Just Pray

I command you, be courageous and steadfast! Do not fear nor be discouraged, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9
 
Wow; talk about the perfect words at the perfect time! As we are consumed with worry, grief and fear for our brothers and sisters in Paris it’s easy to feel discouraged.  As Americans are busy changing their Facebook profile pictures to red, white and blue to honor those lost in acts of senseless violence we struggle to do more.  Many are launching conversations about what should and shouldn’t happen with ISIS and refugees and yet in spite of all the conversation we are still left with a sense of desperation when we realize how little we can really do.
 
That’s exactly how the world would like us to think; like there is nothing we can do but the world would be wrong!  Our job is simple yet profoundly powerful; our job is to pray.  Pray for peace, pray for comfort, pray for safety but most importantly pray for the enemy.  Conversion happens when God’s love swells into action in the human heart.  Those hearts in most need of God’s grace and love are precisely the ones we need to pray for the most fervently.
 
After you peel back the layers of news to get to the truth, it becomes abundantly clear that prayer is really all we are capable of doing and it’s really the thing most truly necessary.  I can’t take out an army or charge a complex.  I can’t wage war on a terrorist cell or lead troops into a zone that needs protection but I can certainly entrust it all to the God who promises again and again to be with us through it all.  I can recognize his protection, his interaction and his plan.  I can beg for his strength, his wisdom and his comfort.  When I’m doing those things, I really am doing something powerful, helpful and productive.
 
Before you make a comment on government or terrorism or leadership, pray first.  We need to ask God for his mercy.  Trade in your fearfulness for prayerfulness.  Trade in your anger for a prayerful plea for God’s peace.  Trade in your hatred for Christ’s boundless love.  Trade in your hopelessness for God’s promise of protection and perfect justice.
 
A Seed To Plant:  Every time the situation of our world enters your mind; stop and pray, “God of love protect us.  Mighty God flood this earth with your mercy and peace.”
 
Blessings on your day!