NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–As the United States military and its coalition partners battle in Iraq, Henry Blackaby is calling American believers to pray for their country, walk closely with God, love their enemies and trust God’s sovereignty.
This is a “crucial time for God’s people and the nation,” said Blackaby, author of the “Experiencing God” discipleship materials whose ministry is now based in Atlanta.
After attending a March 12-13 White House briefing, Blackaby reported that God has placed “incredible believing people” in the U.S. government, including a president who sets aside time with God each morning.
Christians need to pray that President Bush will not be distracted from his quiet time with God and that perfect peace will result, Blackaby said. At the president’s request, he also asked believers to pray that God would protect Bush’s wife and children from those who would like to harm them.
The military, the president and more than 400,000 Iraqi Christians need a “much stronger commitment in prayer and holiness” from American believers, Blackaby said. Southern Baptists need to pray for their missionaries, too, asking God to show them what is right and give them the courage to follow his will.
Blackaby emphasized that God wants every Muslim to have a saving relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
“If we consider them an enemy, God has told us what to do: Pray for them, do good to them, bless them and feed them,” he said. “It’s a command of our Lord, not a suggestion.”
Some Southern Baptists are taking that command seriously. Anticipating a flow of Iraqi refugees into Jordan, groups of Southern Baptists are poised to head there as soon as authorities permit relief groups to begin working.
At the same time, others fear going to a place like Iraq in these uncertain times. Blackaby, however, encouraged believers to remember that safety is found only in God’s will.
“He may call some of us to go into a danger zone,” Blackaby said. “He did his Son, every one of the disciples, [the apostle] Paul and the early church.
“When there is a crisis, there is a need spiritually. We ought not to be surprised or fearful when God calls us to go into a difficult time or place.”
And he reminded Southern Baptists not to assume that war came from the enemy.
“The war may be from God,” Blackaby said. “In the Bible, he has often used war for his purposes — to punish evildoers or draw his people back to himself.
“We need to watch very carefully to see how he unfolds his purposes and be ready to be in the middle of them.”
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Audio download links:
— Call to prayer
real.imb.org/AudioNews/blackaby_pray.wma
— ‘Perfect love casts out fear’
real.imb.org/AudioNews/blackaby_nofear.wma
— A time for holiness
real.imb.org/AudioNews/blackaby_holiness.wma
— ‘The war may be from God’
real.imb.org/AudioNews/blackaby_sovereign.wma
