It seems that more and more often we hear on the news stores of mass shootings and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. When it happens in the city you live in, a place you grew up in, you become more and more aware of how sin is destroying lives. A sense of safety and community is ripped away as Satan laughs at the destruction he brought. On August 26, 2018 at approximately 1:30 pm a shooter at the Jacksonville Lander killed three people, wounded 9 and then took his own life….over a Madden NFL 19 video game tournament.
1 Chronicles 16:11 tells us to search for the Lord and His strength and to seek His face always. When tragedies occur, the only place to find strength is in our relationship with Him. Our security is in the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. None of us know the moment our life will come to an end or how that will occur, but as a child of God, I know where I will spend my eternity. Do you?
However, for as long as God has us (Christians) on this earth, He calls us to be salt and light to a dark, depraved, uncaring, selfish world filled with hatred and evil. We are to be His witnesses whether that it is in our home town, state, country or around the world. The truth of the matter is, this world is not going to improve until Christ returns and Satan’s day of rule and reign on this earth is over. That might sound rather bleak and depressing, but throughout history we have seen great revival awakenings occur when Christians humble themselves before God, pray and seek his face and turn from their sinful ways. When we do this, God promises in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that he will hear us from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. If there is ever a time that America as a nation needs healing and forgiving of sin, its now.
Many of us will pray for those lost and wounded in this senseless act of evil, but will you also spend some time humbling yourself before God, praying for our nation and yourself and seek His face and turn from any sinful ways? Will you ask God to hear you, forgive you and our nation and heal our land? Ask Him to send a revival awakening and ask Him to let it begin in you.
We at Wellspring Christian Ministries add our condolences to the many already offered. May God wrap the families who lost loved ones in His arms and may they feel His presence and comfort. To the wounded, we pray for healing – physically and emotionally. Our hearts break for what you all have been through and will continue to go through in the coming days.
