Yesterday, we learned the COVID-19 crisis will get worse before it gets better. According to models, COVID-19 won’t peak for another two weeks. As a result, President Trump extended the social distancing order until the end of April.
Do you feel helpless in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic? I admit, I’ve had those moments. Like many of you, I’m stuck at home. I’m not working in a hospital or a lab helping those infected. I’m not stocking grocery shelves. This morning I thought, “All I can do is pray.” Then God whispered, “You get to pray!”
Prayer is not a last resort. It is not a “since I can’t do anything else, I might as well pray” activity. Prayer is our most powerful weapon against this deadly foe.
This morning, after God’s prompting I began to journal my prayers. As my list grew, I realized a COVID-19 Prayer Guide would be helpful to myself and to others. So, I kept going, adding everything I could think of that we could pray about during this crisis.
I hope this COVID-19 Prayer Guide will be a helpful resource for you and others in the days ahead. I’d love for you to add your prayer ideas in the comments. (Maybe by the end of the week, I can do an updated guide!) Here’s a PDF of the COVID-19 Prayer Guide to download and print.
COVID-19 Prayer Guide
Begin with praise
God you are sovereign and all-powerful. You are able to stop this virus now, but for reasons we cannot understand, You are allowing it to continue and we trust You. You are holy and righteous and all Your acts are just. We ask that Your purposes will prevail.
Ask for God’s intervention:
Lord, we know that you see everything happening here and care about every person. We ask that You will extend Your mercy and grace to all. Stop COVID-19 in its tracks. Stop the spread and eliminate its threat. Work in ways that display Your power and bring glory to Your name.
Pray for yourself. Ask God to:
- Search your heart and reveal any areas of selfishness and greed that have resulted from the pressures of this crisis
- Build your trust in God more and decrease your worry, anxiety, and fear
- Increase your faith in this time of trial
- Show you how you can encourage, support, and help others
Pray for our government leaders as they navigate this massive challenge. Ask God to:
- Help President Trump & his staff, the 50 governors & their staffs, congress, mayors, and county judges
- Give them full and accurate information
- Give them wisdom, insight, and discernment to properly use the information
- Protect their health, give them physical energy and emotional strength
- Foster unity, cooperation, humility, good communication, and unselfishness as they work together
Pray for doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers. Ask God to:
- Protect them and their families from the virus
- Give them physical energy, courage, and emotional strength
- Provide the equipment, tools, and supplies they need
- Provide adequate PPEs (personal protection equipment)
- Strengthen them spiritually and provide chaplains for support
Pray for medical researchers and scientists. Ask God to:
- Provide physical energy and mental acuity
- Work through them to provide effective treatment for COVID-19
- Give them wisdom to produce a fully effective vaccine in record time
- Provide the capability of producing and distributing this vaccine to meet the need
Pray for individuals and families. Ask God to:
- Encourage everyone to heed the seriousness of this situation, obey authorities, and adhere to the social distancing guidelines
- Protect the most at-risk and vulnerable like the elderly and immune-compromised
- Reduce stress and its effects on families like physical abuse and substance abuse
- Provide for those who have lost jobs and are struggling financially
- Help families adjust to new schedules and for home schooling needs
- Comfort those who’ve lost loved ones during this time
- Deepen family relationships
Pray for spiritual leaders, pastors, ministers, lay leaders, and churches. Ask God to:
- Protect and build their faith
- Show them ways to maintain the teaching and community of the local church
- Wisdom for helping support their local communities
- Give them creative ways to share the Gospel with a hurting world
- Show them how to support community leaders
- Provide financially for our spiritual leaders and the local church
Pray for “group-living” situations like nursing homes, assisted living, & prisons. Ask God to:
- Give administrations wisdom in protecting their facilities
- Show staffs how to prevent bringing the virus into the facility
- Comfort family and loved ones that cannot visit
Pray for colleges, universities, and school districts. Ask God to:
- Give teachers wisdom and creativity for distance learning
- Provide needed devices and wifi for students
- Help administrators build distance learning programs and support their teachers
- Provide all resources and help needed to finish the school year
Pray for the US economy. Ask God to:
- Give US and state governments innovative ways to support and protect small businesses
- Give the federal government wisdom in how to best help large industries who are most impacted
- Give small business owners wisdom to best manage their finances and ingenuity and creativity for generating revenue and retaining employees
- Help non-essential & entertainment business/industry to survive this crisis – hotels, airlines, sports, cinemas, theaters, etc
Pray for essential support services. Ask God to:
- Establish and maintain sufficient distribution channels for medical supplies and food
- Increase production of ventilators, protective gear, and other equipment
- Provide trucks and drivers for shipping
- Strengthen and protect grocery store personnel
- Help grocery stores find effective policies and procedures to protect themselves and shoppers
- Strengthen, protect, & encourage community support services like USPS, garbage services, utility services, and internet providers
Pray for governmental agencies and departments on the front line. Here are a few that need our prayers:
- COVID-19 Task Force, Vice-President Mike Pence (chairman) – members list
- Department of State, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Director Robert Redfield
- Department of Health & Human Resources
- Department of Homeland Security
- Food and Drug Administration
- Department of Education
- List of all government agencies involved and what they’re doing
Pray for Law Enforcement and first responders:
- Your local police, fire, EMTs
- County sheriff offices
- State police
- Federal Bureau of Investigation
- All branches of military
I would love for you to add your thoughts, prayers, and ideas in the comments below. What have I missed?
Other posts about prayer you may find helpful:
- “The 5 Ps of the Lord’s Prayer”
- “21 Spiritual Prayers for Other Christians”
- World Vision Coronvirus Prayer helps
Thank you for all the wonderful resources. They are so specific to what people need at this time. Highly appreciated.
I’m glad this guide is useful!
Hi Kathy, thank you for the prayer guide it is very helpful and appreciated as I go through this time of self quarantine after being in direct contact with a coworker who tested positive for the virus last week. I’m going through this alone. My husband is incarcerated and scheduled to be released on June 22nd this year. We have four adult children with families of their own. We are able to communicate but this is a lonely time for me and my husband. Everyday he and others are digging more and more graves in that area. Inmates are not given protective gear when going out on work detail within the local communities. Please add the Department of Corrections, Probation, Pardon and Parole to the prayer guide. The inmates are not able to practice social distancing due to over crowding in some of the institutions. Again, thank you so much for this Covid-19 prayer guide.
Deborah, thank you for sharing about your situation. I am so sorry to hear about your isolation and your husband’s situation. I had thought about prisons and mentioned that on the list, but not in the details you shared. Thank you for adding that here. God bless and keep you.
Thank you for this useful resource!
Thank you; I prayed this prayer! Sometimes it is good to just relax & pray a prayer that has been drafted- can be very beneficial: thank you for posting ~ great detail” God protection for our front line workers♥️ God is great, ALWAYS❣️
All I want to say is AMEN.
Thank you, Kathy! This is a wonderful prayer
Thank you Kathy this is a great Prayer Guide. I used it to pray for India too
Thank you very much for coming up with this guide.
I suggest that we also pray –
o for more people who can share their resources not only to our frontliners but also to those who are having so much difficulties to put food on their table.
o for those who are working in the Pharmacies, Supermarkets, Groceries and Banks
o for the Security Guards in all establishments
o Volunteers