A time to pray
When faced with the news of these floods, it can be hard to know what we can do to help – especially if we’re nowhere near the affected areas. But there is one thing that any of us can do: pray.
In fact, the most powerful work a Christian can do is pray. In Old Testament times when God’s people faced a crisis, godly leaders called them to prayer, often with fasting. There’s one moment when a great multitude of foreign invaders was squaring up to attack Israel. Israel’s King, Jehoshaphat, was afraid. Now we would have expected him to rally his army and prepare them for war. But his immediate response was to call all the people to pray and he “set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaim a fast throughout all Judah” (2 Chronicles 20:3). At the end of his prayer, he even acknowledges that “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12).
Sometimes we don’t know what to do when facing tragedy, but what we can do is fix our eyes on God in prayer.
However busy we are, individual and corporate prayer should be an important aspect of our relief operations and response to disasters. And the beauty of prayer is that this is something that every Christian can do—young and old, near or far, physically active or confined to bed.
For the floods ravaging Auckland, we can be praying:
- For the immediate rescue of those trapped in flood waters or unable to access the help they need
- For God’s grace to go to those who have suffered loss of loved ones and property
- That those who are in shelters would be adequately provided for, and that those who are vulnerable would be protected
- For energy for all those involved in relief efforts
- That Christians would rise up and be sacrificially involved in effective service
- That corruption, waste, a lack of planning, and anything else that could hamper relief operations would be minimised
- That those who are deeply traumatised would be ministered to and that those who are displaced from their homes would find a solution to their housing problem
- That the church would be revived to bring glory to God through our actions and our witness for Christ
- That God would guide each of us about how we can be involved in the process of healing
- For the process of relief and rehabilitation and for the groups involved in this process (especially Christian organisations and churches), and for the government authorities who are responsible for allocating funds to the affected areas
- For wisdom for our political leaders who make policies that affect the healing process
- That through this tragedy, the world would see the love of Christ displayed through His followers to people in need
- That God’s glory would shine through to the nation as never before, resulting in people seeking God and finding His salvation.
This article was originally written by Ajith Fernando in the days immediately after the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. It has been adapted with permission.
