Tag Archives: Pro-Life

Day 25 – October 20, 2012

Today is the last day of a week that has been focused on praying for women who have had abortions.  I’ve spent time this week trying to focus my prayer on the tremendous need for healing for women who’ve had an abortion, and who need healing from the pain and agony suffered over having made the decision to kill her unborn child.  This may be experienced immediately or it may not be felt for years after.  I thought back to something I mentioned earlier in the week about those who promote abortion as not only a justifiable option but as a woman’s right.  I become angry when I hear the term “Reproductive Rights” and I wonder who came up with that terminology anyway.  I decided to do a little research on the term, looking for a good working definition and found something interesting.  According to the World Health Organization, Reproductive Rights are defined as:

“the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. They also include the right of all to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence.”

Wow, now that is interesting.  We need whole organizations and lawyers (I’m thinking of NARAL and the National Women’s Law Center) to protect this?  The last time I checked, no one in America is told when to have a child and how many children they must have and we already have plenty of laws against discrimination and violence.  This is crazy.  This term is thrown around like women can’t already make this decision, ideally with their husband.  It’s the “responsibly” part of this definition that pro-aborts ignore.  They want women to believe that it’s OK to make the decision to have that one night stand and if they get pregnant, well just get rid of it, it’s part of your reproductive rights.  There is no reason to be responsible for the life you just participated in creating.

God says differently.  In the book of Jeremiah he says “before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you” (Jeremiah 1:5).  God also played a part in creating the life inside the womb.  In fact, He has known from all eternity about the life of that child and has planned for that child to accomplish something in this life.  God also says in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11, “for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Today as I prayed, I felt a particular burden for those who promote the pro-choice idea as something that is good for women.  It is not good for women.  It is harmful to women.  It is devastating to women.  The lives of 50 million children have been lost to this lie. 50 million children that God had plans for, plans for hope and plans for the future.  God’s plan does not include children being unwanted or abandoned.  That argument is thin at best.  And, yes even in  the cases of rape and incest, while the acts committed against a woman are violent and inexcusable, if a life has been conceived through that act, then God has a plan and it is a plan that can be trusted.

Pray for those at the forefront of promoting abortion as a reproductive right.  Pray that their eyes are opened to the lie that they have bought into, but also that their eyes will be opened to a loving and merciful God who waits for them with open arms.

Day 22 – October 17, 2012

I know I’ve mentioned this before, today, being Wednesday, is the day that the babies are delivered by dismemberment in Germantown and I was so grieved for the lives of these children today.  I have no idea how many children died in Germantown this week, but just one is too many.  This morning was very different for me, something I’m generally not used to doing.  The Lord had me keep a silent vigil this morning in honor of those who died today.  I didn’t pray anything this morning, I just was there in silence and after about a half an hour I decided to read the scripture.  I felt impressed to read the book of Habakkuk, which is probably not one of those books that is read so frequently or that one would just of think of reading as I did this morning.  But, as is so true with the Lord, it was the right book to read today.  The book only has three chapters, so it’s a quick read.  Habakkuk’s name means to wrestle with or embrace as in a particularly bothersome issue, i.e. ABORTION.  The prophet attempts to explore the issues of why God has allowed evil.

A study by Hampton Keathley at Bible.org does a good job of looking at the book of Habakkuk and explaining the idea of questioning God or wrestling with God over the evil and injustice seen in the world and why this okay to do.  But more than that, this book is about faithfulness.  It is about the faithfulness of God to redeem His people and bring justice where there is evil and it is about the rewards we receive for being a faithful people.   I must remember to remain faithful to that which God has called me and recognize His sovereignty.  I must also realize that the answers I want may not come when I want them or in the way I want.  It is important to remember that God does not condone evil and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!  By the end of the book Habakkuk was able to see this and proclaim praises to God.

Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Day 21 – October 16, 2012

Some days just feel like they are  far more difficult than you think they should be and this morning was one of those mornings where prayer was very difficult.  I was not understanding at first why today just felt so hard.  I’m mean, I’ve had a few days, so far, where prayer seemed like more work than usual but today was different. Today, I felt almost stuck.  I felt as if I had been silenced.

