feet on my way to Fargo, North Dakota, to join their
local 40 Days for Life campaign before heading on to
California tomorrow and Washington state Thursday.
As I was going through my e-mails in the airport right
before boarding the plane, I got this exciting report
from a 40 Days for Life location:
"An employee of the Planned Parenthood facility
[we've] been praying in front of has quit her job!
She came out of the building and told the pray-ers
that she couldn't work there anymore!!"
Praise the Lord! Pray that God leads this lady into new
work that helps, rather than hurts, people.
Further down in my list of e-mail messages, I came
across this note from another part of the country:
"I thought it might be a nice end also if everyone
sends out today (so it will arrive by Saturday) a
polite card to the abortion clinic workers telling
them there is healing in Jesus and forgiveness,
telling them that it's not too late to walk out of
the abortion business and go to work helping women
and babies, and also inviting them to our church."
How thoughtful!
After enduring 35 days of intense prayer, fasting, and
vigil directed at their abortion facility, many clinic
workers are growing weary, and their conscience is
weighing on them.
It may just take a gentle nudge to encourage them to
walk away and make a dramatic life change!
Keep in mind that, just like you and me -- and just
like each child in the womb -- these abortion workers
are made in the image and likeness of God, and are in
need of love.
On Saturday, as you -- and tens of thousands of others
across America -- join together for the concluding
"Unity Vigil" that will be held outside of every
Planned Parenthood center and abortion facility
possible, let's make sure that the workers in these
facilities realize that hope and healing is available
to them.
Here's your devotional for today...
*******************************************************
40 DAYS FOR LIFE: DAY 34, OCTOBER 29
Daily Devotional by: Fr. Frank Pavone
*******************************************************
INTENTION:
Pray that we choose to trust God to bring an end to
abortion soon, no matter how impossible that may seem
to others.
SCRIPTURE:
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out
by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a
valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth
among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor
of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me,
"Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O
Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
Then He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to
them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is
what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will
make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I
will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you
and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and
you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the
LORD'" -- Ezekiel 37:1-6
REFLECTION:
Imagine the dilemma Ezekiel was in when God asked him
if the bones could live. He must have thought to
himself: "If I say yes that's going to appear foolish;
but if I say no, I risk distrusting God."
So what did Ezekiel say? "I don't know." And so God
said to him: "Speak, prophesy, speak the word of truth
to the bones."
Now he knew he was in a dilemma, because to speak to
dry bones humanly appears foolish, but now, if he
didn't do it, he would be disobeying God. It was the
choice between the foolish thing and the dangerous
thing.
So he spoke, and what an awesome moment it must have
been, because Scripture tells us that he heard a
rattling sound and then he saw one bone begin to join
to another.
And God, as if cheering him on, said: "Keep speaking,
speak again. Prophesy to the bones!" And the bones
stood up, flesh came on them, and the spirit of life
was breathed into the bones. And there you have a vast
army living because of the word of truth.
You and I are standing in a world today over a field of
dry bones: those who have been killed by abortion,
those who have been killed by so many other things
attacking the dignity of human life. It is a valley of
dry bones, because of the deaths and also because of
the dead consciences.
And God has placed us here; we find ourselves here in
the midst of this incredible tragedy. Like Ezekiel, you
and I are in a dilemma because God says to us: "Speak
and proclaim the Word of Life. Keep doing it. Let
nothing deter you."
And so people can say, "This is humanly foolish,
humanly impossible. How can we transform the world from
the path of death that it's on?"
Yet we choose to do the "foolish" thing rather than the
dangerous thing. Speak, and speak like Ezekiel, for as
long as you live!
And if you ever doubt that we can bring an end to this
culture of death, this destruction of the family, this
destruction of life by abortion, if you ever think for
a moment that it's impossible, then ask yourself this:
Can a field of dry bones ever live?
Or better yet ask yourself this: Can a man who has been
scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed hands and feet to
a cross, pierced with a lance, has died and been
buried... Can such a man ever live again?
PRAYER:
Lord, I thank you today for your command to speak the
word of life, to build the culture of life. I thank you
for giving me the holy dilemma of having to choose
between the foolish thing or the dangerous thing. Yet
for me the solution to that dilemma is clear.
Lord, I will obey you, even if it means aiming for a
goal which, in the eyes of others, seems foolish. I
will obey you, and will hope for the end of abortion
soon, no matter how impossible that may seem to others.
I dare not mistrust you; I dare not doubt your power; I
dare not fail to follow your call. In you, who raise
the dead, all hope comes alive.
I pray in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, AMEN.
*******************************************************
Praising God,
David Bereit
National Campaign Director
40 Days for Life
P.S.- We've gotten so much positive feedback about the
recording of this past Sunday night's 40 Days for Life
"Big Event" conference call and webcast that we're
going to leave the audio posted online at:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=39
40 Days for Life
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