How Should We Pray?

 

How do we pray at this time?

What do we ask of God?

Bearing in mind this COVID-19

Is affecting home and abroad?

We live in mortal fear

While ignorant of the outcome

And every day we ask the question,

When will it all be done?

But what do we ask God for?

What do we expect Him to do?

How do we pray at this time?

Can you tell me?  Can you?

 

Is this pandemic a punishment

For things we’ve left undone?

And when we have sorted that out

Will it then end its run?

Is it some things we have done?

Some atrocious things, perhaps?

And is that the reason why

We are encountering this mishap?

In the light of all the questions

How should we really pray?

As a matter of fact, I’d like to ask

Can prayer get us through the day?

If the answer you give is “No”,

Then what’s the use of praying?

However, if the answer you give is “Yes”,

What are we really saying?

Should we ask God to protect us?

And what if He does not?

Would that mean we are abandoned?

Could that be a believer’s lot?

How should we pray, I ask again,

In the light of all that’s happening?

Are we better than all the rest

For whom COVID is quite challenging?

My heart aches for Italy,

And what about those in Spain?

How can we watch the daily news

Without feeling their pain?

What is it we need at this time?

Is it powered packed prayers?

Is it prayer warriors and intercessors

To prayer saturate the atmosphere?

We place the emphasis on prayer,

As a matter of fact, people’s prayer,

As though some have a special gift

To take to the Throne our cares.

For fear of being castigated

I will hasten to the point,

That is, outside the Sovereign God,

To nothing all prayers amount.

So that it comes right down to trust

Trust is the bottom line,

Whatever the bitter outcome,

We must trust God every time.

  

Praise and thank Him always

Adore and extol His name

For even in the midst of COVID-19

Our Lord God still reigns.

 

 

I am not knocking prayer,

I am simply saying, trust God,

For whether the day be dark or bright

He is still the “All in All”.

Stewart Russell © March 2020

On Your Wedding Day

Four women hold prominent places

In this simple man’s earthly life;

Two of them are his mother and his sister,

The others are his daughter and his wife.

Regarding that topmost position

His mother would have held that space,

However with the fact of marriage

His wife took over that place.

As you have already reasoned out

Second spot then belonged to Mother,

However, with the fact of procreation

That place was taken by another.

In the year 1986, on the 23^rd of May

There was a delightful, assertive yell,

A little girl had announced her arrival

Mummy and Daddy called her Lynelle.

As we gaze upon her dazzling beauty

On this most remarkable Father’s Day,

Note the splendiferous bride she has made

She is all yours, Chris, is all that we can say.

Chris, we give to you this woman

Straight out of our treasured chest;

Not many items are stored there

But she is undoubtedly among the best.

I have no doubt that you will cherish her,

I have watched your every move,

You more than went beyond the call

To us that obvious fact to prove.

Just to let you know though

That Lynelle still holds second spot

In that treasure chest of mine,

To Lynette and me, she really means a lot.

If you should grow weary of her

Don’t touch a hair on her head,

Boy, I tell you on this your wedding day

You would wish that you were dead.

Let me hurry on to state, though

That I have no such debilitating fear,

Both Lynette and I are convinced

By your obvious and conscientious care.

Lynelle, your mother has trained you well

And I have simply tried to comply

With the two women in our household

Whom Neither Michael nor I would dare to defy.

This is not to frighten you, Chris,

No, Lynette and I have no such design,

We have put much into this young lady

Whom to you, today God has assigned.

Some of my friends have asked me,

“Aren’t you going to miss Lynelle?”

Listen to what I have said to them,

Listen and I want you to listen well.

It was for this moment we raised this child

Who today stood before all of you,

We give God much praise and thanks

That she has finally said, “I do.”

But if at some time she gets the feeling

That she would want to visit our house,

Only a visit, I would want to assure her

That room now belongs to me and my spouse.

I say to you both today, value well the counsel

Given by Pastors Hunte and Cumberbatch

And when the challenges come, as they will,

To one another, become even more attached.

For you have committed yourselves

To one another for the rest of your earthly life,

So Lynelle, we simply say to you today,

Go with our blessings and make Chris the best ever wife.

Stewart Russell © 2016