Prayers to Fight the Pandemic
After checking my state’s latest update on Corona virus counts, my body tightened, my breath shortened, and the knot in my neck reappeared. The first case.
The dominoes kept falling.
My daughter’s school closed, sports practices halted, and church services went virtual.
I can’t remember another time in history where entire school systems closed.
It is surreal.
11 Prayer Cards to Fight the Virus: Free Downloads
Since the first day of nursing school I have prayed over my patients, but these days my prayer looks a little different.
As my steps echo the eerie and empty halls, (no visitors allowed) my whispered prayers are stronger, but my heart is pounding. As I carefully wrap my Clorox wipe around my hand before touching any surfaces, my thoughts go deeper. I keep my fears stifled, not only for me, but for my patients as well.
Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay
What if?
What if the worst does happen?
I am a natural worrier. But I have learned, it doesn’t pay to worry. Most of the things we worry about never happen.
And yet sometimes they do.
And that is where I fail daily, and it is where I must dig back into the ground in order to turn my fears into prayers.
Related: How to Calm Anxiety in 10 Practical Ways
Fear is a liar.
What I am not saying:
By all means I am not saying to go to the mall or an amusement park or buy tickets for your favorite musician. (which you probably couldn’t do anyway)
I am of the opposite mindset. I do agree that we all need to do our part and STAY HOME! Don’t go to Target and try on swim suits, don’t go sit at your favorite coffee shop and please, oh please, don’t throw a quarantine block party.
Save your public trips for when you absolutely need groceries to feed yourself or your little human garbage disposals. However, if you are able, do buy online to support businesses. They need to feed their families too.
Related: How to Support Small Business
Let’s turn our fears into prayers to fight the pandemic.
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Philippians 4:6 NLT
I have below 11 powerful and important prayers we need to pray now to fight this pandemic.
If you have anything to add, leave me a comment. I would love to have you as a prayer warrior along beside me. And if you have a specific prayer request you can leave in the comments or contact me here for a confidential prayer request.
Prayers to Fight the Pandemic
1. Pray for our country.
We can all do our part to protect our country. We can pray for specific states or communities and specific stories or people we read about. Let’s pray to stop the spread and for the American people to listen to our leaders.
2. Pray for the world.
The world needs our prayers. Pick a country or two to pray for each day. Check out the WHO to see which countries are being affected.
3. Pray for our leaders.
This includes leaders of the church, community organizations, healthcare, and government leaders. They need our prayers and support. No matter your political side, religion, or health beliefs, being a leader during a time of a pandemic is not an easy job and any course they choose is not likely to please everybody.
Pray for them to make good decisions and Godly decisions and to act with wisdom and justice.
4. Pray for our children.
We don’t know how this will affect their future, but we need to pray for peace for our children. If you are anxious, then trust me they feel it. Talk to them and pray with them.
Related: How to React During the COVID-19 Outbreak
5. Pray for the media.
Pray they will share impartial and an accurate account for what is happening without spreading more fear or panic and without the biased intent to make money.
6. Pray for the parents.
Schools across the nation are shutting down including my family’s. Even if you don’t have children, then please pray for us to keep our sanity intact.
Psychiatric doctors may be the only ones to see an increase in their business from parents trying not to murder their children. (myself included). **All joking aside, for some it is not a joking matter: Spike in Severe Child Abuse Cases Likely Result of COVID-19
I love my children, but disruptions at anytime can be stressful, but even more in these unprecedented times. Pray God gives us hearts of love and peace for our children. (Trust me. We don’t always have God’s love in our hearts. None of us are perfect.)
7. Pray for the schools.
Schools are being forced to do online learning. This can be a huge learning curve for all parties involved: parents, teachers, and students.
Many families may not have internet access or even enough food to eat. (1 in 7 children live with hunger in the United States.)
In addition, I worry about the children who already struggle in school. This may serve only to widen the gap between top scoring kids and lower scoring kids.
8. Pray for finances.
Pray for our country’s finances, businesses and anyone whose job is in danger.
Restaurants and small businesses are having to shut their doors.
These businesses rely on us for them to feed their families. In addition to praying, if you can order take out and you feel safe to do so, please do occasionally.
9. Pray for the healthcare workers and facilities.
Pray they will have the supplies needed to care for patients and to keep themselves safe. Give them wisdom and discernment and compassion in their care. Keep them safe from contracting the virus. We must have healthy doctors and nurses and all the support personell to be able to take care of our patients.
10. Praise God!
Amongst all the panic buying, fear, and people walking around with snorkel masks are stories such as the man who hoarded sanitizers and then tried to sell them for $70 each. These stories, if we are not careful, can fill our hearts with bitterness.
But just as there are the dark stories, we can find the good. Often, we only need to open our eyes.
The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.
John Green
For even through pandemics, isolation, and running out of toilet paper, we can find God.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalms 23: 4
We are seeing brave people provide food for the hungry, so many companies are opening up their doors to wonderful opportunities, and life may never be the same.
We are learning new things and we just may find new talents and new friends.
11. Finally, Pray that we will win as many as possible.
Pray that through all the darkness and uncertainity, that more people will come to know God through his word and great mercy and through his people.
We may not know all the answers, but we know the one who does. I don’t profess to understand why bad things happen. In fact, I find myself questioning it many times.
But I do know a God who knows the end of our story and like many great stories, don’t spoil the adventure by skipping to the end or asking too many questions.
Often, great stories come from great history. By using our prayers to fight the pandemic, we just might make a history like no other time before.
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Beautifully said my friend.
Thank you! I’m glad you found it encouraging.