FROM A SRI LANKAN CHRISTIAN: FIVE WAYS TO PRAY ABOUT THE HOLY WEEK BOMBINGS
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FROM A SRI LANKAN CHRISTIAN: FIVE WAYS TO PRAY ABOUT THE HOLY WEEK BOMBINGS
Five ways to pray about the Sri Lankan Holy Week bombings of Christians
From Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka.
While it may seem foolish to spend time praying when there is a crisis around us, this is the most powerful thing God’s people can do in a national crisis (2 Kings 19). We need to mobilize individual and corporate prayer among Christians.
1. For Holy-Love
Please pray that the church would act with maturity, reflecting the holy-love of God: on the one hand, insisting that the authorities will carry out a thoroughgoing investigation and will punish the wrongdoers; and on the other hand, personally and corporately showing love to all, including our enemies. We cannot afford to let hatred blunt our witness. God will judge the wicked, and he will do that often through government institutions. Our belief in the doctrine of judgment takes away our bitterness over gross sinfulness like this. On our part, we do what we can do, and that is to love our enemies.
2. For Faithfulness
Pray that the church would faithfully carry out its calling to be an agent of healing in broken situations. Individually, we can get close to suffering people. I prayed with my Hindu neighbor this morning when he came home to tell me that his sister had died in the blast. We also can get involved in a more corporate way in bigger projects.
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3. For Healing
Pray for the injured and for their speedy recovery, and pray for the medical services to do their work well.
Pray also for the emotionally scarred and for their steady recovery. This is a time when we can be agents of the God of all comfort through our listening and ministering (2 Corinthians 1:3–4).
4. For Comfort and Strength
Pray for God’s comfort and strength to the many Christian and non-Christian people who have been devastated by the loss of their loved ones.
5. Against Unrest
Pray that extremist forces would not use these incidents to cause unrest in the country. Christians can act as moderating agents because, while we may be enraged by what happened, we are freed from bitterness as we know that a just God who controls history is greater than the problems.
We look at everything in life through the lens of our belief in a God who is holy-love. We know that he judges the wicked, and so we are not bitter. We know that he loves the world and that we are called to be agents of that love. This drives us to action. But we don’t do so with a defeatist attitude. We know that God is building his kingdom, culminating in the return of Christ, and that our actions are building blocks in this process.
Holy-love must win in the end! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:20).
(From Desiring God, written by Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka.)
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Comments
Y DO THE SO CALLED EXTREMISTS ATTACK CHRISTIANS ?
THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION ! AND THERE CANNOT BE ! dindooohindoo
BUT THERE IS A RATIONALISATION OF THE REASON ! THE EXTREMISTS ACT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THEIR REASON – WHICH IS THEIR SENSE PERCEPTION AND WHICH EXTENDS ONLY UPTO THE QURAN AND POSITS OF ISLAMIC THEOLOGIANS (WHICH IS FAIR AS THE THEOLOGIANS
HAVE A WIDER AMBIT OF SENSE PERCEPTION)
IF A MUSLIM SAYS THAT HE ACCEPTS CHRISTIAN-ET AS A RELIGION – THEN HE IS EITHER A FOOL OR A COWARD OR BOTH (AS PER ISLAMIC THEOOGIANS) !
IN ISLAM THE CHRISTIAN-ET OF PAUL AND THE NT IS A FRAUD AND FALSITY – PERIOD ! There can be NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT (AGAIN – AS PER ISLAMIC THEOLOGIANS) !
THE PUNISHMENT FOR HERESY AND BLASPHEMY IS DEATH AS PER TORAH, TALMUD AND OT !
IT IS THAT ELEMENTARY ! BUT IT IS AGAINST ALL NOIRMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
AND THIS IS THE PROOF OF WHAT ISLAMIC SCRIPTURES THINK OF CHRIST-IAN-ET ! ANY MUSLIM WHO DENIES IT – IS ON SHEESHA !
THIS IS WHAT IT STATES – IT CAN BE DEBATED – BUT THIS IS WHAT IT SAYS ! THE QURAN AND THE BARNABUS BIBLE SEALS THE TRUTH OF JESUS – FROM BIRTH TO RESURRECTION AND RETURN ! HAVING SAID THAT – CHRISTIAN-ET HAD DONE A LOT OF GOOD IN THE WORLD – BUT THAT DOES NOT DILUTE THE FACT THAT IT IS THE CREATIVE FICTION OF 1 MAN – PAUL (THIS BEING THE POSIT OF ISLAMIC THEOLOGIANS).dindooohindoo
CASE 1 – JESUS IS NOT GOD AND NO DEATH AND RESURRECTION
The Quran says in Surah 61:14
O ye who believe! Be Allah’s helpers, even as Jesus son of Mary said unto the disciples: Who are my helpers for Allah ? They said: We are Allah’s helpers.And a party of the Children of Israel believed, while a party disbelieved. Then We strengthened those who believed against their foe, and they became the uppermost. So we strengthened those who believed from the two tribes of Bani Israel over their enemies, those who disbelieved in Muhammad, peace be upon him, for what he came to attest to them, that is that Jesus is the slave of Allah and his Messenger, and to expose the lies of those who say that he is God, and those who say that he is the son of Allah the Most High, so they (the believing tribe) have been made victorious over the disbelieving enemies.
CASE 2 – PAUL IS A FRAUD
Shaykhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah:
This is just like what Paul fabricated when he entered into the Religion of Christianity in order to corrupt the Religion of the Christians.
Ash-Shahratain (d. 1153), a theologian of the Asharite school, echoes the above words of Ibn Taymiyyah by stating that:
Paul, however, disordered his affair, made himself (Peter’s) partner, altered the basis of his knowledge, and mixed it with the argument of the philosophers and the (evil) suggestion of his heart.
CASE 3 – PAUL IS NEITHER A PROPHET NOR A SEER NOR A MESSENGER
Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari,Volume 4, Book 55, Number 651:
Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “I am the nearest of all the people to the son of Mary, and all the prophets are paternal brothers , and there has been no prophet between me and him (i.e. Jesus).”
The word used is “nearest” of all … – which would exclude the 12 Apostles as well as Mary. Then it says “… no prophets….”
WONDER BAR !
may You numb the pains of the affected families and let Your divine Presence be with them; show forth Thy glory Lord. in Jesus Name.
True Holy Love is FOR our enemies, NOT OF them! And is shown by how much more grief we have for their pain, driving them to this evil, then grief we have for our own pain! While we pray to see a miracle of God in finding a way to keep them from wiping their feet on us! By our having a way to wash their feet instead
The Bible warns us that before He returns to bring us home, there will be persecutions, weather changes and migrations of people and animals. This may be the beginning of the end of life as we know it. Be prepared people. The Lord, Jesus, will come without warning.
Pray for the Persecuted Church “as though you were/are One With Them.”
Ask yourself, “What would I do for them/pray for them
IF I loved them?”
Even though there has been much pain & destruction, God we know you are watching all
of this. Nothing escapes your eyes, so have mercy, rescue those who do not know
anything about YOU…..let this be a time of harvest of souls amidst the suffering!!
A well-thought out biblical, Christ-like response and piece of advice.