A Call To Pray

An aerial view of a refugee camp in the Middle East is etched in my mind from a recent news report. It reminds me of a cemetery. There are over 3 million Syrian refugees, and nearly 2 million persons in Iraq, displaced from the conflict just this year. It is not hard to imagine the plight of these who inhabit those tents, in row after row. Day by day they are confined there by their circumstance, dependent on someone to supply food for survival while adults wonder when they can move back- or forward to a secure place. They may have little hope or vision for their next step. Children with parents- parents if they are lucky to even have a mother, perhaps usually hungry and sometimes sick or starving. It seems they would become despondent as they wait and wait, often with little food for survival. I suppose some are dying as this drags on and on. Meanwhile fighting among groups vying for power perpetuates this misery. No one is winning- everyone is losing. No one has any answers for the problem. Perhaps the most we can do is PRAY.

• Pray for those trying to sustain life from the UN and Relief efforts- for supplies to sustain life, and for protection to get help to the needy.
• Pray for God to reveal himself as still a God love, and give comfort for all the helpless and despondent.
• Pray for Christians to be there to share the Gospel for those who are losing confidence in the religion that is failing them, who may have visions of Jesus and a Savior for them.
• Pray for God to hasten the day of the conflict to end, that the evil plans of the warring parties will fail again and again until they give up.
• Pray for a revelation of Jesus to the whole Islamic religion, that Jesus may be seen as more than a prophet, and really the Savior of the world.
• Pray that our country will not make things worse, but that Christians here would stand up for the needs of the desperate ones who are waiting...
• For God to be a God of justice and righteousness and bring down evil rulers and warriors and raise just governments.