How blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will tread on their heights. ” — Deuteronomy 33:29
Dan Donahue reports in NBC’s Nightly News that Russian troops bombed a maternity hospital in the port city of Mariupol, which led to injured pregnant women and babies being evacuated, some on stretchers out of the hospital. In the two-week war that erupted when Russian tanks marched into Ukraine, decimating villages, taking over nuclear plants like the one in Chernobyl, attacks on 18 health facilities that have killed 10 people and left 16 others with injuries.
According to the U.N, in the two weeks since the start of hostilities, more than two million people have fled Ukraine, buildings including schools and residential areas have been bombed by Russian troops.
The carnage on innocent souls is a depressing vision of the brutality that the world has witnessed in other wars Russia has waged in other countries in the region.
At the start of this new bully war against Ukraine, Russian leader President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky a neo-Nazi. This German political party killed six million Jews in World War II.
Story of the Jewish man who lost many of his relatives fighting the Nazis during WWII. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once told a true story of four brothers, he said: “Three of them, their parents and their families became victims of the Holocaust. All were shot by German occupiers who invaded Ukraine. The fourth brother survived. Two years after the war, he had a son, and in 31 years, he had a grandson. In 40 more years, that grandson became the President of Ukraine, and he is standing before you today.”
This column is calling on all God-fearing people to pray for President Zelensky, his family, and the people of Ukraine. The carnage is uncalled for, brutal, barbaric, and inhuman; such evil and cruelty against mankind shreds the fabric of the Human Rights Charter in plain sight. A call for fervent prayer against this present evil is made.
In one accord, let us turn to the Bible for references and in prayer remind Jehovah God what He has done before and that He promises to do again. He is God, the righteous One, and He does not lie.
He said where two or more agree on earth, it shall be agreed upon in heaven. What is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The bible recounts the story of Moses sailing to victory against the Egyptians. It is said that the battle is the LORD’s when in Exodus 14:13-14, he declares 13 … “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Joshua witnessed the Hand of God when he was in battle, the major one being the Battle of Jericho. In Joshua 1:9 God tells Joshua: “Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be dismayed: for the Lord you God is with you everywhere you shall go.”
In Chapter 6 God tells Joshua to go round the wall of Jericho six times, on the seventh day to go round it six times and on the seventh time to shout, sing, and chant songs of praise.
The walls came tumbling down. The other time God did something major for Joshua as he led the Israelite nation to the Promised Land, was that Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still in the battle at Gibeon against the Canaanites. The sun stood still until the Israelites defeated the enemy.
Gideon of the tribe of Manasseh served as the fifth major judge over Israel. He destroyed an altar to the pagan god Baal, earning him the name Jerub-Baal, meaning contender with Baal. Gideon united the Israelites against their common enemies and through God’s power, defeated them. Through his faith and trust in God, young David experience defeat against the giant enemy, Goliath. Songs and books have been written about David, the Israelite young boy that slew the giant Philistine, Goliath.
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hand.” – 1 Samuel 17:41-47
Through the three-day fasting and praying, Esther went before the king (even at the threat of being killed, according to the laws of the land no one came before the king unless he or she was called to do so). Through her faith in God, Esther saved an entire nation, and against all odds, Israelites were strengthened, empowered to defeat the king’s army.
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John show how Jesus defeated Satan, by doing God’s will to point of dying on the Cross at Calvary.
Jesus meets Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul had had a bag full of killing instructions of the believers. Jesus, the resurrected King, appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus as thezealous Pharisee was his way, having been given authority by the high priest to arrest Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.
The story of Saul is told in Acts 9 and describes the Damascus Road experience of the conversion of Saul to Christianity.
Jesus asks Saul: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
The irony of this story is that as Saul sees the Light (Jesus), he is thrown into blinding darkness, and must have someone to guide him to Jerusalem.
The call to fervent prayer
1. Lord Jehovah God, in the name of Jesus, we pray that You cover the Ukrainians that they are not afraid but stand firm and that they see the deliverance You, our Lord, brings them today, suddenly, immediately, and even instantly. As You did for the Israelites that saw the Egyptians no more, Lord, let the Ukrainians see the Russians no more.
2. That the Ukrainians be strong and of a good courage, having faith in our God, praising You like Joshua and the Hebrews did at Jericho and the battle with the Midianites.
3. Lord, although Ukraine is a small nation, compared to Russia, we pray that as they remain resolute, united under President Volodymyr Zelensky, against the common enemy Russia, through Your power, may You, in Jesus’ name, defeat this present Russian danger.
4. Lord, in Jesus’ name, the Russians come in their might, trusting their chariots and tankers, but we join the Ukrainians and contend with the enemy Russia in Your name, LORD of hosts. We implore You to deliver Russia this day the into Ukraine’s hands, and may Ukraine, as David did, strike Russia down in humiliating, humbling defeat, to Your glory.
5. Jehovah God, empower the Ukrainians to defeat Russia, as You empowered Esther to defeat the Persian army of the king.
6. In Jesus’ name, we come to You and ask that You remember the finished work of Calvary, we know that Jesus did not die in vain, and we call upon the power of His blood asking for victory for the Ukrainian people. The blood of Jesus was shed for Ukraine. We declare Ukraine shall overcome the chariots of Russia because the Ukrainians have the armies of the Lord on their side.
7. Father God, we pray that Jesus meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, we pray Lord of hosts, the Most High God, please send Jesus to Putin. Let Putin meet the LORD Jesus and Putin’s conversion be complete, be instant. Be immediate. Be sudden. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen
Enough is enough! Let there be peace in Ukraine!
