The Beginning of the End of Abortion -- 40 Days for Life, September 24 -- November 2
Mission
40 Days for Life is a community-based campaign that takes a determined, peaceful approach to showing local communities the consequences of abortion in their own neighborhoods, for their own friends and families. It puts into action a desire to cooperate with God in the carrying out of His plan for the end of abortion. It draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of a three-point program:
· Prayer and fasting
· Constant vigil
· Community outreach
The 40-day campaign tracks Biblical history, where God used 40-day periods to transform individuals, communities … and the entire world. From Noah in the flood to Moses on the mountain to the disciples after Christ’s resurrection, it is clear that God sees the transformative value of His people accepting and meeting a 40-day challenge.
Vision
40 Days for Life is a focused pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion.
Mission
The mission of the campaign is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer, fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion.
Prayer and Fasting
Want to end abortion? If you do, the first thing you must do is pray. Prayer is at the center of 40 Days for Life. During each campaign, we are calling on people of faith across the nation … and around the world … to fall on their knees before the Lord, asking Him to hear our plea and heal our land. Pray outside an abortion facility. Pray at church. Pray at work. Pray in the car. Pray at home with your family.
Christ told us some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. The two go hand in hand. Prayer keeps us rooted in the fact that it is our desire to carry out God’s will. Fasting is a sacrifice that helps us reach beyond our own limitations with God’s help.
Each day during 40 Days for Life, individuals, churches, families and groups will be asked to join together in prayer for a specific request so the entire Body of Christ can unite around a common focus. These specific prayer requests will seek God’s help for:
· Women who are at risk of having an abortion
· Innocent children who are at risk of perishing
· Men and women who carry the pain of a past abortion experience
· Workers at Planned Parenthood facilities and abortion centers
· Local, regional, and national leaders
· Revival and renewal in our churches
· Repentance and healing throughout our nation
People of faith are also invited to fast throughout 40 Days for Life. Christ said there are demons that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. A fast is not a Christian diet; it is a powerful means of drawing closer to God by blocking out distractions. Fast from certain foods. Fast from television. Fast from apathy and indifference. Fast from whatever it is that separates you from God.
We believe that when God’s people fast with a broken, repentant and contrite spirit, our heavenly Father will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation, and our world.
Constant Vigil
The visible, public centerpiece of 40 Days for Life is a focused, 40-day, non-stop, round-the-clock prayer vigil outside a single Planned Parenthood center or other abortion facility in your community.
It is a peaceful and educational presence. Those who are called to stand witness during 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 message is take proactively to every corner of your community. Media outreach is conducted through carefully targeted news stories, talk shows, editorials and opinion pieces so you get the message out to people who would never see the inside of a church.
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.
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.
This one activity alone can help a community rapidly identify hundreds, or even thousands, of pro-life supporters during the 40 days. These people can then be encouraged to pray and join local pro-life efforts.
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, public witness, petition drives, table displays, and much more.
Devotional for Preparation, September 23, 2014
Carmen Pate, Alliance Ministries
Intention: For God’s blessing upon the coming 40 Days for Life campaign.
Scripture: If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land. — 2 Chronicles 7:14
Reflection: Not unlike God’s chosen people of Israel, we must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, if we expect God to hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. The need for repentance has not been greater since the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade in 1973. The number one cause of death in America is the needless sacrifice of our children at the altar of convenience called abortion. Conservative estimates put the number of deaths at nearly 48 million. And lest we think this is an issue out- side the church walls, 43 percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 per- cent identify themselves as Catholic. One in four women has at least one abortion by the age of 45 – both non- Christian and Christian alike. Where was the voice of Truth – the church?
Mary Comm of In Our Midst Ministries, Inc. sums up the issue best as she writes, “We (the church) have been an unintentional accomplice to the millions of lives lost and to the multiplied millions of lives devastated by abor- tion. We didn’t want them to abort. We didn’t mean for them to abort. But, because of our lack of knowledge, be- cause of our fear, we have continued to stand by and do nothing. “We, God’s hands and feet in this dark and hurting world, have been unintentional, unknowledgeable accomplice, but an accomplice nonetheless.” May today mark the beginning of change within the church, as God’s people, in unity, seek His forgiveness.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we have turned our backs on you and your principles in your Word. We have allowed man to usurp Your role as God over life and the number of our days. But we come to you in brokenness and repentance over our sin. We cry out for Your mercy and ask you to remove the scourge of abortion from our land. Use us as your vessels, Lord, to bring the light of Your Truth to our nation once again. Because of Christ we pray, amen.
