Prayer is not empty gesture, but how Christians first respond to tragedy.
This morning, most Americans are waking up to news of another mass shooting—this time in Las Vegas—and, this time, the worst in our country’s history.
We will sit in front of the TV, our regular morning routine put on hold as we see the all-too-familiar images of police setting up barricades, victims being evacuated, and a slowly increasing casualty count scrolling across the bottom of the screen. In our shock, we often default to news consumption, waiting on every bit of information:
Who is the shooter?
What were his motivations?
Are more people still in danger?
What about the wounded?
What does this mean moving forward?
These questions are not bad, but let me propose for Christians that after we have learned of the shooting, we turn away from news consumption and turn towards prayer. In our fear and sense of powerlessness in these events, our faith reminds us that God is sovereign, that he is loving towards his people, and that he can turn even these horrific acts of evil towards his glory (Gen. 50:20).
I wrote in response to San Bernadino that prayer is often depicted as “not enough” or, even worse, as political posturing. But Scripture both models and teaches that prayer is the lifeblood of Christian action.
I don’t know all the details and I am not in Las Vegas, but I do have a heavenly father who hears my prayers as I cry out to him.
Often, in times like this, we don’t know what we can do and we feel helpless. But the first step is always a desire to do something. And this begins with a desire to pray. We’ve got some very important work we can do—the work of prayer.
We need not be passive in this time of tragedy, but active in prayer for our world and for the body of Christ. ...
from
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