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Rejoice


Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
   "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.  Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. (Joel 2:23-27)

           A friend shared an organized opportunity for prayer for the next 6 weeks that I thought would be a good change of pace for my prayer life. Each day of the week, the prayers lift up a different area of influence:
Monday: centers of commerce
Tuesday: centers of communication
Wednesday: centers of education
Thursday: centers of government
Friday: centers of spiritual activity
Saturday: one’s family
Sunday: the local church
          They also have weekly themes:
Week 1: Rejoice
Week 2: Repentance
Week 3: Righteousness
Week 4: Restoration
Week 5: Reconciliation
Week 6: Revival
          It should be no surprise that I’m going to spend a little time focusing on the Bible verses, themes, or foci chosen for each day or week. I don’t know if I can spend the whole week on these things, but we’ll see. 
         As I prayed through and meditated on today’s passage, some standard centers of commerce came to mind: the medical practitioners facing COVID-19, the essential workers, those who were displaced from their jobs or had their businesses destroyed by gubernatorial fiat (I call them the Living Dead,) and for those whose businesses have been destroyed by the locusts known as rioters and looters. 
          As I prayed, the idea that crystalized in my mind was the fact that each person is a center of commerce. We tend to think in terms of brick and mortar, or online businesses, but from the perspective of capitalism, each person has their own capital – their bodies, their minds, their skills, and their time that they can offer to someone else in exchange for money, goods, services, etc. With what is going on in the world, now may not be the most opportune time to put those things to work, but it may be the most necessary time to do so. 
          Tomorrow, I’ll consider the locusts. I have some research to do first.

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