Devotional for Day 1, September 24, 2014
David Brandao, Communications Director, 40 Days for Life
Intention: That we may use these 40 Days for Life to plead for God’s mercy and grace up- on all those involved in the sin of abor- tion.
Scripture: Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast, call an assembly. Gather the people, notify the congregation. Assemble the elders; gather the children and the infants at the breast… Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, "Spare, O Lord, your people.” —Joel 2:15-17
Reflection: The toll of abortion cannot be measured. We hear estimates of almost 50 million innocent victims, but that’s only one aspect of the harm that has unfolded in abortion’s wake. There are also the mothers and fathers of these millions, as well as the grandparents, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins. Unborn lives destroyed. Lives of the living shattered. It’s overwhelming and depressing, but even in the midst of such unfathomable darkness, the church teaches us to have hope. Yes, it was indeed Calvary that followed Christ’s 40 days in the desert, but without Calvary there would have been no Resurrection – His victory over death that opened the gates of heaven to those who believe in and follow Him.
The psalmist encourages us to go humbly before God as we seek His will: A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me… Give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me… O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise (Psalm 51:12-17). We are called to be God’s messengers; or as the Apostle Paul wrote: We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20). That is the true message to all we en- counter at the abortion centers and in our communities who have been deceived by the Culture of Death. We don’t bring condemnation; we bring God’s good news.
Prayer: Lord, we ask for the strength, courage, wisdom, determination and stamina to carry out this mission according to Your will. Guide us, we pray, as we go forth and proclaim Your truth, always doing so with a spirit of love and compassion, as was demonstrated to us through the work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.
DAY 1: It starts with prayer … and with YOU
September 24, 2014 
This is it — 10 years ago, the first-ever 40 Days for Life campaign kicked off in College Station, Texas. Since then, God has clearly shown what He can do when we pray, fast, and show up. Lives are saved, hearts are changed, and abortion facilities close.
Will you join His efforts over the next 40 days in any of the 297 cities in 13 countries?
40 Days for Life started in Texas but abortion is a global crisis and many courageous and faithful volunteers will be meeting this global challenge with prayer and peaceful vigil starting today in the following countries:
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- Brazil
- Croatia
- England
- Ghana
- Latvia
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- South Africa
- Spain
- Wales
Go see the full list – and to sign up for the vigil location nearest you!
With that many locations, there’s going to be a lot of travel involved for the 40 Days for Life headquarters team. Without question, the man who will be logging the most miles over the next 40 days is Robert Colquhoun, our international outreach director who first brought 40 Days for Life to his home country of England back in 2010 and has since spread it far and wide:
Ghana
Robert visited with the 40 Days for Life leaders in Ghana this week. Please keep the people of this African nation in your prayers.
“We spoke to the youth group at a Presbyterian church on Sunday morning,” Robert said, “and we also did a rally in one of the poorest parts of Accra. Edward, the local leader, spoke passionately about abortion for both talks.”
Robert said abortion is, for the most part, illegal in Ghana,. But they’re done anyway – slightly undercover. “A large number of illegal abortions are done with chemicals under the scenes and in secrecy,” he said, “with considerable dangers attached.”
Croatia
Efforts in Croatia continue to grow. After a very successful initial campaign in Zagreb, the Croatian capital is joined by four other cities in that country for this campaign. The response has been most favorable. They had some great stories to share from that first campaign, and no doubt will continue to make a difference.
But you don’t have to go to Ghana or Croatia to pray!
There may be a campaign in your hometown. You can pray wherever you are, of course, but if there’s a vigil near you, prayer on the sidewalk in front of the abortion center sends a powerful message – to the women seeking abortion, to the people on the facility’s staff . . . and to your community.
Here again is the link to find your local 40 Days for Life vigil.
Devotional for Day 2, September 25, 2014
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention: Pray for those who work in the abor- tion industry, and for those who have repented of committing abortions and have resolved to defend life.
