“How blessed is He whose help is the God of Jacob (Ps 146:5).” No matter the sufferings of this fallen world, no matter the difficulties of daily life, no matter the dark clouds of sickness and death, we are blessed people if God is our trust. Life in this imperfect world is terribly frustrating, but those who wait upon the Lord will receive help. Our hope lies not in man or medicine. Our hope is in the God who created heaven and earth and has called a people to Himself to love and to bless. May we draw near to Him tonight assured that those who come to Him will not return empty-handed.
I. KINGDOM CONCERNS
1. Let us pray for the pioneering work of Bro. Eval in Dolores, Eastern Samar. He is in the process of visiting his contacts in order to invite them to his on-going Bible study with family and relatives of his wife. They are presently looking for a place where fellowship and Sunday meetings can be conducted; please pray for provisions. As well, pray for strength to face the difficulty of laboring alone, far from his sending church in Baybay, Leyte.
2. Let us pray for the Salitran Covenant Bible Church in Dasmarinas, Cavite. Pas. Jeremiah Jangad will give a live report of their current situation and on-going ministries.
II. CHURCH CONCERNS
1. Let us give thanks to God for last Sunday’s ministries. In our Sunday School we saw the indispensability of forbearance and forgiveness if the church is to continue to be a loving and united body and if we as individuals are to continue to reflect Christ in our lives. In our First Service, we saw that in spite of His stature God condescends to meet our earthly needs and He wants us to express our dependence on Him by praying for our daily bread. In our Second Service, we were reminded of the necessity of hard work, instead of stealing, to provide for our needs as well as to help others. May the themes of these messages be God’s way of causing us to grow in love, prayer, and diligence.
2. Let us pray for this Sunday’s ministries.
- Pas Clyde will take the Sunday School;
- Pas Rolly will take the First Service;
- Pas Mike will take the Second Service.
Pray for help in study and enablement in preaching. Pray for minimal distractions to those who follow our services online.
3. Let us pray for the Children’s Sunday School and Youth Bible Study. This week, sisters Kemi, Manoleth, and Melba will take Levels 1,2 and 3 respectively and brother Simon will continue to be the Youth Bible Study leader. May the lessons be interesting for both the children and the young people.
Let us also give thanks for the Singles Fellowship last Sunday; 17 singles were able to participate.
Please pray as well for our 3rd online Bible Study session with Trafalgar employees tomorrow night Lord willing.
4. Membership. Pray for some members who are walking the thin line between spiritual safety and spiritual disaster. Pray for the elders as they seek to deal with these oversight concerns in the context of restricted mobility during this time of the pandemic.
5. Elders. Pray for the elders that they might be given wisdom as they seek to adjust some of our church policies to adapt to a temporary new way of conducting church life. Some of these areas, aside from worship and prayer meetings, are new member applications, oversight meetings, holding of the Lord’s table, fellowships, congregational meetings, and others that may come along.
6. Let us give thanks for the successful relief operations that were conducted in Agoncillo, Sto Tomas and Batangas City by Pastor Willy’s church, the distribution of relief funds to the economically displaced members of The Neighborhood Church in Caloocan, and the relief operations that were conducted by our sister church in Calauag, Quezon. Benevolent help was also received by those affected by the pandemic in our Bible studies in Trafalgar and Sucat. All of these have expressed their heartfelt appreciation–to which we return the thanks and glory to God!
III. PERSONAL CONCERNS
1. Let us give thanks to God for His merciful dealings with us during these difficult times. In spite of the rising incidence of covid19 cases in offices and communities, we have been kept safe and secure. Let us unceasingly pray that God would continue to keep us from harm and give us what we need to serve Him daily.
2. Let us pray for our frontliners (see list) that they would not get sick and they would not grow weary in performing the duties that God gave them to do. We have added Danielle to our frontliners list as she is currently employed at Paranaque Doctors Hospital and is engaged in the risky business of extracting blood from COVID-positive patients. Please be in prayer for her and her family’s safety. Pray for Janeth as well that she would be kept from infection being a stay-in in the same hospital for a few months now.
3. Let us persevere in praying for our sick and disabled brethren, namely: Pas. Alex, Annie, Acel, Brenda, Johnny, Louie, Delia, Mel, Chippy, Tina, Edna, Pamela
- Let’s also pray for a member of SGCC who is positive and is now hospitalized. His brother and his wife have also tested positive.
4. Let us pray for the salvation of our unbelieving loved ones that the Lord would use their sickness to point them to Christ; let’s pray for healing mercies as well: Mr Pong, Conrad, Jun, Ludel, Randy, Baby Boy Az-Zain, Liza P, Neal, Mrs Briones.
- My nephew Nicko (son-in-law of my brother Rey) tested positive in rapid testing done Monday. Please pray that the swab test done last Wednesday would produce a negative result.
- Acel’s mom, Mommy Becky, underwent partial hip replacement yesterday due to a bad fall she suffered last Tuesday. Please pray for swift recovery and healing.
- Lola Soledad, thankfully, is now conscious and alert although still bedridden and not yet able to talk.
- Bryan is still in quarantine. Please pray that last Monday’s swab test result would be negative.
- Maia tested positive but is asymptomatic. She is just wrapping up her quarantine. Please pray for her full recovery.
5. Let us pray for sisters Ninna and Rechie who celebrated their birthdays this week.
- Rechie-Pray that the Lord would provide employment to Nicco and Renzy; also for the facilitation of my claims with government institutions (SSS, GSIS, and DTI (SM card)).
- Ninna-Thanks for another year; pray for wise decisions in life that would glorify God and promote the good of the soul.
6. Let us pray for the safe delivery of KC Vitalez who is due to deliver her and JR’s first baby anytime.
7. Let us continue to pray for our members who are working in offices that they would be kept from infection in light of increased cases of covid19 in the workplace. Let us thank God for those who have tested negative. Let us also continue to pray that the Lord would grant employment to those who are out of work.
8. Please pray for my family as we seek to relocate to a different place in light of renovation activities that will soon take place in our current residence. May the Lord guide us to the right place and provide for all of our needs.
9. Let us pray that God in His mercy would be pleased to halt the spread of the virus so that our health care system would not collapse. Pray for strong leadership and good decisions by our leaders to address the crisis that our country faces at the moment. Pray that the LSI problem would be resolved soonest. Pray as well that this would be a time of reflection as to the frailty and uncertainty of life and would cause people to repent and consider Christ to be their lasting and true hope.