About half way through the hour I came to some conclusions.  First, this week, I’m focusing my prayer on the women who have abortions and who’ve had them in the past.  But the main difference of course in Germantown is that you really only get one shot at seeing a woman change her mind.  If someone is not able to reach her on a Sunday in Germantown, before she goes into the clinic, then the damage is done and there is no going back, there is no changing your mind, this woman now has a dead baby in her womb for three days until it is delivered on Wednesday.  The second conclusion I came to this morning was that I was feeling completely hopeless.  Why was I there today, there was nothing that I could do to change the situation this week.  Today, I could really feel the atmosphere of death.  My heart just ached for these women though.  How many of them must have gone through this process and in doing so wished that they could change their minds?  How many women have suffered through those three days after their baby has received the fatal injection of  Digoxin hoping they weren’t carry a dead fetus in their womb?  I would dare say that many found themselves in that place over the years.

But what about that hopelessness I sensed today?  The Lord is gracious and He reminded me that He is victorious, that He is risen, and that He has conquered sin and death.  Is He saddened by all of this?  Yes, of course He is.  But everyday, I receive email reports that provide updates around the world from the various 40 days for life campaigns that encourage me when I read about the number of lives that are saved.  I’m encouraged every time I hear about even one woman who changes her mind, walks out of Carhart’s clinic, and instead walks across the parking lot to the office of Germantown Pregnancy Choices where she will find out about real help and real options that will save her life and the life of her baby.  I’m sure those moments also make the Lord happy.

As we persevere in this fight for the lives of the unborn “let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Day 17 – October 12, 2012

As the week draws to a close I continue to pray for the clinic worker at the Germantown clinic and especially pray for this new worker who began working there this week.  I pray that she will have the courage to stay away and not return to the clinic next week.  I pray that she will be influenced by the light of Christ, even after only one day in Germantown.  I believe that she can and was affected by His light.

Today I would like to share a devotional by Father Frank Pavone from Priests for Life

INTENTION

May all understand more deeply that the pro-life message is rooted in the two basic truths of life:

There is a God

He isn’t me

SCRIPTURE

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7

REFLECTION

From the beginning of the Bible until the end, the theme is echoed that God alone has dominion over human life. He made it; shared it; died to save it; will raise it up forever.

The act of creation described in Genesis 2:7, and earlier in Genesis 1:26-27, is a sovereign act. God did not have to do it, and would have been happy forever without us.

Yet without our asking for it or earning it, God brought us out of nothingness and into life, and sustains our existence at every moment. And He does so in Christ. “For by Him all things were created…in Him all things exist” (Colossians 1:16-17).

“You are not your own,” Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 6. God alone owns us. While He entrusts us to the care of one another, He does not allow any human being to own another.

A Southern California abortionist, James McMahon, once explained how he justified killing children after 20 weeks gestation by partial-birth abortion.  He did not deny that this was a child, but rather asked, “Who owns the child? It’s got to be the mother.”

The struggle over abortion is really a struggle over the dominion of God. The Christian individual, and the Christian Church, cannot sit idly by when others declare that God is not God.

PRAYER

Lord, we are yours. Thank you for breathing into us the breath of life. Thank you for claiming us as your own. May our words and actions in defense of human life proclaim to all the world that you alone are Lord of life and death, Lord of our freedom and of our choices. We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Day 5 – September 30, 2012

While today was not a day to pray at the clinic it was a day focused on the unborn and praying for them and for the continuation of religious freedom in America.  Christians from around the country have gathered in Washington, DC for Acts Five 29.  Acts Five 29 is 72 hours of prayer and peaceful protest in front of the White House for religious freedom and in opposition to the healthcare mandate that forces religious institutions and organizations to offer health insurance to its employees which will cover contraception and so much more.  Contraception which is know as an abortifacient (a substance that induces abortion) is also covered under this health care mandate as well as abortion and sterilization.

Sunday was the first full day of events in Washington which gathered Christians of all denominations both Catholic and protestant.  The began with an evangelical worship service followed by the praying of the Rosary, led by Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life.  The afternoon brought out many wonderful speakers including Lila Rose of Live Action and Kristina Garza of Survivors who spoke to our religious freedom and the urgency to preserve it now more than ever. At 4pm the crowd that gathered in Lafayette Park moved across the street to the White House where, those willing to risk arrest, knelt down on the sidewalk between two lamp posts where our freedom of speech is no longer protected.  The US Park Police issued three warnings to those praying on the sidewalk to move before declaring them “under arrest.”  At that point each individual was handcuffed, searched, photographed, put into a police van, and taken to the police station for processing.

The time has come for the church to wake up to what the future will hold if we do not act now.  Yesterday’s arrest was voluntary.  We could have continued to pray in Lafayette park without anyone in danger of being arrested.  But even today there are individuals who are standing up for life, in a peaceful non-violent, non-intrusive manner, in public places, and they are being arrested – yes in America!  The church must stand up and say that we will NOT comply with unjust laws and that we WILL obey God rather than men!