Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 146:3-5 NLT)
Remembering and retelling a story can’t fully convey the experience. Videos, books, movies, and eyewitness testimonies give you some sense of what an event was like, but each person encounters it from a different perspective, and there’s no way to fully recapture it. Experiences like a beloved sports team finally winning the championship, or a beautiful and profound concert, or a delightful community festival can’t be encapsulated in a few news reports, pictures, or cheerfully shared stories. And events like the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001 are even harder to share. For younger generations who do not remember from personal experience, this day is only a piece of history, albeit with plenty of video footage and parents, grandparents, teachers, and others who remember. But for those of us who lived through it….we remember.
We remember watching on live television as 100+ story buildings caved in, as thousands of dust-covered people ran for their lives, as the air traffic was all grounded for days because we didn’t know how many more planes there were. We remember all the uncertainty in the reports – who? why? and what’s next? We remember churches hosting full prayer meetings that night, long lines at blood banks to receive donations, and people who traveled to help look for survivors. We remember voices of leadership in those first few days, tales of heroism (“Let’s roll!”), and stories like that of Marines who acted as a human fence to protect evacuated daycare kids from the Pentagon. I remember what I ate for breakfast that morning, who I called, how glad I was that my grandmother was not alive to see this, what I did at work, and the terrible, horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach for a week.
I remember. And I say “Never Again!” to that evil.
Never again to terrorists on our soil. Never again to the waves of fear that were unleashed. Never again to the assumption that another race or ethnicity should be suspect. Never again to people who desired to kill and maim others. I recognize that, from an earthly perspective, this is virtually impossible. But I pray against it anyway. We must pray. Our hope and confidence isn’t in the ungodly systems or powers of this world, but only in the Lord our God, our Hope and Helper. If and when we have godly, righteous, Spirit-led leadership in this world, THEN we can hope for full peace. In the meantime, we must remember and we must pray.
God of the Nations,
You are great and greatly to be praised! Your name is higher than any other name, power, or principality. Your goodness and greatness far surpass all other things. Today we pray that you would break the power of the wicked. In the name of Jesus we say NO MORE to every evil intent, plan, purpose, and plot. We bind fear, violence, confusion, and every other evil spirit, and we loose spirits of peace, righteousness, and prosperity. We pray and declare that chaos, cruelty, and evil will be replaced by righteousness, peace, and joy. We cry out for your Spirit to be poured out in this world, and especially our nation, to overwhelm evil desires, economic strife, racial angst, and violent intentions, and usher in a flow of revival, renewal, and awakening. We pray for a billion soul harvest in these last days. We proclaim that this nation will remember the works of the Lord, your mercy and blessings, your favor and kindness, and we will return to your heart of Justice, Love, Hope, and Peace, in Jesus’s name. AMEN.
May God be merciful and bless us.
May his face smile with favor on us.
May your ways be known throughout the earth,
your saving power among people everywhere.
May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.
Let the whole world sing for joy,
because you govern the nations with justice
and guide the people of the whole world.
May the nations praise you, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise you.
He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
The Lord protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations. (Psalm 67:1-10 NLT)
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.
The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.
But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;
for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
But the wicked will perish:
Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke. (Psalm 37:8-20 NIV)
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. (Romans 14:17-18 NIV)
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19 NIV)