Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for bringing this heavy burden before the Lord so faithfully and with such detail. Your heart to see all people saved, wars ended, the persecuted remembered, and the gospel freely proclaimed is exactly what God calls us to in prayer.
Scripture tells us to offer prayers, petitions, intercession and thanksgiving for all people and for all who are in authority, so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and dignity, and so that the message of salvation may go forward. That is good and pleases God, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Your intercession for rulers, military leaders, those who serve, and for civilians caught in conflict is right in line with that calling. It is not a small thing. Bringing the needs of your community, your nation and the world before God is at the heart of what prayer is meant to be.
You mentioned the staggering numbers of those killed and wounded and the suffering of believers in many lands where persecution now rivals the worst times in history. It is right to groan over these things. The Spirit Himself helps us in our weakness and makes intercession for us according to the will of God, even with groanings that cannot be put into words. The Father who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, and that groaning you feel as you see the condition of the world is taken up by Him and shaped into prayer that aligns with His will. And we have confidence because Jesus Himself lives to make intercession for us at the right hand of the Father. He is not condemning you. He has taken your guilt to His own account, washed and cleansed you, and He presents you as a brother and child of God, asking that you share with Him the honor of His eternal kingdom.
Jesus told us that wars and rumors of wars must take place, but the end is not yet. Those things, along with famine and death, follow in sequence, yet even while they happen God is still working out His purposes. History shows that persecution has never destroyed the true church. It refines it. It separates what is real from what is not, it causes faith to grow and love for one another to abound, and it binds believers together. In the earliest days, heavy persecution in Jerusalem scattered believers throughout the surrounding regions, and wherever they went they preached the word, so the gospel spread. The church grew exceedingly under that pressure. Where the church has waned is not under persecution but when pressure eases and compromise enters. The enemy has never been able to destroy the church by attacking it from outside. He is far more effective when he joins it and brings in compromise. Nothing, not tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or peril or sword, can separate those who belong to Christ from His love.
That does not make the suffering less real. Scripture also says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, because as His people we are strangers and pilgrims in a world that is in rebellion against God. And God does not overlook what persecutors do. Those who inflict suffering on His people will face His righteous judgment when He is revealed.
So we pray as you have prayed. We ask the Lord to restrain evil, to bring confusion to evil plans, to encamp His angels around those who fear Him and to deliver them, and to lead our leaders and those who serve under them away from temptation and deliver them from the evil one. We pray for wisdom and counsel for all in authority, for protection over those in harm's way, for a speedy and humane end to these wars where possible, and above all for open doors for the gospel to be proclaimed, heard and received. For the ultimate answer to war and persecution is not only a ceasefire but the fulfillment of the Great Commission, that people in every nation would hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ alone and be reconciled to God.
We also remember with you the body of Christ that is suffering and often forgotten, believers who risk their lives daily to share Christ, who are beaten, imprisoned and killed. When we remember them and help them, we are remembering our own family, and they in turn pray for us.
Be encouraged that God hears and delights in mercy. He used the intercession of Moses as the reason to show mercy, and He delights to answer the prayers of His people offered in compassion and love for the lost. That compassion is the secret and source of true intercession. Keep bringing these burdens before the throne of grace with thanksgiving. God is trustworthy to hear, and He will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Father, we lift to You all who are in authority and all who serve, those in government and those in the armed forces, and every civilian caught in these conflicts. Grant wisdom, restraint and protection, surround them with Your heavenly help, and frustrate the schemes of darkness. Comfort and strengthen Your persecuted people, let their faith grow and their witness spread, and let their suffering result in many more coming to Christ. Restrain retaliation and lawlessness, and grant peace where it will allow Your gospel to go forward freely and openly. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our great High Priest who ever lives to intercede for us. Amen.
Scripture tells us to offer prayers, petitions, intercession and thanksgiving for all people and for all who are in authority, so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and dignity, and so that the message of salvation may go forward. That is good and pleases God, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Your intercession for rulers, military leaders, those who serve, and for civilians caught in conflict is right in line with that calling. It is not a small thing. Bringing the needs of your community, your nation and the world before God is at the heart of what prayer is meant to be.
You mentioned the staggering numbers of those killed and wounded and the suffering of believers in many lands where persecution now rivals the worst times in history. It is right to groan over these things. The Spirit Himself helps us in our weakness and makes intercession for us according to the will of God, even with groanings that cannot be put into words. The Father who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, and that groaning you feel as you see the condition of the world is taken up by Him and shaped into prayer that aligns with His will. And we have confidence because Jesus Himself lives to make intercession for us at the right hand of the Father. He is not condemning you. He has taken your guilt to His own account, washed and cleansed you, and He presents you as a brother and child of God, asking that you share with Him the honor of His eternal kingdom.
Jesus told us that wars and rumors of wars must take place, but the end is not yet. Those things, along with famine and death, follow in sequence, yet even while they happen God is still working out His purposes. History shows that persecution has never destroyed the true church. It refines it. It separates what is real from what is not, it causes faith to grow and love for one another to abound, and it binds believers together. In the earliest days, heavy persecution in Jerusalem scattered believers throughout the surrounding regions, and wherever they went they preached the word, so the gospel spread. The church grew exceedingly under that pressure. Where the church has waned is not under persecution but when pressure eases and compromise enters. The enemy has never been able to destroy the church by attacking it from outside. He is far more effective when he joins it and brings in compromise. Nothing, not tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or peril or sword, can separate those who belong to Christ from His love.
That does not make the suffering less real. Scripture also says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, because as His people we are strangers and pilgrims in a world that is in rebellion against God. And God does not overlook what persecutors do. Those who inflict suffering on His people will face His righteous judgment when He is revealed.
So we pray as you have prayed. We ask the Lord to restrain evil, to bring confusion to evil plans, to encamp His angels around those who fear Him and to deliver them, and to lead our leaders and those who serve under them away from temptation and deliver them from the evil one. We pray for wisdom and counsel for all in authority, for protection over those in harm's way, for a speedy and humane end to these wars where possible, and above all for open doors for the gospel to be proclaimed, heard and received. For the ultimate answer to war and persecution is not only a ceasefire but the fulfillment of the Great Commission, that people in every nation would hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ alone and be reconciled to God.
We also remember with you the body of Christ that is suffering and often forgotten, believers who risk their lives daily to share Christ, who are beaten, imprisoned and killed. When we remember them and help them, we are remembering our own family, and they in turn pray for us.
Be encouraged that God hears and delights in mercy. He used the intercession of Moses as the reason to show mercy, and He delights to answer the prayers of His people offered in compassion and love for the lost. That compassion is the secret and source of true intercession. Keep bringing these burdens before the throne of grace with thanksgiving. God is trustworthy to hear, and He will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Father, we lift to You all who are in authority and all who serve, those in government and those in the armed forces, and every civilian caught in these conflicts. Grant wisdom, restraint and protection, surround them with Your heavenly help, and frustrate the schemes of darkness. Comfort and strengthen Your persecuted people, let their faith grow and their witness spread, and let their suffering result in many more coming to Christ. Restrain retaliation and lawlessness, and grant peace where it will allow Your gospel to go forward freely and openly. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our great High Priest who ever lives to intercede for us. Amen.
