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Prayers of War: A Pondering by Holly Woodbridge
I have been watching my sisters and brothers in Christ in war-torn Ukraine by Facebook. My heart breaks anew each day as they share the horrors and death they experience. My heart is amazed as I watch their courage and care for one another while the sound of missile strikes fills the air. My heart is challenged as they show up at church singing praise all the while facing what I have never had to face. One of the Nazarene Ukrainian pastors that I follow, shared a post of Ukrainians, many in bomb shelters, reading Psalm 31. I have read this Psalm many times, but it came alive in a way I have never experienced. David was a warrior and he often wrote prayers of war. The Ukrainians are in the middle of a war. Watch and listen as they read Psalm 31. I have pasted the link below, or you may read it for yourself as you connect the reality of this war with the words of David. Watch “Ukrainian Church Prays Psalm 31” on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/683930091?ref=em-share I am thankful for the Psalms that give words to my heart’s cry. I need words to help me pray these days. Too often I just don’t know what to say. Here is another prayer I came across that helped me put words to my heart’s cry, written by J. D. Walt of Seed Bed. Would you join me in crying out to the Father? “We come before you today to declare Peace, in the name Jesus, over the war taking place in Eastern Europe. We boldly ask you to establish and strengthen the bond of Peace across the Body of Christ in Russia and Ukraine, draw near to all the followers of Jesus scattered across these nations and bind them together in supernatural love that moves with the power of the Gospel. Let your Kingdom break forth in demonstrations of Peace in ways that confound the ways of sin, darkness, death and evil. We pray for you to intervene in the hearts and minds of the leaders of Russia, to turn from their invasion and to seek Peace. We pray you would strengthen the invading soldiers with the resolve of human decency and compassion and a miraculous empowerment to lay down their arms in the face of such egregious destruction and loss of innocent life. We pray for the leaders of Ukraine, to protect and preserve them from harm and to fill them with such a spirit of travail and prayer that it touches Heaven and changes the course of life on earth for their country. We pray for the leaders of governments around the world, for wisdom and courage for the facing of this hour. We rebuke the spirit of fear that would cower in the face of evil rather than confront it. We cry out for an awakening of the church around the world, to realize both our responsibility and our power to intervene and exercise our Kingdom authority for such a time as this. We pray you would leave in the wake of this manmade disaster and all its ruins the seeds of a great awakening and the raising up of a generation who would rebuild the ruins and who would be called the repairer of broken walls, and the restorer of streets to dwell in. Finally, and most urgently, we pray for the children who are crying and afraid, many of whom may be lost and alone, wondering if they will ever see their fathers again, longing for the safety of their homes, anxious about their next meal, afraid for their very survival. Holy Spirit send wave on wave of compassion in the midst of trauma, light in darkness, and the peace only love can bring in the midst of utter madness. We ask these things, declaring the things that are not yet as though they were already, believing in your power to do beyond all we can ask or even imagine, and trusting in the strong name of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen."
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AuthorNotes from the Staff @The Woods Archives
March 2023
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