Scripture: Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” —Luke 23:46-47
Reflection: “Those of us who have participated in the killing of unborn children are the Centurions of today. We have dropped our swords against the unborn child. Now we must recognize the depth of our guilt and deal with the ramifications... To revitalize our humanity we need to forgive and be forgiven, to reconcile and be healed.”
These words come from a brochure of the Society of Centurions, an organization for former abortion providers. These words convey in a beautiful and moving way what is happening across the nation as hundreds of abortionists and their staff members experience repentance, conversion, and healing.
How does this conversion begin? Dr. Philip Ney writes, “The factors that changed their opinion on performing abortions, in the following order of frequency, were: evidence of the infant’s humanity, a spiritual experience, personal distress, evidence of the mother’s distress, scientific articles, being accepted as a person, a personal relationship with a pro-lifer, pro-life pickets.” (The Centurion’s Pathway, p. 77).
The journey is not easy. But the Jesus who heals us calls us to face the truth of what we’ve done, make restitution where possible, and engage in the hard work of mending relationships. Let’s pray for the Centurions; may their numbers increase!
Prayer: Lord, we thank you for those who have repented of committing abortions and have resolved to defend life. We too repent and resolve. We repent of every instance in which fear has made us silent when we should have spoken. We repent of the ongoing bloodshed in our land, and for thinking that we can deprive the unborn of protection but keep it for ourselves. We resolve that we will advance the cause of righteous candidates for public office, and that we will be more afraid of offending you by our silence than of offending others by our speech. We resolve that we will proclaim your name to the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen
DAY 2: From Madison to Dallas to Nigeria
September 25, 2014 
Right now … 40 Days for Life campaigns are happening in 297 cities in 13 countries. Which one is closest to YOU?
Steve Karlen, our North American outreach coordinator, and I spoke at the Madison, Wisconsin campaign kick off. David Bereit, our national director, talked in Dallas and Austin. And our international outreach coordinator, Robert Colquhoun, visited Nigeria.
We’re on the road … and on the radio. I had an opportunity to share the word about 40 Days for Life with Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show, which is carried on many radio stations across the United States via the EWTN network. Here’s a http://40daysforlife.com/2014/09/25/sonrise/
While we can’t cover every location … you can take part in your local campaign and see God’s hand at work. Here are a few early examples.
St. Cloud, Minnesota
“40 Days for Life is really growing in St. Cloud,” said Judy, the local coordinator. These past days and weeks, Judy and her team were out in their community promoting their campaign – and it’s paying off.
At one event, a number of volunteers enthusiastically signed up. “Many of the ladies attending this event already do vigil with us,” she said, “and helped us encourage and explain 40 Days for Life to others.”
Judy also noted a homeschooling mom and her five daughters (they’re in the picture above), who are involved in a spiritual adoption project. The idea is to pray for a baby who is in danger of abortion.
Participants are encouraged to name their babies. The girls helped make beaded bracelets with the names of their adopted baby. The bracelets are a reminder to pray for the babies every day.
“We know this day brought many individual daily prayers for an end to abortion in this very personal, individual way,” she said.
Birmingham, England
Birmingham’s seventh 40 Days for Life campaign is under way – but this is one of many cities where prayerful vigils continue after Day 40. “Some of our volunteers are so enthusiastic they keep on coming between campaigns,” said Isabel, the local coordinator.
At one time, the abortion facility had been open seven days a week. Now it has cut back to four days a week – the prayer is indeed making a difference.
Isabel said she recently learned of a woman who had become pregnant last year. “It was an unexpected event, as the mother’s other children were growing up fast. She discussed it with her husband and they decided on abortion. “
They scheduled the abortion at the Marie Stopes facility where the 40 Days for Life vigil is held.
“Fortunately it was October,” Isabel said. “And as they drove up the street they saw people praying as part of last year’s autumn 40 Days for Life campaign. This prompted them to pull the car over and have another talk together. The result is they now have a lovely new baby they wouldn’t swap for the world.”
Isabel said she gets lots of reports of cars turning around and driving away without anyone getting out. “It’s great to hear the bigger story of one such event.”
