers, so let us pray big for the government of our country. Remember nothing is too big for God and to be specific in our prayers.