Beloved Church Family,

As a church body, for the next forty days, let’s stop and pray at noon. Set an alarm each day, perhaps on your phone. Some of you already do this, it’s time for others to join in! In the light of all that is going on in our world, we need to cry out to our God for His help, direction and healing (see Hebrews 4:14-16).

The five “Rs” below can guide your prayer time. You may want to choose one verse or passage (or section of a longer passage) from a few or each of the categories (“R’s”) below for each time of prayer. Read the Scripture as an individual or family and let your prayer be guided by God’s Word and His Spirit. Think and pray about personal application. First how this applies to you, then the church, the country and the world. Remember, God commands and honors prayer, and we believe that all of us praying at the same time will have a great impact (James 5:16; cf. Luke 18:1-14).

Repent – Repentance is defined as changing one’s mind and direction, it speaks of a turnaround (‘a 180’). Repentance is turning away from sin and turning back to God. This is a Biblical prescription for God’s healing and mercy – Let us return to our God! (See 2 Chronicles 7:11-16; Daniel 9:1-19; Jeremiah 18:7-10; Mark 1:14-20; Luke 13:1-5; Acts 3:19, 17:30-31, 26:16-19; Revelation 2:5).

Restore – The word restore is directly connected to the word repent. When we turn around and turn back fully to God, He restores us. The idea is to adjust, repair, to put into order, to mend, strengthen, equip and complete. I have a deep sense that many of us will get to or get back to a deep walk and prayer life with the Lord during this challenging time. (See Psalm 51, 60:1-5, 80:1-7; Jeremiah 29:11-14, 30:17; Malachi 4; Job 42:10; Galatians 6:1-10; 1 Peter 5:5-10).

Revive – in Isaiah 57:15 God connects humility and a contrite heart with revival. What is revival? Ray Ortlund gives a profound and powerful definition: Revival is the manifest presence of God, the immediacy of God, the kiss of God, the nearness of God in His goodness and power. Revival is a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19-20). It’s a season in the life of the church when God causes normal ministry to surge forward with extraordinary spiritual power. It is not foolish hysterics. It is God becoming overwhelmingly real to us.[1] One of the marks of revival is not just high-octane worship, which costs us no self-denial and might even reinforce selfishness. True revival awakens a new sense of our responsibility to one another, which is contrary to our selfishness and therefore a more revealing indicator of the presence of the Holy Spirit.[2] (See Psalm 119:37-41, 107, 153-156, 159-160; Isaiah 57:15; Hosea 6:1-3; Habakkuk 3).

Rejoice – To rejoice is to be cheerful, glad, calmly happy, to thrive, to be well. You might ask, “how can we rejoice at a time like this?” Well, we rejoice in the Lord! He is the reason we can be calm, cheerful and well - even in troublesome times. Let us rejoice and be glad, our God is good, and He is on the throne! He will see us through (See Psalm 5:11, 32:11, 97:1-6, 118:24; Isaiah 25:6-9, 60:5, 61:11; Zechariah 9:9; Luke 10:20, Luke 15; Romans 12:15; 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:6-13; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-25; 1 Peter 1:6-9, 4:13; Revelation 19:6-9). Remember that you are loved, and the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10).

Relax – God is in control (spend time meditating in Psalm 42 and Psalm 46 (especially v. 10).

In John 16:33 Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." NASB

May “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). I look forward to a time, in the near future when we can all be together again.

Love, Pastor Michael

[1] Isaiah, Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. p. 375

[2] ibid p. 60 referencing Jonathan Edwards, Works