Earlier this week, my school (Fuller) put out a call to prayer for Ukraine. This call to prayer helped to guide and inspire my own prayers, and hopefully you find it helpful as well as you pray for the ongoing crisis. Here are some parts:
“Tragically, human beings are inclined toward war. We see it again vividly and tragically unfolding in Ukraine with Russia’s invasion. We remember all in our community whose own lives, or those of family and friends, are affected by this war in Ukraine. May we join together to pray for an immediate end to this violent incursion, for a restraint against domineering leadership, and a turn from war toward peace and justice.
Prayers against nationalistic aggression, with all its abusive power and self-justified violence, can seem futile given militarism’s overwhelming tools of destruction. But the God revealed to us in Scripture is a God who knows the pathetic narratives of war, has suffered at the hands of empire, and has acted with the life-giving power of Jesus Christ, Lord of life and of death.
We know that God hears the cries of the innocent sufferers––especially those of women and children, who are most often among the greatest victims of violence and war. We join in their prayers and agonies.”
During intercession this week, we did some listening prayer on Philippians 4. The line that stood out to me was from verse 5: “Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near.” In crisis situations, the people who suffer the most are the vulnerable, often women and children. Though they may have the least say during war, they are the most affected by the war itself. Yet God is always near to people in crises, who are caught up in situations of violence and are victims of war.
Would you take a moment and pray for what’s happening in Ukraine? Pray for an end to the violence and destruction, for an end to the war, for protection for all the victims and those caught up in the violence, and for peace and reconciliation.
We know that in our own strength, there is little we can do to change the situation. But we believe in an almighty God who hears the cries of victims and listens to His people when they pray. As we were encouraged in the testimony from Ukraine last Monday, the people on the ground truly feel our prayers. Like our theme from 2019–continue to pray, pray, pray.