CDC/ Dr. Frederick A. Murphy – This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #1833.
Yesterday the first Ebola case was diagnosed in the United States. Suddenly everyone is on high alert. People are being quarantined and I suspect that fear is growing. But in Africa the epidemic has already claimed over 3,000 lives and continues to spread. My heart grieves for all whose lives have been devastated because of loss of loved ones, and livelihood.
Coincidentally, SIM has declared this week (September 29th – October 5th) as a week to pray to end Ebola and have established a special website for that purpose. A big thank you to Lent and Beyond who made me aware of this and who are posting daily prayers with very specific requests and the names of officials and church leaders for us to pray for. The site is well worth a daily visit.
Please join praytoendebola.org and let us set aside this the rest of this week to pray especially for the people of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea who are facing the greatest outbreaks.
The following prayer comes from US (weareus) and their Ebola update page:
Prayers for West Africa:
God of our anguish, we cry to you
For all who wrestle with Ebola.
Grant we pray, peace to the afraid,
Your welcome to the dying and
Your comfort to those living with loss.
And, merciful Father,
bless those many loving hands
That bravely offer care and hope.God of healing,
whose Son healed those who were brought to him.
Hear our prayer for the peoples of West Africa
suffering from the Ebola outbreak.
Inspire and enable your church
to be a source of healing, comfort and hope to those affected,
and an agent for the education
and equipping of communities
to stop the spread of this disease.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And please listen to this prayer posted on praytoendebola.org
Though we are troubled, we do not despair. Though we grieve, we are not without great hope. For two millennia, the Church has prioritized the sick and marginalized. We are called to do no less today.
May the God who answers prayer, the God to whom we pray, the God who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death so that we may fear no evil, may this God turn His face towards us and by His power and wisdom guiding all those involved, bring an end to the spread of Ebola. May He bring many who live without the knowledge of Jesus into relationship with Him. Updated prayer requests and other resources can be found at www.praytoendEbola.org and at Lent and Beyond
The United Methodist Church also has some good prayer points.
And from World Vision some good prayer points.