Wednesday, June 18, 2008

This week I have been struggling…
Struggling with my thoughts and emotions in light of all the ‘bad stuff’ happening close to where I live.
In the last few weeks one man was shot, another old lady beaten in her own house and left for dead, and then another lady run over after her bag was stolen.
To be honest that sucks!
And I am not happy about it!!!
In fact I am spewing…

My immediate human reaction is I want revenge.
I want to ‘deal’ to these ‘scam bags’ for what they have taken away from us.
But as I continue to think, continue to pray...I don’t think God wants me to go on a ‘holy’ shooting rampage.
At the same time I don’t think God is thrilled if I just throw my hands up and give in without at least doing something.

So what do I do? What do you do?

The Bible says this intriguing thing in Ephesians chapter 6
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

To be honest it is hard to think sometimes that this is not just an earthly issue.
That in fact it is spiritual as well.
That the issues in my part of the world aren’t just bad people doing bad things. It is also a bad devil doing bad things.
As Christians we need to be aware what is going on, so that we can respond the right way.
Personally I don’t think me walking around my neighbourhood waving a banner and screaming and yelling is going to make much difference to make it safer.
I think the answer is so simple that we don’t want to do it because it seems too simple.
We have just got to PRAY!

We need to fight in prayer for what we want and value.
It isn’t just going to get handed to us on a plate. Salvation has been...but this stuff is where we get to get into the game and be Jesus on this earth...right here...right now.

The Bible even says that our prayer is Powerful and Effective!
It is not lacking in power, lacking in ability to change things.
If you need proof that it works, check out the Transformations videos that were around a few years ago.They documented how small groups of people decided to simply pray and seek God for their neighbourhood, city or generation. And time after time God did something dramatic.

So what is next?
Over to you really…
You can sit there waiting on the next headline to show up or you can be part of changing our world for the better, you can start by praying.
Suze and I are starting up prayer walks next week around our community.
Tomorrow morning we start our monthly early morning prayer meeting which we would love to invite you to be part of. 6:30am @ Elim House...and we even offer you breakfast :)

Get in the game guys.
Let’s pray and change some stuff!

Something to think about...

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