40 Days for Life (Day 1)

The next 40 days, the season of Lent, is also 40 Days for Life... a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion.

The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40-day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion.

I will be sharing their daily devotion.

Intention:
That we may use these 40 Days for Life to plead for God’s mercy and grace upon all those involved in the sin of abortion.

Scripture:
Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Gather the peo- ple, notify the congregation. Assemble the elders; gather the children and the infants at the breast... Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare, O Lord, your people.”
—Joel 2:15-17

Reflection:
The toll of abortion cannot be measured. We hear estimates of almost 50 million innocent victims, but that’s only one aspect of the harm that has unfolded in abortion’s wake. There are also the mothers and fathers of these millions, as well as the grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins. Unborn lives destroyed. Lives of the living shattered.

It’s overwhelming and depressing, but even in the midst of such unfathomable darkness, the church teaches us to have hope. Yes, it was indeed Calvary that followed Christ’s 40 days in the desert, but without Calvary there would have been no Resurrection – His victory over death that opened the gates of heaven to those who believe in and follow Him.

The psalmist encourages us to go humbly before God as we seek His will:
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me... Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me... O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise (Psalm 51:12-17).

We are called to be God’s messengers; or as the Apostle Paul wrote:
We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20).

That is the true message to all we encounter at the abortion centers and in our communities who have been deceived by the Culture of Death. We don’t bring condemnation; we bring God’s good news.

Prayer:
Lord, we ask for the strength, courage, wisdom, determination and stamina to carry out this mission according to Your will.
Guide us, we pray, as we go forth and proclaim Your truth, always doing so with a spirit of love and compassion, as was demonstrated to us through the work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.