Posted on 10/03/2010 5:17:00 PM PDT by nina0113
I have to apologize for missing the Friday & Saturday devotions. I had an emergency at work which set off a health problem. Diabetes stinks. Here's the main writeup of the 40 Days for Life, and the Daily Devotions will be in the first three comments.
THREE ELEMENTS
Constant vigil
 |
The visible, public centerpiece of 40 Days for Life is a 40-day, round-the-clock prayer vigil outside a Planned Parenthood center or other abortion facility in your community.Those who are called to stand witness maintain a peaceful and educational presence. |
This 24-hour-a-day presence send a powerful message to the community about the tragic reality of abortion. It also serves as a call to repentance for those who work at the abortion center and those who patronize the facility.
If you do not have an abortion facility or Planned Parenthood office in your town, you can still conduct 40 Days for Life. However, you will need to select a different location which has some strategic significance ... perhaps near city hall, a courthouse, or a highly visible intersection.
Community outreach
 |
During 40 Days for Life, the pro-life message is proactively taken to every corner of your community. This can identify hundreds, or even thousands, of pro-life supporters. |
A door-to-door petition and education drive reaches out to every household in your town or city. Informational flyers are distributed in neighborhoods to raise awareness about the local crisis of abortion. Citizens are invited to sign a petition of support for the sanctity of human life, and people are given the opportunity to visibly show their support for 40 Days for Life by wearing wristbands, placing signs in their yards, or displaying bumper stickers on their vehicles.
These people can then be encouraged to pray and join in local pro-life efforts.
Church involvement begins by meeting with local pastors, other church leaders, and members of different congregations. The Body of Christ is invited to pray together and participate in 40 Days for Life, uniting in one focused mission that can save lives and make an eternal impact.
Media outreach is conducted through carefully targeted news stories, talk shows, editorials, and letters to the editor. This enables you to get the pro-life message out to many people who would never see the inside of a local church.
If your community has a college campus, many students can be impacted through an intense 40-day campus outreach. This can consist of flyer raids, sidewalk chalking, petition drives, table displays, and much more.
Local leadership with 40 Days for Life
 |
40 Days for Life is primarily a local campaign. Yes, there is a national team that provides information, resources and encouragement, but all campaigns are based at the local level. Each community knows best when it comes to countering the damage abortion has caused in each individual city and town. |
No one is appointed as a local 40 Days for Life leader; in each community, someone must step up and accept the challenge.
The campaign is also a group effort. There needs to be a main coordinator, but there is a whole level of duties and responsibilities that must be filled in addition to the director's position:
A line from Scripture comes to mind: "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will." Please pray for discernment and guidance. 40 Days for Life won't happen without somebody. "Somebody" could be you!
Intention:
Let us affirm the unborn by our language.
Scripture:
Anyone who says to his brother, "Raca," is answerable to the Sanhedrin; anyone who says, "You fool!" will be in danger of the fire of hell.
-- Matthew 5:22
Reflection:
Before the schoolyard bully beats up his victim, he calls him names. This is a way to dehumanize the victim, and therefore make it easier to justify attacking him.
In this verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that using dehumanizing language is sinful. "Raca" was an Aramaic term of contempt. The respect and love we are called to have for other human lives is not limited to action alone; it also has to manifest itself in language.
Professor William Brennan, in his book Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives, traces the dehumanizing language used to oppress various groups of people in history, such as our African-American brothers and sisters, or our Jewish brothers and sisters in the Holocaust.
He then shows that the same kind of dehumanizing language is used against the unborn, who have been called "parasites," "tissue," and "medical waste," among other things.
What are we to do instead? We are to affirm one another, including the unborn, with ennobling language that inspires respect and love. The unborn are precious children, they are our brothers and sisters, they are the image of God. Let us multiply the language of affirmation, as we hasten to the day of their protection!
Prayer:
Lord, we ask your forgiveness for any times our words have dehumanized our brothers and sisters. We also ask you to send your grace to those who speak and write in degrading terms about the children in the womb. Convert those who do not see the dignity of these children. Loosen the tongues of those who do not know how to acknowledge the humanity and sacredness of these tiny lives. Keep us all aware of the power of language, and help us to use it rightly in the cause of life and justice. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fr. Frank Pavone National Director, Priests for Life and President, National Pro-life Religious Council
Day 11 - October 2
Intention:
Pray that when those representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups see volunteers for 40 Days for Life, they see ambassadors of Christ, and may each volunteer be consciously aware at all times we represent Him.
Scripture:
I...beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness, and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.
-- Ephesians 4:1-2
Reflection:
When a former abortionist and post-abortive woman, Carol Everett, was asked what turned her heart from death to life in Christ, she replied, "It was unconditional love" shown by a man who prayed daily for her in front of the facility where she worked.
He told Carol that "God had sent him" because there was someone in there that God wanted out. She left 27 days later and now serves as Christ's ambassador to help others. We too have been sent by Christ as an ambassador to love unconditionally those God seeks to "get out" of their bondage and sin.
In his book, "Fishers of Men," Dr. Sumner Wemp describes what it means to be an ambassador of Christ, the King of Kings:
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, we are humbled that you have called us and appointed us to be ambassadors of Christ in a world that is not our home. It is a calling much higher and grander than our finite minds can imagine.
