Fast and Pray

By: American Decency Staff

As Christians who stand firm help to bolster up other believers in doing right, so evil emboldens more evil.

Not long after New York voted to legalize abortions up to birth and after a New Mexico committee did the same thing, other states like Rhode Island and Virginia are jumping on the bandwagon of death, with Virginia’s governor making it plain that infanticide is acceptable.

Disconnects abound as the Democratic Virginia delegate, who recently sponsored a bill that would allow the termination of a pregnancy up to 40 weeks, is also the chief sponsor of a bill that aims to protect insects such as “gypsy moths” and “cankerworms.” (LifeNews.com)

It’s also amazing that on one hand, states like Rhode Island can protect fetuses as human; and yet on the other hand, do their best to permit the murder of that same child. They see the womb as both a safe haven and an extermination chamber.

For example, according to LifeNews.com,  “the ‘willful killing’ law that the ACLU opposes is a fetal homicide law that does not even involve abortion. Rhode Island is one of 38 states that recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn baby as homicide in at least some circumstances. These laws provide justice for pregnant mothers whose unborn babies are killed by abusive partners, drunken drivers or others whose illegal actions cause the death of the unborn baby.” 

But other states are taking a stand for life as they ban most abortions with a “heartbeat bill;” Ohio and Iowa are two such recent examples. The problem is this: whether a child is 6 minutes, 6 weeks, 6 months, 9 months after conception or after birth, it is still a person made in the image of God and is deserving of respect, life, and love as such. We should be just as horrified about abortion at 6 weeks as we find ourselves being at 9 months, or even outside the womb.

The humanness of a child in the womb is not dependent upon how the mother or others feel about it. The unborn child is a human life worthy of dignity, respect, and life because it has been given life by God and created in His image. No one can “legalize” his/her murder any more than congress could remove God from His eternal throne by voting 100% that He is NOT God, not sovereign, or that He doesn’t exist.

There is no need for me to go on any further here about right and wrong, legal and illegal, or any other arguments. If you embrace life you know this is wrong; if you embrace death you will either deny life or make exceptions for it. “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.” (Rom. 3:4)

Instead, let me address the remainder of this article to those of you who embrace life and who identify with Jesus Christ in His atoning death and His resurrected life.

We are called to be people of prayer. There are many things to pray for. As quickly as one bill is approved or defeated, another will take its place; we must continue in prayer. Pray for lawmakers, that God will move upon their hearts and minds. Pray for those who would seek to harm their child and the doctors and nurses who would play a part in this atrocious action. Pray for our nation, a nation that murders its unborn children, confuses the young with “drag queen story hour,” brings further confusion to teens through promoting gender fluidity and the LGBT agenda while firmly standing against Biblical moral values, and brings confusion to the minds of young and elder adults through the rejection of time tested truths while embracing socialism, communism, and Islam. PRAY FOR OUR NATION.

Put feet to your prayers! Stand for the absolute truths of the Bible and the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. As we stand, we must do so in a winsome manner. Throwing verbal assaults and shouting will not convince anyone of anything except that we are more similar to them and not like Christ. We have been shown extreme amounts of grace and mercy; we must be outlets of that same grace and mercy to those who are obviously lost and like sheep without a shepherd. Speak the truth in love. Help others to see the whole gospel message, a message that includes forgiveness and grace as well as the warning of judgment and damnation. If we would hope to be that kind of person we must be much in the presence of our Lord—spending time in prayer and devotions.

Finally, one tangible way that we can privately put feet to our prayers is by fasting. Fasting is much more than just not eating. It brings to our lives a brokenness and a spiritual emphasis and desperation that seeks “…to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.” (Isaiah 58:6) This is the kind of fast that the Lord desires.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, our nation is in terrible trouble and we are experiencing perilous times. Let us fast and pray, repent from whatever the Spirit points out in our lives, humble ourselves before the Lord and seek His face. We stand in desperate need of God to hear our prayers, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

Without a gospel awakening in America and a revival in her churches, we are done for. Have we passed the tipping point? I don’t know. But I do know that our families, our churches, and our nation need to see committed, faithful Christians living lives of devotion and holiness to the glory of God. May our words be seasoned with salt, may our lives be a living Light, and let us stand having done all to stand in this evil day with a ready response for the Hope that lies within us.

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