As we continue this vigil, the words of the Psalm for today 130, encourage us to be vigilant in prayer for ourselves and for our nation and the world; at all times, but even more so as we await the celebration of the glorious resurrection of our Lord.
In this context then I recall, again young Rev. Larius Lewis, posing the question yesterday during the Three hour service, how long will those who have power keep it? Forever?! No, as even though those looking on and hearing Jesus promising the thief that he would be with him Today, in Paradise, thought that because they had the power over Jesus, all what He was saying was pure foolishness. Until, only until, the temple was destroyed, dead men got up and walked and were seen in Jerusalem. So these men of 'power', in that situation, only had a few hours before, they lost all power before the Almighty God.
So then my friends in Christ Jesus, as the Psalmist declares that:
" I wait for The Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for The Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning" Ps.130:5-6
Let us prevail upon the promise of God. And wait upon Him who declares that:
God is our refuge and strength
an ever present help in times of trouble".
Therefore we wait upon The Lord in faith and hope and pray with certainty that:
- the pall of death hanging over our nation, like a sword of Damocles, because of the action of wicked men with the power of the gun will not last forever.
- that the state of economy weakened by years of living above our collective means, together with other reasons, and which has occasioned the need for the GOJ of Jamaica to 'pick our pockets', every time we withdraw money from the bank will not last forever.
- we pray O Lord that those men and women of Power who hold sway over our economy, who control the value of our exchange rate by virtue of their control of the invisible hand of the Market, and who, when they make decisions to benefit their own selfish gains rather than the collective good of the people, as others do, that such a situation may not last forever O Lord.
- that the 'wretched of the earth', the poor and the helpless, who suffer immeasurably when there is a water shortage, that this situation will not last forever.
- that those who prey upon our children, abuse our young girls and increasingly sodomize our young boys, many of which wicked men are men of power and substance in our nation, that we pray O God with certainly, that this situation will not last forever.
- that our schoolchildren O God, who are being raised in broken homes, and possessed of little training in righteousness, and go to school and terrorize others - teachers and fellow students -, that this situation, O God, will not last forever.
- that men and women made in your image but marginalized by 'powers and principalities', and by what we have done and left undone, and who live in substandard housing, in privation, in inner cities prone to violence and disease, that O God, that situation may not last forever.
- that the spirit of the air, and the spirit of disobedience which has caused so many people to rebel against your precious Word, O God, and thus resulting in serious moral decay in the nation, outrageous displays of nakedness, increasing attraction to pornography, and the circulation of explicit sexual acts captured on video, declining numbers of people who live in Holy Matrimony, all encouraged by men and women with power, that this situation will not last forever.
- that people will no longer 'dress up the wounds of your people', and label what is Sin and an abomination in your eyes, alternate lifestyles and the choice women make about their bodies. O God, we pray and believe that this situation will not last forever.
- that your church may no longer continue to 'forget our first love', Christ Jesus and Him Crucified, and His Grace which is sufficient for all situations, and descend into controversies, error , heresy and turn to gods, which our forefathers did not know.
- Finally, in the words of the hymn writer ( And now O Father...571) we present before you ' our dearest and our best', and ourselves Lord, that you may not look on us, ' and our misusings of thy grace', but on , " the only offering perfect in thine eyes, the one true pure eternal sacrifice', of the Blood of the Lamb, Christ Jesus
O God we are praying and waiting, as we wait for the celebration of your blessed resurrection tomorrow. We are praying and waiting as the watchman waits for the morning. We are praying and waiting for you to put new life into all things, even as, with power you raised your Son Christ Jesus to new life with you and the Holy Spirit, One God. So dear God, breathe new life into the dead bones of your church, and make it become a vast army in this country; breathe new life into our nation Jamaica, and make it become a vast army to spread your word abroad. Breathe new life into the situation in Palestine, where Jews and Muslims have been at war for decades; into Syria; into decadent America and struggling South America and Africa; breathe O God, the new life of Christ Jesus into the Far East, in an area of the world where, for the most part, your Word is neither obeyed nor believed; and new life into Europe which was once the cradle of Christianity but now sadly in large numbers has turned away.
These and other mercies, we ask, as we wait upon you O Lord, in the precious Name of Christ Jesus - our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
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