Somewhere in the middle of the pain and the challenges of these times there is also a place of knowing that God has a way forward for us if we will just turn our attention towards Him and pay attention to His kind instructions.
Long before we were all significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we could observe a “victim mentality” that is quite widespread in our society and I’ve been wondering and praying about how the challenges of physical distancing, abrupt unemployment, financial challenges and so on are impacting this area of a person’s mental health. We’re looking around every corner, avoiding others as we walk down the street. It’s like we’re sure someone is going to harm us and that our lives are forever impacted by that threat.
Without the knowledge of God’s care about everything we experience I’m afraid it would be easy for a victim mentality to develop in people and for the mindset to take over that everything is too much and somebody needs to rescue. Honestly, I think we’re seeing some of that with the cries for financial bail-outs from huge companies as well as homeless individuals and everyone in between.
Let's pray for God's healing and grace to not become victims of our circumstances but to live with victory and assurance in God's care and love for us today that is making us whole.
Heavenly Father, You’ve invited us to come to you when we labour and are heavy laden and You will give us rest. You’ve told us to take Your yoke on us and learn from You, for you are gentle and lowly in heart, and we will find rest for our souls when we do that because Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30 NIV)
So Lord, we come to you today with those circumstances and memories that have wounded our soul. We feel like we have been victimized by so many things on so many occasions and we wonder how to look to the future with hope. But, You have been with us. We’ve not faced any of these unjust things on our own. You promise us all that we need to bring about resolution in areas of grief, loss, bitterness of abandonment and rejection, bitterness from unfair treatment. So today, we ask for Your comfort and healing where we feel vulnerable, bruised, and broken.
Heal our hearts. Speak peace and hope to our troubled souls. Fill us with Your love and faith in Your power to help us overcome everything harmful in our recent or distant past. Greater are You in us than what has gone on in our world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
(1 John 4:4 NIV)
Help us to turn our thoughts from suffering and to make a move out of isolation where we’ve lived behind high walls. Help us to face our feelings in Your loving presence. Give us grace to give up complaining and blaming
Nothing can separate us from Your love today and we are going to take heart in that and live in the strength and optimism that Your powerful love active in our hearts give us. We don’t need to just survive today and cope but we can thrive. Help us to embrace your love and healing all through this day and this season of COVID-19 challenges. Fill me with your grace and teach me how to live well. Amen
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us
if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted,
or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.”
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours
through Christ, who loved us. (Romans 8:35-37 NLT)
Long before we were all significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we could observe a “victim mentality” that is quite widespread in our society and I’ve been wondering and praying about how the challenges of physical distancing, abrupt unemployment, financial challenges and so on are impacting this area of a person’s mental health. We’re looking around every corner, avoiding others as we walk down the street. It’s like we’re sure someone is going to harm us and that our lives are forever impacted by that threat.
Without the knowledge of God’s care about everything we experience I’m afraid it would be easy for a victim mentality to develop in people and for the mindset to take over that everything is too much and somebody needs to rescue. Honestly, I think we’re seeing some of that with the cries for financial bail-outs from huge companies as well as homeless individuals and everyone in between.
Let's pray for God's healing and grace to not become victims of our circumstances but to live with victory and assurance in God's care and love for us today that is making us whole.
Heavenly Father, You’ve invited us to come to you when we labour and are heavy laden and You will give us rest. You’ve told us to take Your yoke on us and learn from You, for you are gentle and lowly in heart, and we will find rest for our souls when we do that because Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30 NIV)
So Lord, we come to you today with those circumstances and memories that have wounded our soul. We feel like we have been victimized by so many things on so many occasions and we wonder how to look to the future with hope. But, You have been with us. We’ve not faced any of these unjust things on our own. You promise us all that we need to bring about resolution in areas of grief, loss, bitterness of abandonment and rejection, bitterness from unfair treatment. So today, we ask for Your comfort and healing where we feel vulnerable, bruised, and broken.
Heal our hearts. Speak peace and hope to our troubled souls. Fill us with Your love and faith in Your power to help us overcome everything harmful in our recent or distant past. Greater are You in us than what has gone on in our world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
(1 John 4:4 NIV)
Help us to turn our thoughts from suffering and to make a move out of isolation where we’ve lived behind high walls. Help us to face our feelings in Your loving presence. Give us grace to give up complaining and blaming
Nothing can separate us from Your love today and we are going to take heart in that and live in the strength and optimism that Your powerful love active in our hearts give us. We don’t need to just survive today and cope but we can thrive. Help us to embrace your love and healing all through this day and this season of COVID-19 challenges. Fill me with your grace and teach me how to live well. Amen
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us
if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted,
or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.”
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours
through Christ, who loved us. (Romans 8:35-37 NLT)
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