03 Apr Good Friday: Day of Prayer & Fasting

The National Association of Evangelicals, its member denominations (which include the United Brethren in Christ USA), and other groups have joined to designate Good Friday, April 10, as a Day of Prayer & Fasting. We invite you to participate. Perhaps your church will want to include this as part of your Good Friday observances, in whatever form they may take.

Last summer, during our US National Conference, we focused on the theme “Let’s Pray.” Our world certainly needs prayer during this coronavirus pandemic.

Whether or not this fits with what your church has planned for Good Friday, perhaps you can find ways to use the following Suggested Prayers, which touch on many aspects of the crisis.

Suggested Prayers

1. Pray that God, in His power and mercy, would end the coronavirus pandemic.
2. Pray that all of our government leaders will be protected from the virus, and that they will have the patience, wisdom, civility, and compassion to deal with the many problems facing our country in this perilous time.
3. Pray for the safety of all members of the medical community, and pray that they will be able to care for the sick with wisdom, kindness, and stamina.
4. Pray that the sick will be healed and restored, and that the elderly will be protected.
5. Pray that the medical community will have the medical supplies, drugs, testing kits, protective equipment, ventilators, and hospital and ICU beds needed to take care of the ill.
6. Pray for those who are grieving for lost friends and family.
7. Pray for the poor and all those who have been hurt by the economic downturn: employees, the self-employed, small business owners, big businesses, churches, and charities.
8. Pray that all those who have lost jobs will be able to return to work soon.
9. Pray to restore the economy.
10. Pray that in these difficult times, hurting people will not turn to drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and domestic abuse.
11. Pray for those confined by quarantine, those who are sheltered in place, and those practicing social distancing, that they might not despair in loneliness and isolation.
12. Pray for our education system at every level that has broken down under the threat of disease.

Suggested Scriptures

• Jeremiah 29:5-13
• Isaiah 53
• Isaiah 60
• John 19
• Romans 5:6-10
• 1 Peter 2:11-25