FOX 32 NEWS - As the wave of violence hits the city, hundreds gathered for a prayer event at the Moody Bible Institute.
The timing of this comes the same week Chicago surpassed 500 homicides this year with four months still to go. Last year, the city had 491 homicides.
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Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on Dallas.
Have mercy on those who mourn the loss of loved ones slain even as they attempted to protect those who were protesting. Comfort them in their grief, protect them from bitterness and hatred, and give them hearts of forgiveness and grace.
Have mercy on law enforcement officers. Protect them as they carry out their duties. Keep them from sinking to the level of evil that they encounter; strengthen them to return good for evil.
Have mercy on those on both sides of the racial divide who are - consciously or unconsciously - contributing to that divide. Give them grace to understand those different from them, forgiving hearts for those who have offended them, and wisdom and self-awareness to see how they may be contributing to the division.
Have mercy on all who have been hurt by this divide, Lord. Bring healing, understanding, forgiveness. Give to your church a prophetic voice to speak your grace into these troubled times. Make your church a place of healing, and a people who take up the mantle of reconciliation. Make of your people peacemakers rather than those who widen the gap by emphasizing racial division. Enable us to reflect your love and grace to all people.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
@ https://www.facebook.com/brian.bakke.35/posts/1063864413669285
To evangelical pastors and churches on this Sunday.
Please do not bury your head in the sand and avoid the events of this past week. Christians do not have the right to run away from the injustice and suffering around us (cf. Jeremiah 29:4-7). At the same time, do not offer idiotic, simple solutions like: "All Lives Matter" or "they are only isolated incidents and these people just need the gospel." Do not cheapen the gospel by applying a simple worldly formula and application (cf. Jeremiah 29:8-9).
Instead, initiate a season of lament for your community. The American church has long avoided lament. The broken state of race relations requires lament. Read the lament psalms, preach the book of Lamentations, sing songs and hymns of lament. But do not jump so quickly to a triumphalistic answer. (That's an American solution, not a biblical one).
A helpful pattern of lament drawn from the book of Lamentations;
I) Lamentations deals with a funeral, not a hospital visit. (See Lam 1, 2 , 4). We can not pretend that the problem of racism is solved by a hospital visit: a quick prayer and the person will leave the hospital eventually. Our racial history is littered with abused, beaten, murdered dead bodies of black men and women. If you do not acknowledge the long history of dead bodies, you are only playing the game of reconciliation.
II) Lamentations offers the opportunity to hear from all the voices that have suffered. While a prophet/narrator (probably Jeremiah) complies the laments, it is really the voice of the suffering: women, children, orphans, widows, the sick, the lame and the blind. IT IS NOT the voice of the privileged that is lifted up. Listen and relay the voices of the suffering today. Do not spin the events of this past week to make your own culturally-based application of "personal responsibility" or "law and order". Lamentations speaks the voice of the suffering not the voice of the privileged.
The line has been crossed. Ezekiel added, "Even if ... Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it [the land], they would deliver only themselves ..." (Ezek. 14:14).
Has America crossed the same line?
An 8 Step Prayer Process:
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2 Chronicles 7:14: " if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
HOWEVER, we planned on this 7:14 being Thursday (before everything this last 72 hours) because the date will be 7/14/2016
We hope you join us in mourning, prayer, healing, and confidence in God's redemption.
July 14th at 7am- 8:30am
Lake Cliff Park
Dallas, TX 75203
We believe it's very important for us to not only gather as homogeneous churches but also unified as One Church in prayer.
by Greg Asimakoupoulos
July 15, 2016
When the innocent are slaughtered
and the rage of hate takes aim,
it's clear to see that prejudice prevails.
Yes, our nation is divided
by deep wounds that haven't healed.
If you listen you can hear a mother's wail.
While it's true that black lives matter,
we must dialogue with words
that are not as apt to trigger and incite.
We must also own our bias
and confess that we've been wrong.
That's the only way our country can unite.
Please unite Your children, Father.
We're divided, spewing hate.
As a country, we are polarized by fear.
The protests in our cities
demonstrate our need to heal
and our hopes and dreams to claim what You hold dear.
Help us live and love like Jesus
though it may mean we are shunned
by the bigots who insist that they are right.
Rid the wrong that blurs our focus
and impacts the way we see.
End the blindness of our nation's endless night.