Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Praying Out Loud

Dear Heavenly Father,

I confess I have not been praying for Afghanistan. I don't like the way they treat their women. It is not Biblical. What are we doing there, Lord? Our troops are THE most precious and we love them and we pray for them. I was reading today that Afghanistan has been like the doormat of history. Used. Abused. Illiterate. Muddy. Dirty. Yet You, Lord, give people life and breath there. You have shown them how to survive. How to eek out a living. They are poor. Yet proud. And they are following the wrong god. They have sucked down the lie. They have had this religion forced upon them for years. A religion of slavery. What are we doing over there, Lord? What would you have us do? Kill enough of the bad guys so that they have the freedom to choose something else? Or, are we just killing enough of the bad guys to save our own skins. Freedom precious to us, Lord. You have blessed this country, and given us a wonderful beginning based on Your Word, Your principles, Your idea of nations and authority. Please give our leaders clear focus on what is best. And enable our soldiers to do the best job over there. Please protect them and guide them. And for our own son, deploying maybe in December---please arm him. Get him ready to do the best job as unto You. Please make clear to him when to share the gospel, when to give a word of encouragement, when to reach out when he sees the poverty and hopelessness all around him. Only You, Lord, can bring a spiritual change in Afghanistan. Only You, Lord, can empower our troops to remove the evil criminals so that missionaries can go in and share Jesus. I ask that our troops kill the enemy. I ask that they calibrate their weapons to be precise. And when it is time to bring our troops home, please help us do so in an orderly manner. With honor. So many have given their lives to make a difference over there. So many come back injured. So many have had numerous deployments. And our media ignores what has been going on for nine years now. Please break the liberal media. Crush them. They, too, follow the wrong god. The god of lies. Only You, Lord, can bring spiritual revival in our country to heal the divisions and erase the lies of global warming, and social experimenting. Please give us a heart for Afghanistan. Afghanistan needs Jesus. And our military needs Jesus. And our country needs Jesus. Because Jesus is coming back, and He is going to knock heads, and set all things right. And then Jesus is going to rule the world, and it will be wonderful. And those who hate Jesus will be gone. forever. Please take away my anger and pride. Please give me the attitude Jesus would have me to have and show and go out and love others. In Jesus name. Amen.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joyce, my heart bears witness with yours. I too did not pray for Afghanistan until I got the news that my love would possibly be going. I'm holding onto that possibly and hoping it doesn't happen. But in the meantime, we need to pray for the peopl who are lost and the women who are treated so badly. It breaks the heart of God. It should break ours too. Lord give us YOUR heart.

Love,
Amber

joyce said...

I wish I knew how to link to the online magazine that Andy sent me. It gives a much better glance at Afghanistan. I spotted five Afghani women not in burkas. They were receiving medical training. I am so proud of the American women soldiers helping these women one on one.