There is so much evil in the world right now. Satan is having a field day on planet earth.
You’ve seen this image…
That’s James Foley, a New Hampshire native. He was a 40-year-old freelancer for an online news outlet. He was on assignment when he disappeared on November 22, 2012 in northwest Syria, near the border with Turkey. He was captured by ISIS and beheaded earlier this week.
It’s hard to even type that word: “beheaded.” But, that’s what happened and it’s evil. In case you don’t know ISIS stands for: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. They are terrorists of the most despicable order. They need Jesus in a desperate way. They believe they are doing the will of Allah (whom they often call: God), but you understand that Allah doesn’t exist. He is a figment of the imagination of Satan as given to a man named Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. Only Yahweh lives. Yahweh (Jehovah) of the Bible is the ONLY God. No others exist. Satan is the author and originator of ALL other “gods.” Satan is the Great Deceiver and seeks to counterfeit God.
ISIS believes in what is known as the “caliphate.” It is pronounced: “Kayla-fate.” Think of a girl named “Kayla” and the “fate” of trapped animal. A caliphate is an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as a caliph or a “successor” – to Muhammad. A true caliphate would be a world-wide sovereign state where Islam rules.
ISIS has sought to take over in Syria and Iraq and they have made claims that they will place the flag of Islam in the White House. Currently President Obama has authorized jets to target and blow up ISIS strongholds in Iraq to weaken their organization. In retaliation, they killed journalist Foley.
ISIS is following the same path as the Nazi’s of Germany. They are killing people in Iraq by the thousands. They round them up by the truck load…
…unload them…and then…
…they shoot them in the head with a pistol or rifle before kicking their bodies into a river or mass grave. Earlier this week, I watched a video sent to me from a Christian man who obtained footage of one of these mass killings. It turned my stomach. It was a 4 1/2 minute video of evil. I cried after I watched it. Those images will stay with me for a long time.
Those images were gut-wrenching and they literally brought me to my knees. I am praying like I never have before for people I’ve never met. I’m praying for the innocent like journalist Foley and I’m praying for this little boy…
He is an 11-year-old son of an ISIS soldier. He is being trained to be a killer. I pray for him and his family and for the Lord to touch them with His love and mercy. But, somebody has to tell them. Somebody has to pray for them. I know it’s hard, but we must!
You see, sin is sin.
This man might be a sinner for all we know.
I have no idea. I just pulled his picture off the internet. The point is this. Sin is sin. Whether it’s men dressed in fatigues toting rifles or men dressed in a business suit carrying an I-pad. Sin is sin and evil is evil in the eyes of God. Our job as Christians (as ambassadors) is to do all we can to spread the Gospel. That’s our job. It should rise above everything else. In other words, if someone gave you $100 out of the blue…
…would you spend it on yourself? Go get a good meal? Buy a nice shirt? Or would you use it for the kingdom of Christ and try to reach people for Jesus? It’s a hard question. My tendency is to be selfish. I believe that’s probably true for all of us. It’s innate. We would probably want to spend the money on ourselves. So, we’ll have to continue to train ourselves to live for the kingdom to come and not make life on this earth our “kingdom” that we’re living for.
As Christians we are called to love whenever everyone else is living in hate. As the old song says, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love…yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
But it’s hard isn’t it? It’s hard to love people who kill with no conscience. But, that’s what the Romans did to Jesus…
And what did He say?
“Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Mary, might would have cried out: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN! THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY’RE DOING! THEY ARE KILLING YOU!”
But, that’s what makes Jesus different. That’s what makes Him God! He loved us enough to take all of our nasty, rotten, filthy, heinous sin upon Himself and die in our place. Even his place…
and his place…
and yes…
my place too.
Amazing love! Amazing grace!
Yes, there is horrible and unspeakable evil in this world and it will only get worse. That’s why as Christians we will have to be stronger and stronger to stand in this world for Christ. But standing looks a lot like this…
That’s right. Standing best looks like praying.
At our church, we are calling our people to a season of Fasting and Prayer the week of September 7-14.
The only way we can break mighty strongholds in this world and in our lives and the lives of hardened and evil people is through prayer and fasting. Won’t you join us?
Below is what I’ve shared with our church over the last couple of Sundays about fasting and prayer. It just happens to be what I believe is the best response to evil in the world today.
Breaking Strongholds-Prayer and Fasting
The week of Sept 7-14, 2014 we will be fasting as a congregation. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that has been largely neglected in our indulgent society. But it is a biblical practice and helps focus and intensify prayer. Perhaps the following notes will provide a starting point for your own study of this topic in God’s Word and a new, or renewed practice of fasting for God to work in powerful ways in our day.
Definition–Fasting is a Christian’s voluntary abstinence from food and other legitimate enjoyments for spiritual purposes. “To make the matter complete, we would add that fasting, if we conceive of it truly, must not only be confined to the question of food and drink; fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some spiritual purpose.” -D. Martin Lloyd-Jones “Whenever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer.” -John Calvin Fasting helps the believer to concentrate the mind and body on spiritual concerns so that fervent, extra-ordinary prayer might be given to those concerns. Various kinds of fasts are mentioned in the Bible:
Again, the week of Sept 7-14, 2014 we will be fasting as a congregation. You pick the day that you want to fast and how many meals you feel led to do so. Most will enter into this as a normal fast. Others will engage in a partial fast. Your physical and medical health should be taken into consideration before fasting. Even those who for medical and health reasons should not abstain from food can abstain from other legitimate enjoyments such as, TV, internet browsing, recreation, entertainment, etc. Fasting Should Be Done for a Purpose: -To Strengthen Prayer (Ezra 8:3) -To Seek God’s Guidance (Judges 20:26, Acts 14:23) -To Express Grief (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Samuel 1:11-12; 1 Jn. 1:9; 1 Sam. 20:34) -To Seek Divine Deliverance/Protection (2 Chron. 20:3-4; Ezra 8:21-23; Esther 4:16) -To Express Repentance and a Return to God (1 Sam. 7:6; Joel 2:12; Jonah 3:5-8) -To Humble Oneself before God (Ps. 35:13) -To Express Concern for the Word of God (Neh. 1:3-4; Dan. 9:3) -To Overcome Temptation and Dedicate Oneself to God (Matt. 4:1-2) -To Express Love and Devotion to God (Luke. 2:37; Zechariah 7:5) We will be fasting to break spiritual strongholds of sin in our lives and for the Gospel to break through in the hearts of loved ones, friends, co-workers and people the Lord has put on our hearts to pray for their salvation. As we fast and pray, we are not seeking to twist God’s arm to do what we ask, but simply saying, “Dear Lord, we desire to be holy and to see souls saved more than we seek to feed our appetites.” He honors that type of commitment and earnest petition. Let us come boldly and expectantly before His throne! |