Pray Americas 2018

This post originally appeared in the June 2018 SEAPC Magazine.

Did you know that according to the CDC, 80 percent of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids? Or that 2.1 million people had an opioid use disorder in the United States alone in 2016? And preliminary numbers state that more people died of drug overdoses (both prescription and illegal drugs) in 2017 in the United States than in the entire Vietnam War which is a staggering increase from 2016.

These are just the numbers for the United States. Can you imagine the numbers from every country in both North and South America?

Everyone has been affected in some way shape or form. Maybe it was your friend, your co-worker, your child, or maybe it was you. Everyone’s been affected either directly or indirectly. Jeremiah 33:12 states: “This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: This land — though it is now desolate and has no people and animals — will once more have pastures where shepherds can lead their flocks.”

Will once more.

What a beautiful phrase filled with the hope and promise of restoration, and we are in desperate need of restoration. Why do we need restoration? Because we are human and our sinful selves have separated us from the love of God. But He is the God of restoration. He is the God of resurrection. He defeated death, and His love for you and me is so strong that He sent His only son with the command to die and then pick up His life again.

This land is desolate. It’s full of pain and violence. This spirit of malice which is rending the American continents is allowed to roam free to wreak havoc upon the souls of the lost and in the lives of the found. But our God — the living God — has given us not a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind. This free will He has given us gives us the opportunity to sin, but more importantly, gives us the opportunity to be used by Him to fulfill His will. God will do what God will do. Don’t you want it to be through you?

God’s ultimate desire is to restore man unto himself. Hosea 2:21-22 says, “‘It will come about in that day that I will respond,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, and the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.’” Jezreel translates as “God plants or sows.”

Where has God planted you? He has planted in you a new garden of life, and when your heart, circumcised to the Lord, cries out to reclaim His land… When your heart, soul, mind and will declare the sovereignty of God and proclaim His praises… Then the atmosphere will change and light will come. Restoration will come. For all success in the spirit realm comes from an atmosphere of praise and worship.

Don’t you want to be a part of that? Don’t you want to experience God’s mighty hand moving? And that’s the trick — He’s the one who moves. As Moses wrote, “The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still.” And I might add, be still and worship and pray.

SEAPC is first and foremost a prayer ministry. We are a global Christian community of friends who believe that lives and nations are changed through prayer. Through prayer. We pray for many things, and this year, my dear friends, please stand alongside SEAPC as we pray from June 15 to July 25 for the American continents.

Please pray with us against this spirit of malice which is manifested in the opioid crisis and widespread acts of violence.