The Least and the Most We Can Do

What can we do?

I feel so helpless.

It seems like nothing will ever change.

Legitimate feelings we’ve all experienced. Especially in the aftermath of senseless school shootings. Tragic bombings. Serial murders. Our minds simply cannot comprehend the horror, the random injustice, and we’re overwhelmed by the MASSIVEness of evil.

We feel inept. Impotent. Powerless.

So what do we, as Christ-followers, do in the face of such wanton devastation?

We pray. We fall on our faces and we pray our hearts out. For innocent victims. For the wounded. For our fallen world. For the families who will face an empty chair at the dinner table this heart-wrenching night.  Then we pray some more.

Most certainly we should get up and act, also, but our actions are clarity-dependent on prayer as well. The bottom line of our every thought, political view, and social behavior is shaped by those still-small whisperings from our Creator.

“He has never let you down, never looked the other way … never wandered off to do to do his own thing; he has been right there, listening” (Psalm 22:24 MSG).

It breaks my heart to hear clueless people in the media, from the bitter fog of their own anguished ineptitude, attack the “futility” of prayer as a response to crisis situations. How dare those worthless Christians call for prayer! Some call it a crutch for those too weak to actually DO anything, no better than a straw broom when a tire iron is needed.

But you and I, who have seen firsthand the mighty hand of God move in our own lives, know better. We know that prayer is the least and the most we can do. It’s the only true recourse we have against the powers of darkness in this world. Physical battles are won because of spiritual battles that rage unseen.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NASB).

There are over 400 verses about prayer in the Bible. Why? Because it’s the most powerful force humankind has at its disposal and Papa God wants that badly for us to pick up what He’s putting down:

• Prayer is crucial.
• Prayer is strength in unlimited supply.
• Prayer changes things.

For believers, prayer is the very air that we breathe. Constant communication with our heavenly Father is essential for day-to-day persevering. Prayer is not just spiritual punctuation; it’s every word of our life’s story.

“Instead of worrying, pray” (Philippians 4:6 MSG). 

Like the pureness of faith exhibited by my wee grandson Breydon in the photo above, who kept right on unabashedly pouring out his heart to Papa God long after everyone else got up and left, I intend to keep right on praying for those in need, for my country, and even for potential “monsters” in the grip of the Great Deceiver who might be contemplating unspeakable evil.

How about you, my friend? Will you commit to petitioning the Almighty with me daily?

“Call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you” (Jeremiah 29:12 NIV).

 

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