It's been a horrible week!
by MTS Associate Director Michael Langer
It’s been a horrible week.
Just over a week ago, 4 people were killed and 13 others injured during a mass shooting in Gilroy, California. Then, on Sunday, there were two more mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Sadly, it seems unlikely they will be the final mass shootings of the year.
The Bible makes one thing very clear, in the face of suffering, oppression, and horror, God’s people are called to pray. In fact, praying is always the MOST that we can do. In prayer, we take our pain, frustration, confusion, and our requests to our loving Father who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Prayer is so important that Jesus made it a point to teach his early followers how to pray during his Sermon on the Mount,
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13)
So, we must pray! We should take time right now to pray this prayer, and cry out in petition that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven and that we would be delivered from evil.
There is, however, growing frustration with the phrase, “thoughts and prayers.” Rightly so.
While prayer is always the MOST we can do, it is rarely ALL we should do.
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