On Tuesday a gathering of saints from our church gathered on a strip of grass along the sidewalk outside of our local Planned Parenthood Abortion center. We did the same thing two weeks prior. As part of the Forty Days For Life campaign, we participated in opposing abortion. No signs, no picketing. Lots of Scripture, lots of singing, lots of responsive prayers: worship. We pursued war on evil through worship.
In order to explain to Gabriel what we were doing in simple, but not too direct, terms, we told him that we were going there to ask God to stop the evil. So every so often Gabriel would pray all on his own, “Please God, stop the evil!”
Psalm 8:2
“Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.”
It is an emotionally charged thing to stand in front of an abortion clinic, to worship and seek the Lord’s justice, and to see people going & coming from the clinic. I guess it never really hit me that actual people actually go there and actually kill their babies. It’s so different than just hearing about Planned Parenthood; different than knowing our country supports abortion. To stand outside of that building and see people coming & going… it made it real to me.
Sometimes people would drive by and honk their horns in a friendly way, wave out their windows, even shout God bless you to us. Other times people would honk in a loud, unfriendly way or yell obscenities out their windows at us. On Tuesday, one guy marched right up and started yelling at us while we were in the midst of singing “The Son of God Goes Forth to War” because he is sick of people being there, parking in front of his house, making a presence there.
And we keep right on praying, singing, worshipping.
Father, we know that You are a jealous God. You visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and fourth generations of those that hate You. Abortion is your judgment upon our land. Forgive your church’s failure to be a light to the wicked in America. Forgive the fathers in Your church who have paved the way for abortion by failing to shepherd their sons and daughters. Abortion is Your judgment upon us. You have allowed sinful men to murder their own children. But you hate hands that shed innocent blood. End the murder O God. In wrath, remember mercy. Hosanna Lord, Hosanna! Save now! But for all those destined to not know salvation we therefore pray that you would bring judgment. We pray that You would act swiftly! Amen!
We prayed Psalm 94. We sang, among other things, Psalm 2, Psalm 18, Psalm 80, Psalm 83.
Keep in remembrance, O Lord, the tempted, the distressed, and the erring; particularly those mothers who would sin against You by murdering their children through abortion. And those fathers, parents, friends, politicians, doctors, social workers and any others who would either encourage the mothers to commit murder or would acquiesce to their wishes to do so. Keep them from following through with their wicked designs which lead to judgment, guilt and death. Guide them by Your great goodness and bring them instead into the way of peace, truth and life. Let the light of Your truth shine on them that they may be turned toward You and come to know You and so find peace. Deliver them from the bondage of their sin into the glorious liberty of the children of God; for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Psalm 94:16-23
“Who rises up for me against the wicked?
Who stands up for me against evildoers?
If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
When I thought, “My foot slips,”
Your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
Your consolations cheer my soul.
Can wicked rulers be allied with You,
those who frame injustice by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
But the LORD has become my stronghold,
and my God the rock of my refuge.
He will bring back on them their iniquity
and wipe them out for their wickedness;
the LORD our God will wipe them out.”
And so we pray. And so we sing. Thus, we worship. And we effect warfare. In a loud, four-part-harmonized, bold way ~ complete with all ages of children worshipping and warring at our sides ~ we are beseeching the Lord to hear, to vindicate, to act, to stop the evil of abortion.
Hear, O Lord, hear us as we seek Your face and Your deliverance!
It takes strong warriors to stand against the evil, and what a wonderful way you are raising your children too, all of you who stood there and waged war against the horrible murder of babies.
Things are quiet these days at our local center, but there have been many times where crowds would gather in front and it always filled my heart to see those demonstrations of Love for the unborn, all precious to Him! It’s always been really important to me to be involved in our nearest crisis pregnancy center, doing the Walk for Life etc. Someday I hope and pray that I will have the opportunity to minister to those in such a position.