PS: Please pray for Sandra Cano. Sandra was the “Doe” of the Doe v. Bolton abortion case, a companion to Roe v. Wade. She never wanted an abortion, and feared having an abortion performed on her against her will. Sandra is being treated for cancer and other complications. She wants to live and to see the end of abortion – and the reversal of the Supreme Court case. Would you please pray for her safety, healing and life? And please join with Sandra in praying for an end to abortion.
Devotional for Day 4, September 27, 2014
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
Intention: We ask God that we may understand the concept of justice, as a gift he gives and as a responsibility that shapes our work.
Scripture: Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
—Amos 5:24
Reflection: Justice, a key theme of the Scriptures, is something God does and that we too must do.
When God intervenes to save his people when they are helpless and in slav- ery in Egypt, he “does justice.”
He manifested his justice in the plagues that were sent upon Egypt, whereby Pharaoh was convinced that he must let the people go.
Justice is manifested as, in awe and wonder, God’s people see the Red Sea open before them, allow them to pass without even getting their feet wet, and then close again to drown their powerful enemies.
God is a God of Justice; he rescues us when we cannot save ourselves.
His justice, above all, is seen in Jesus Christ, who, when we could not save ourselves, rescued us from the kingdom of sin, Satan, death, and hell.
The mighty work of Christ on the cross and in the resurrection is the perfect manifestation of God as the God of justice. We, then, are to be the people of justice; we are to “do justice” by intervening to save the helpless in the name and by the power of the God who saves us who are helpless ourselves.
That’s why we have a pro-life movement; that’s why we have a 40 Days for Life Campaign; that’s why saving the unborn is our business.
Prayer: Loving heavenly Father, help us to see the worth of all human beings by the way in which you provide for us.
We would ask that you provide also the faith, grace and courage to enable us to protect that which is so precious to you. Through Christ our Lord, amen.
We all love hearing about babies being saved from abortion at the last moment. But the reality is that not all stories have happy endings.
Abortion facilities are places of darkness and can sometimes crush what little hope a woman may have while walking inside. They survive on despair.
One man that you'll hear about today reacted to this reality by saying, “Something needs to be done about abortion.”
Well, something is being done — and you can be part of the solution!
Baltimore, Maryland
“A well-groomed gentleman approached us on the sidewalk,” said Jody, the coordinator of the 40 Days for Life campaign in the Fullerton area of Baltimore.
“I used to be for abortion. But not anymore,” he blurted out. “I was for abortion until my granddaughter had one.”
There was pain in his eyes, and a searching look. He had more to say. “Then she got pregnant again and the baby died. It was really hard. Something needs to be done about abortion.”
This grandfather wasn't quite finished. “And then we found out that our daughter had an abortion. She had told her mother she needed $500 for something. We gave it to her. Thirty years later we found out that she aborted her son.”
His head sagged for a moment. “I would have had a grandson.”
“We shared information about the healing ministry of Rachel’s Vineyard and he took it gratefully,” Jody said. “Please pray for this gentleman.”
Houston, Texas
Prayer volunteers often speak about the women walking into the abortion centers – but there’s less said about the women walking out. Perhaps that’s because it’s often hard to describe that scene. It can be gut-wrenching.
One sidewalk counselor reported that a woman was seen leaving Houston's Planned Parenthood abortion mega-center. She was in the parking lot, obviously sick and in pain after an abortion. The volunteer kept waiting for Planned Parenthood to send someone out to check on her. But that never happened.
“We have seen this sort of thing happen frequently at Planned Parenthood,” said one of the Houston volunteers. “They don't seem to be too concerned with their clients’ welfare after they have paid and had the abortion.”
Charlotte, North Carolina
Vigil participants in Charlotte were able to speak briefly with a young woman on her way into the abortion center, but were unable to convince her to cancel her appointment.
They watched as she left the building some time later and sat alone in her car for about ten minutes. But as she drove out, she opened her car window and wanted to talk.
“She told me that she had taken the abortion pill and was directed by the abortionist to take the second pill tomorrow,” said one of the volunteers. “But she confessed that she was having second thoughts.”
But was it too late to do anything? The prayer team hopes that it is not. They gave this frightened young woman the phone number of a doctor who might be able to help, since she had not taken the second pill.
“Please keep her in your prayers,” the volunteer said. “And if you are able, please come and pray during these 40 Days for Life.”
