Praying for peace in Ukraine

Let’s not underestimate the power of prayer as we continue to pray for Ukraine and look to Scripture for encouragement in this difficult hour

Who would have imagined the global change we would all witness since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia? After two years we were just exiting lockdown from Covid and perhaps starting to recover from the impact on all our lives. Now, at the time of writing this at the beginning of March the nation and many free nations around the world are shocked by these geo-political developments. Our news channels are quite rightly dominated hour by hour with the unfolding developments and there are many calls to pray for Ukraine.

A few years back a Christian band called First Call wrote an amazing song with the chorus which stated, “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”

For many living in Ukraine their faith has proven essential to strengthen their resolve. The courageous President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife and family, have not only led their country well in this crisis, but galvanised the free world to respond against Putin through massive economic sanctions. Prayers for this courageous man and his family motivated from hearts of love, honour and respect are valuable. He has called for prayer for his nation.

71% of Ukrainians are Christians and there is so much coverage from media sources, including the BBC, on the call to prayer amongst these beleaguered, brave people. To be honest, I was reduced to tears, when simply through experiencing human empathy, I watched this nightmare unfold and thought about the total disruption to life, not experienced since the Second World War, that millions of these courageous people were possibly going to experience.

Netflix produced an excellent documentary about the build up to Russia annexing the Crimea called ‘Winter on Fire – Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom’ which is worth a view. Without any condemnation or guilt, let us all be inspired by what they’re enduring as a nation to dig deep within ourselves and manifest some human courage in these difficult times. We are going to experience some of the fallout, if only economically now, from these hourly unfolding events.

Pray for Ukraine, their bravery gives us courage

My motive regarding this article is to encourage us all to consider, like the Ukrainians, the power of prayer and to genuinely research the power of the sacred scriptures. There are some 47 scriptures in the Old Testament which accurately refer to Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah. Scripture written prophetically like Psalm 22, which was written 1,000 years before God came as man in the person of Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago.

The verses 16 – 18 describe His garments being gambled for at His crucifixion. There are an estimated 2.4 billion Christians across the globe; many of them – some 350 million – are living persecuted lives in authoritarian regimes where the freedom of speech and religious conscience is not permitted; their prayers are particularly powerful and relevant as they experience His Presence in dark times.

As a Plymothian, for me one of the aspects of celebrating the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower was the freedom to live a life in a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and build sustainable communities of love and decency.

Freedom always takes courage of conviction and belief. When Dr Martin Luther King said, “if you haven’t got a cause worth dying for, then you haven’t got a cause worth living for,” he personally walked the talk. He had a dream about the future and his life changed civil rights in the 1960s. He knew personally that although he didn’t know what the future held, he knew who held the future and lived accordingly.

As Franklin D Roosevelt said, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is worth contemplating at a very deep personal level this Easter.

This article was first published in the April 2022 edition of the Plymouth Chronicle.

Also read: Hope That Lasts.