PRAY: Prayer for Those Dealing with Destruction
Photo © 2013, Jill Harvell
Social media personalizes the news. Not only do we read headlines or see rolling video of natural disasters or other current events, but we can now read our friends’ personal insights and pleas via Twitter, Facebook, and more.
Taiphoon Haiyan happened thousands of miles away from my Florida home, but it has a personal connection for me. Close friends have served as missionaries there for many years. Others with whom I’ve recently reconnected have served there almost as long. And still other friends count the Philippines as their homeland.
What does this mean? When I pray for the Philippines, I’m praying for my friends and the people they love. I’m praying for their families, their cities, their homes. Personal insight helps make my prayers fervent and powerful.
Whether or not you know someone in the Philippines, I know you know someone dealing with destruction. Because we live in a beautiful world scarred by evil, we see its evidence all around us. Marriages shatter. Innocent children and adults receive cancer diagnoses. Illness or unemployment strikes, and destruction blasts family landscapes with as much power as a hurricane or typhoon.
Will you join me in praying those we love through the storms and their aftermath?
Lord, today I want to lift up those dealing with destruction. I thank You that You are the absolute opposite of that. You came to give life, and that abundantly. You came to heal and lift up. You are mighty to save. Thank You.
Loving and merciful Father, today I ask You to intervene in the lives of those dealing with destruction from Taiphoon Haiyan. Many have lost homes. Some have lost family members. And many are miles away from family, friends, or anyone who can help.
God, meet their needs today and in the long days to come. Prepare the way before those who are hurrying to help. Make their paths straight and their road smooth. Give them insights and wisdom to make wise decisions. Give those in these places of pain access to transportation and whatever else they need. Give them the financial, mental, emotional, and spiritual resources to move forward in power. Help them face their fears with faith, their despair with hope, and their darkness with the light You bring to every situation.
Most of all, God, we ask that You show Yourself strong, that those dealing with destruction would see You at every turn. We ask You to bring glory to Your name as Your grace unfolds across the Philippines and across every life, every heart. May we look up from the storm’s devastation to see Your rainbow of promise. In Your holy, almighty, all-knowing name I pray—AMEN.
Here’s a link to a news story featuring two of my friends who serve in the Philippines.
Do you have connections to the Philippines? Are you praying for others who are also dealing with destruction? Feel free to share your prayer requests here or email me via the “Contact” link at the top of the page. Our prayers are powerful as we join them together in Him.
