A Call to Prayer
Today I want to take a quick moment and step outside of our typical Biblical topics, in exchange I want to instead ask you all to take a moment a pray. With each passing month it is as if the standard for things that would never happen change. A few years ago the idea of government lockdowns was unheard of in certain areas in the world; now we have seen a worldwide shut down to various degrees. The idea of forced vaccination would have been laughable, but this has come to pass. The world is steadily growing more hostile and I can’t help but be reminded of Matthew 24:6-13“6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
While we could write a post on just these verses alone, that is not what we are going to do today. Instead I want to ask our readers to carve out a moment today and throughout the coming months to pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Right now, our brothers and sisters in Ukraine are at the top of my list for prayers as the world is waiting to see who will blink first in the challenge that is facing them. Brothers and sisters in Taiwan are under severe threat of a Chinese invasion. Matthew 24 reminds me that these challenges would be prevalent in the last days, but this does not mean that we need to be frightened of the future. For us born-again believers, we have a greater future hope with Christ coming for His church. What I am asking you, our beloved readers, is to pray for strength and endurance for our fellow believers. We do not need to know each other’s names or situations to be praying for one another, we simply need to bow our heads and pray with an open heart. The Holy Spirit will guide our prayers, “26 Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27.
Today I hope that you will take a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to guide your prayers, you may be surprised at what you find yourself praying for. I also hope that as you pray, you find comfort knowing that there are other believers who are praying for you as well. Christians today need to stand together and show the world that we are not frightened by what is occurring, use our prayers and the encouragement that we receive from them as a light to guide those who are lost to Christ.
Seek the truth and encourage one another,
Alex