COVID divided us, Putin united us!
A week ago, most people in the world didn’t know Volodymyr Zelenskyy. We know him now as the heroic President of Ukraine who needed ammunition and not a ride from President Biden.
No one had heard of Snake Island – now made famous by a Ukrainian soldier’s “expletive” statement of resistance to a Russian battleship.
It’s impossible to get on Facebook or other media outlets without another heroic statement or example: A world heavyweight champion boxer standing in a Ukrainian military uniform, a former Miss Universe contestant from Ukraine holding a Kolesnikov rifle, or the text from a 69-year-old grandma in Ukraine telling her family in the States that she is learning to both shoot a rifle and help triage wounded soldiers.
As President of Ukraine Zelenskyy said, “Our enemies will see our faces and not our backs.”
What is going on? On the world media stage, no one expected this. Except, perhaps those who were praying.
Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray! (James 5:13 NLT)
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results (James 5:16 NLT).
There are countless images of Ukrainians, not huddling with fear in bomb shelters, but worshipping in subway stations and praying in parks. I know Russians from Russia, along with Russian-speaking brothers and sisters in both Belarus and Ukraine – and all of them are praying for peace and an end to this war.
I have stood on the highway leading from Belarus to Kyiv, the road on which Russian and Belarusian military forces are traveling toward Ukraine. I know that Belarusian churches, pastors, and believers all along that road are praying for Kingdom victory.
News around the world depicts formerly reticent western nations, commerce-oriented corporations, and even other countries led by strongmen – all condemning the invasion of Ukraine.
What is happening? It’s not the ambition of a despot or even the reluctance of western leaders but the sovereign will of Almighty God.
All of world history and all current events point toward the soon return of Jesus and the culmination of God’s desire for all to be saved.
Let’s continue to pray for:
- The war to end
- Safety for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine
- A great end-times revival
[Note: As I finished writing this Interruption, I received an email from a friend who leads a Ukrainian orphanage. They have evacuated the orphanage building (on which they just completed construction) and are now in refugee status in another country.]