parresiazomai: The Coronavirus and the Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:9a Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven,

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have adopted us into your eternal family. O! how we thank you for your love and grace and mercy. We are so thankful that far above the scary world we live in, you, our Heavenly Father, watch over us and care for us. The truth that you are in heaven reminds us of your great power, and complete knowledge, and deep wisdom. You see all and know all and have authority and power over all. You knew the coronavirus was coming before the first case. You know exactly where it will spread and who it will infect. You know the cause and exact nature and source of the virus and you know the cure. That you are our Father reminds us that you use your great knowledge and power and authority the way any loving parent would: for the good of your children.

Also, like good fathers on earth, only far more so, you are available to us, your children, especially when we face dangers and feel anxious. Heavenly Father, you see how this new coronavirus is spreading around the world and is near to us and around us. So, we come to you in faith seeking protection, help, wisdom, strength, and peace.

Matthew 6:9b hallowed be your name.

Lord, the most important thing about this virus is not the latest statistics or what has been cancelled or the status of the vaccine. The most important thing is how it affects people’s relationship with you and the way we think about you. We pray that people will remember that you are completely good and pure and holy and loving. Lord we pray that as a result of this virus many will turn to you and find you and find that you are a rock of security and peace in the midst of a troubled world.

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Heavenly Father, we ask you to be in charge of everything related to this disease. We want your will to be done. We know that the coronavirus itself is an evil thing that is causing sickness, death, fear, and economic harm. Yet, we also know that you bring good out of evil and that you work in all things for the good of those who love you.

We pray that you will bring worldwide good out of this worldwide pandemic. We ask that in the midst of this you will work to bring many to eternal salvation in Christ. We pray that the world will see a difference in how Christians react. That they will see peace and love where others feel fear and anxiety. May the virus cause many to remember that our days here our short, and may it prompt many to soberly consider their eternal fate and to think about you and cry out to you for salvation in Jesus Name.

Lord we pray for your special favor for our brothers and sisters in Christ in the lands most severely affected, including some nations that have been very hostile to the gospel: China and Iran and North Korea. Change those governments for good and let this virus bring about good for your people and for the advance of your gospel and your kingdom.

Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread,

Provision! We thank you that you give us our daily bread and everything else we need.

Please provide wisdom to every leader at every level who is called on to make decisions related to this virus. Help our governments and leaders to know what should be cancelled and for how long and what shouldn’t be cancelled. Give guidance as to when and how and who should be quarantined.

Lord, please guide those scientists and their teams who are working on vaccines and treatments for this disease.

Heavenly Father, please be with each family and individual as we all decide what precautions to take, what activities to continue, and what plans to change. Help us to have wise caution but not unreasonable or unnecessary fear. You promise wisdom to those who ask and we are asking.

Lord, we also ask for financial provision. Please especially help those whose income and finances are impacted by the virus. Protect our economy. Especially help those who are poor and most vulnerable to economic harm. Thank you, Lord.

Matthew 6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Heavenly Father protect us from thinking or judging that because some person or group or place has been more affected by this virus that we are any better than they are. If you judged any of us according to our sins, none of us could stand. We humbly recognize that ultimately human sickness, suffering, and death are all the result of human sin. Our sins and rebellion against you, our God and Creator, mean that we are all deserving of death. Please forgive us. Please do not treat us as our sins deserve, as individuals or as nations. May this virus prompt us and many others to consider our sinful ways and repent and turn to you.

And may we remember to forgive others.

Matthew 6:13a And lead us not into temptation,

Lord, there are many temptations that come with the coronavirus. Let us have appropriate wisdom and caution, but protect us from unhelpful and sinful anxiety and fear that comes from a lack of trust in you. And protect us from the temptation to think only about ourselves at a time like this. Also, protect us from wrongly judging the motives of others who may make decisions different from what we make.

Matthew 6:13b but deliver us from evil.

Finally, Lord, we ask that you protect us from the coronavirus. Keep your people safe. Keep us from getting infected. We pray that those who do get infected will have mild symptoms and recover quickly. We ask for healing. Pour out healing and protection through the Name of Jesus and the prayers of your people. And give comfort to those who have lost loved ones and those who will lose loved ones. And don’t allow the evil one to use this to confuse or divide or distract or deceive or harm us. Deliver us from evil.

To you, God, be the glory.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

A few related thoughts and resources

I encourage you to actually pray the above prayer, or one like it in your own words. I encourage you to pray in your prayer closet and to pray together with other Christians.

There are many excellent model prayers in the Bible. We can and should apply these prayers to the situations in our lives. Of all the model prayers, perhaps the most foundational is the Lord’s Prayer.

In 2017, I preached a series of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer. I don’t know how much it impacted the prayer lives of others (I hope it did). I know it impacted my own prayer life. I came to understand more deeply how fundamental and powerful the Lord’s Prayer is. I have prayed through it as part of my prayers on a regular basis ever since then. I have come to see how the Lord’s Prayer contains the basic elements that are relevant to all prayer concerns: remembering God as our Father and King, remembering his holiness and trusting his goodness, seeking his will above and before our own, asking him to provide all we need, seeking forgiveness for sins and forgiving others, and asking for His protection from temptation, from evil, and from the evil one. These basic elements of the Lord’s Prayer can and should be applied in prayer to every situation we face, and that includes the coronavirus.

Below are the sermon videos from my series on the Lord’s Prayer. I regret that I do not have a video for the sermon that introduced the Lord’s Prayer and discussed the importance of the opening phrase “Our Father.” The word “our” is important. The whole prayer is a group thing and a family affair. It is “our” and “us” and “we” throughout the prayer, not merely “me” and “I” and “my.” That doesn’t mean it is wrong to personalize it and apply it to ourselves, but it does mean it is primarily intended as a prayer for us as part of God’s people. You can pray it alone in your prayer closet, but your prayer should be for others as well as for yourself. Here are the videos: