Can I Have Your Attention Please?

Where is God?

Once again this past week we were all horrified by a school shooting, in which seventeen innocent students and staff were killed and at least as many were injured. This reminds me that there are some of you who have had terrible personal tragedies that you are still dealing with, and others of you who have experienced such great loss that you are asking yourself how you are ever going to recover.

I wish there were a magic antidote to take away all the pain and suffering in this world, but there isn’t. I don’t know why it seems bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. People have asked me, “Where is God?” and I tell them He’s in the same place He has always been, sitting on His throne.

God gives us free will to choose how we will react to various situations, and it is in those choices we can lead others to Christ or join the bandwagon of the world. People blame God, guns or our government, but you don’t very often hear anyone blame our adversary the devil. Satan keeps doing the same thing over and over again, and we are shocked when it happens. Satan’s influence in this world is deep. After all, this is the only heaven he is ever going to get. Satan is not about to go down alone. He desires to take as many people with him as he can. He is going after the most vulnerable because they are an easy target.  Scripture states in John 10:10, “The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. It isn’t enough that he has to kill, but he tries to destroy everything in his path, including you and me.

When Tragedy Strikes

So, how do you respond when disasters and tragedies happen?

Do you shelter in place, shutting out everything and pretending it isn’t happening? Do you allow yourself to be consumed with fear that cripples your every thought? Do you react as the world reacts when you don’t know the truth or all the facts, but only go by what you read in the news, hear on the TV, or radio? The enemy loves it when we all drink from the same cup because we can all become poisoned at once. He loves when we all have the same opinion. It makes his job all that much easier. Be careful from whose cup you are drinking.

There have been as many as eighteen school shootings this year, depending on whose statistics you follow. We can’t allow ourselves to become so complacent in our thinking that we believe we can’t do anything to stop these shootings, because we can.

I hate conflict, but what I hate even more is how the enemy uses Christ-followers to do his dirty work. Share on X What are we doing? Think about this; the enemy isn’t that clever.  We can’t allow ourselves to get caught up in his tangled web of deceit or defeat.

Prayer, Revival, and Our Humility

God tells us in 2 Chronicles 7:14  “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”

Guess what? Did you read where it said “my people?” This scripture is referring to you and I. The definition of “humble: defined by Webster’s dictionary is this: to lower one’s self. This means as brothers and sisters in Christ we have to think of ourselves lower than one another. We will never fix this problem without God and to think otherwise would be foolish. There are many things which keep believers apart because of religious traditions and ideas.

God has given us the solution to the problem, but are we willing to sacrifice our pride, prejudices, and jealousies against each other for the greater good of God? God tells us if we pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, yes, brothers and sisters let’s all admit we have thought wicked thoughts at one time or another about each other, God will hear, forgive us and restore our land.

Billy Graham once said, In order to get our nation on its feet, we must get on our knees. There has never been a truer statement.

Could it be we are part of the problem? We have protests for everything, but what about prayer for everything? God will stand by His promise because He is faithful, just and true. We need an uprising of saints who will no longer stand in the shadows, but cry out to God begging for mercy and grace on behalf of our children and the generations to come if God should tarry.

We can no longer think only about what is wrong with those who are doing these horrific crimes, but we need to be thinking about what is wrong with us, that God can’t hear us?

I’m asking each of you to join me in praying continually at the top of each hour. The revival of the heart begins when we take personal action. We know the battle is real, but prayer is the most powerful weapon we can use against the enemy. There is power in numbers and when God hears all our prayers I believe that God will change our circumstances and gives us His favor. It is time for a Revival Revolution!