Dear Heavenly Father,
Our hearts are burdened and heavy with grief for the families who are experiencing such pain with the inexplicable loss of life they are experiencing at this time. We pray the Holy Spirit will overshadow them with your comforting presence.
This time. In a time when our hearts and thoughts are turning to you naturally as we celebrate your Son’s birth over 2,000 years ago to a world so desperately in need of hope and assurance for the future.
This time. Father, this is a time that once again we cry out to you with this same prayer even though this world is vastly different than before, yet still we bow before you in humility asking for hope and assurance for our future.
This time. Father, with every tragic experience we encounter, churches are once again the focal point for tears of grief, songs of healing, and messages of hope. Often, we say, “this time will be different”. We will return to God. We will place Him first. We will not allow entertainment to babysit our children, especially when its origination is from the pit of hell funneled through Hollywood.
Yet, in the past, with each passing day, for some reason we lose our sense of vigilance and shock, as we look for answers to the “why” someone would take the lives of innocent children. As we find out more and more with each passing day, we also find ways to excuse ourselves from responsibility because “we don’t have that problem”, yet not only our children, but the children of America and the world are looking for adults to show them the way, and to stop with all the “shades of gray” messages they hear.
This time. Father, this time we will pray.
Father, this time we will not only take an honest look at what our children and youth do with their spare time, but we will give them meaningful alternatives to hours of mind numbing and soul altering avenues of selfish excitement.
This time. We will teach them by example that it’s better to give than receive. We will teach them by example that a neighbor in need just could be our very own “Good Samaritan” moment. We will teach them by example that our hobbies do not mean more to us than our homes. We will teach them by example it’s honorable to exit the doors of our homes when the doors of our churches are wide open.
This time. We will share with them about a day when it was ok to pray on school intercoms or classrooms, even as they only hear about teachers praying in locked closets for the protection of their students.
Yes, Father. This time… it will be different.
In the Name of your Son, Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
– By Norm Lawrence