We pray that your Holy Spirit will empower us to walk worthy of the calling. We pray that Your unconditional love will flow through us onto those who desperately need Your saving grace. In the name of Christ who is worthy, amen.
Carmen Pate
Co-host, "Point of View" Talk Show
Day 12 - October 3
Intention:
May the King of the Universe, who entered this world as a helpless infant, give us the humility to be healed.
Scripture:
My power is made perfect in weakness.
--2 Corinthians 12:9
Reflection:
The great mystery of the Humility of God is very near and dear to the mission of those serving in pro life and in a special way, post abortion ministries across this nation. For those wounded by their participation in abortion, the door to healing often feels like crossing an abyss of great fear: fear of judgment, fear of being torn apart by the pain, by self hatred and rage at those who hurt and abandoned you, and manipulated you in your time of temptation. For men in particular, entering the unknown waters of emotional vulnerability, so necessary to healing calls for a different kind of courage that feels deceptively like weakness.
The door to healing is humility. It is born in the inability to no longer control the pain, to live with the consequences of that tragic decision to reject life. The hearts cries out, "I have committed a grave offense against my Creator and I am consumed by regret, grief and sorrow!"
During these forty days let us pray for all who have participated in abortion and with love call them to healing and reconciliation. With healing these women and men can become as John Paul II proclaimed in the Gospel of Life, "the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life."
Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). To bear the greatest fruit, the branches must be pruned. Each level of pruning of the vine requires a deeper level of humility so that we can abandon ourselves to His will. This is not a lofty theological concept as much as it is an earthy experience of pulling weeds, tilling rocky soil, pruning and healing the vines. "If a man wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up his cross, and begin to follow in my footsteps" (Matthew 16:24).
Prayer:
Lord, during these forty days, we ask that with each day of this sacred vigil, everything in us that separates us from your perfect will would be pruned from our hearts and souls. In this blessed freedom may we experience a powerful anointing of your Holy Spirit. Filled with confidence and trust may we proclaim with the mother of Jesus, "Let it be done to me, according to your Word."
Kevin Burke
Executive Director, Rachels Vineyard Ministries
better-late-than-never ping
Nina, I’m sorry for the problems (health and otherwise) that you experienced. Hope everything (including you) is on the mend. God bless you for your faithfulness in defending the lives of the unborn.
Holy God,
Unite Your people to pray for these precious babies. This is not a political battle-—it is a spiritual battle of tremendous and eternal consequence. Help us to know that the real enemy stalks about seeking whom he may destroy. Let it not be these defenseless children who have not yet had a chance at life outside the womb. Give us the strength to unite with believers across this nation in prayer and to stand in the gap on behalf of those who have no way to defend themselves. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hope you are better and things have calmed down.
Today’s email:
Most people are unaware that abortions take place in
their hometowns — it’s true!
Abortion centers are often quietly nestled in unassuming
neighborhoods and rarely draw attention to themselves.
Well, there’s one thing that 40 Days for Life is very
good at — and that’s drawing attention to the sobering
reality that abortion is very much a local problem.
Organizers of Beaumont’s first 40 Days for Life
campaign wondered if people would notice their vigil.
But plenty of people are seeing it now — thanks to
a nearby road construction project.
Traffic now has to make a detour — and the new route
is bringing a huge flow of vehicles right in front of
the abortion center.
One woman stopped to tell vigil participants to keep
up the good work. “I’ll bet half the people in
Beaumont don’t even know that abortions are performed
here,” she said.
Later, she called one of the local TV stations and
told them they should send a news team. And they did!
Then the woman shared what was really on her mind.
When she was 16 years old, she had an abortion.
“I am so glad y’all are here,” she said. The abortion
was forced on her. “I felt so alone and scared. But
if there had been anyone there praying, I feel sure I
wouldn’t have done it. Never stop what you are doing!”
A bit later, a man parked his huge truck and thanked the
volunteers. “I was adopted. If it weren’t for people
like you, I would be dead!”
One of the local leaders says the volunteers are all
tired by the end of the day, “but it’s the best tired
I’ve ever felt.”
People in Jacksonville also know now where abortions
are performed. 40 Days for Life participants met for
prayer at a local abortion center — then marched as
a group to another facility about a third of a mile
away for additional prayer.
Then they marched back to the first location. “SEVEN
TIMES we marched between the two,” said one of the
volunteers.
The local coordinators estimated about 120 people
took part in this event.
To see pictures of the prayer vigils at each facility,
and the march between the two, please go to:
http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=1170
Bryan in Canton had some thoughts about the 40 Days
for Life effort as he drove through a very heavy fog
one morning.
“It occurred to me that this must be what it is like
for the abortionists, their staff and their clients.
They are living in a fog of deception,” he said, “and
it makes the most obvious things seem to be what they
are not. Simply put, they are being deceived, and
they need the truth and the grace of God to change
their hearts.”
And that’s where we come in.
“I believe that God is calling us to dispel the fog
surrounding the abortion industry and to change the
hearts of the enemies of life through His love,” Bryan
said. “So let us be faithful witnesses to the truth
and always open our hearts to God’s grace so that we
can be His instruments.”
Well said!
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