Praying for Japan and the Middle East

Matthew 24:4-8
 ⁴ Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁷ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of birth pains."

There has been crazy stuff going on in this world. From everything in the Middle East to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it makes me go "what is going on Lord?" And it reminds me that Jesus will come back. Each day we are closer than we were yesterday to the Day of the Lord. Because of that, those who know Jesus can have hope and peace. For those that don't, I pray they would be drawn to Him through these tragedies. We need to be praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ that are scattered all over the Middle East. We need to pray that they would be bold in the face of persecution, and that they would use every opportunity to speak the gospel and to declare where true freedom comes from--only from Christ. We need to also pray that those in the Middle East that do not know Jesus would come to know Him, that they would hear the gospel from believers there or that Jesus would meet them in their dreams. And for Japan, we need to pray that they would find comfort and peace in the only thing that is constant, in the firm foundation of Christ our Lord. He is a Rock and Stronghold. I pray too for the believers there, that they would rise up and serve their fellow countrymen and show Christ in word and deed. I pray for those there that do not know Him, that they would seek Him for answers and draw near to Him for comfort. Let us all be reminded of the frailty of our owns lives and not take a single breath for granted.