{"id":4990,"date":"2014-06-23T00:39:47","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T00:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=4990"},"modified":"2014-06-23T02:55:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T02:55:25","slug":"is-it-appropriate-to-pray-about-current-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=4990","title":{"rendered":"Is it appropriate to pray about current events?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it appropriate to pray about current events in our time? Sometimes, because of the intensity of everything going on in the world, you may decide that it’s too much\u2014I’ll just let God handle it; after all, He’s sovereign.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned that when I don\u2019t gauge what I\u2019m hearing in the news\u00a0by the Word of God, a sense of despair can creep in, seeking to weigh me down with fear, worry, and hopelessness. The feeling of oppression that accompanies being overwhelmed can constrict your faith and pressurize you into backing away from praying for our nation. Like the Israelites of long ago, you might feel like a grasshopper before the seemingly insurmountable circumstances facing the country and exploding around the world,\u00a0and as a result, this can cause you to recoil from praying about what’s going on.<\/p>\n

In the Bible, the majority of the men sent in to spy out Canaan were overwhelmed by what they saw. They said, \u201cWe are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us<\/em>\u201d (Numbers 13:31b).<\/p>\n

And yet Caleb declared, \u201cWe should by all means go up and possess the land, for we will surely overcome it<\/em>\u201d (Numbers 13:30b). Because of his good report,\u00a0Caleb\u00a0was commended by God who described him as having a different spirit in following after Him fully (see Numbers 14:24).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve\u00a0heard several Christians say that they don\u2019t like to intercede about current events because they’re\u00a0concerned they\u00a0might\u00a0pray against the will of God. \u201cAfter all,\u201d they confide, \u201cwe\u2019re in the end times. The Bible says that things\u00a0will go from bad to worse. If we pray for things to change, aren\u2019t we in danger of praying against the plan of God?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus said that the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10), and\u00a0many of the events we witness today\u00a0absolutely<\/em>\u00a0involve stealing, killing, and destroying.\u00a0When you pray to inject light and truth into situations or pray to hinder or thwart evil, you are not praying against God but against the author of stealing, killing, and destroying\u2014the devil. Of course, as you pray, be alert to the Holy Spirit\u2014\u00a0He knows the details more intimately than you ever could,\u00a0so let Him direct how you pray.<\/p>\n

You may not be able to impact every<\/em> current event going on in the world, but if you don’t<\/em> pray, one thing is certain\u2014you won’t impact anything<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You may be\u00a0familiar with the story about the man who walked down a beach\u00a0after thousands of starfish washed ashore. He stooped frequently as he walked to pick up another\u00a0“sea star”\u00a0to throw it back into the waves. A companion, seeing the\u00a0multitude of beached starfish in both directions, asked him, “Look at all those things! Picking up a few dozen and tossing them back into the water won’t make any difference!”<\/p>\n

The man straightened back up with another starfish in his hand. Tossing it into the ocean, he replied, “It’ll make a difference to that<\/em> one!” You may not be able to impact every<\/em> current event going on in the world, but if you don’t<\/em> pray, one thing is certain\u2014you won’t impact anything<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But if you are still concerned that you might pray the wrong thing at the wrong time\u2014after all,\u00a0it may<\/em> be the end times when things will<\/em> go from bad to worse\u2014consider this: The Lord Jesus didn\u2019t condemn the man in the parable for pulling his sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath\u2014the day when all work ceased\u00a0(see Matthew 12:11-12). Instead, this man\u2019s labor of mercy\u00a0in\u00a0freeing\u00a0his innocent animal was acknowledged by Jesus as appropriate despite<\/em> timing of the Sabbath rescue. In light of this, are we called to turn a blind eye to creeping agendas of lawlessness meant to steal, kill, and destroy our neighbors and countrymen when we have been given the power in prayer to bind and to\u00a0loose? (See Matthew 18:18.)<\/p>\n

The Bible declares that you are more than a conqueror<\/em> (see Romans 8:37), even now, even when things seem to be spinning out of control. As you refuse to cast away your confidence (see Hebrews 10:35), you will find that the prayers you pray will become bolder, more targeted, and more saturated with Scripture.<\/p>\n

It is written in two places in the Old Testament that God sought for an intercessor but found none (Isaiah 59:16, Ezekiel 22:30). Be found of Him, willing to take a stand in prayer about those things in the nation and the world that grip your heart. Then, if Jesus does<\/em> return in your lifetime, He will be able to say that He did, indeed, find faith on the earth, for He found it in you<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?<\/em> Luke 18:8b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it appropriate to pray about current events in our time? Sometimes, because of the intensity of everything going on in the world, you may decide that it’s too much\u2014I’ll just let God handle it; after all, He’s sovereign. I\u2019ve learned that when I don\u2019t gauge what I\u2019m hearing in the news\u00a0by the Word of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayerperspective","category-praying-for-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4990"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5020,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions\/5020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}