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‘See, I have already begun!’: God doing great things through 40 Days for Life

by Natalie N. Farber

Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:14 EST
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Tags: 40 days for life, abortion, planned parenthood

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

Natalie Farber

September 28, 2012 (Bound4Life.com) - I stood there holding a candle and singing 1,000 Reasons with the voices of men and women whose faces I see every spring and every fall. It is always such an honor to stand alongside these faithful ones and many new voices that are joining in for the very first time. 40 Days for Life has begun in our city again and my heart is filled with a hope that God is about to do something new through our prayers. He always does.

Yesterday, as we stood together worshipping and praying, Isaiah 43:19 kept swimming through my mind. God is about to do something new in our midst. Jesus is about to reach out to hundreds of thousands across the world in His passionate love for the gift of Life. People will be healed, rescued, and loved through the prayers that will sweep through our country and beyond.

40 Days for Life began in 2007 and there have been ten synchronized campaigns since then. It has mobilized people of Faith in 440 cities across the United States and Canada, also cities in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belize, Denmark, England, Georgia, Germany, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Poland, Puerto Rico and Spain. But this fall, 40 Days for Life is much different than the other campaigns. This will be the largest 40 Days for Life campaign we have ever had in 316 locations with more than 40 brand-new cities, including Kampala, Uganda.

Five years ago, when 40 Days for Life was first born as a national effort, God placed this campaign in 89 cities. In these first five years, this prayer effort for Life has now reached an overall total of 440 cities. I am going to say it, again: God is in our midst and He is doing something new. Do you see it, yet? He is making a pathway through the hurt and the death-ridden. He is creating refreshment in the places of destruction.

God has marked this campaign with millions of miracles sung and unsung. Here is just one that will move your heart for praying for the abortion workers. The very first place where 40 Days for Life began was a Planned Parenthood in College Station, Texas where former director of this same abortion center, Abby Johnson, received new hope from 40 Days for Life participants. She received help when she decided what she was working for was wrong and wanted out. You can read her full article in the National Catholic Register here.

The most moving principle of 40 Days for Life for me is that it is established and sustained by the prayer of the people. The most vulnerable place to be for me is in the place of prayer. It is a display of submission and an effort of letting go of control and asking the God of Heaven to intercede and fight for us. It is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen…driving up day after day to the same sidewalk in front of our city abortion clinic and seeing God’s people gather to pray in love and in persistence for the mothers, the fathers, the babies, and the workers inside to all live abundantly. We are all praying for something so much bigger than ourselves—to set the captives free so that they may live.

You can be a voice of prayer, too. I encourage anyone who has never prayed outside of their home or church for the ending of abortion to join the others praying on the sidewalks. A witness makes a difference as I was taught last night as a post-abortive mother told her testimony reiterating that there was no one standing as a witness that day she went to have her abortion. She says she often wonders if she would have changed her mind had there been someone there standing on the sidewalk and praying for her. I want the Church to be standing as a witness outside of these places where our people need us the most. You can see this full list of locations for the 40 Days for Life campaign so you can be a voice of prayer and a witness in your city. Once you find your nearby city, you can get involved immediately.

Lastly, here are some statistics from 40 Days for Life website where you to see just what God has been doing through the prayers of 40 Days for Life. A black and white picture of what He has done can be seen and mildly measured but what is to come in this new season will be a new thing….much greater and much more powerful than the latter. I invite you to come alongside us.

During these 5 years, these are the countless blessings from God:

1,894 individual campaigns have taken place in 440 cities
More than 525,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
More than 15,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
Reports document 5,928 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
69 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
24 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
More than 2,100 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast … and overseas
Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery

Reprinted with permission from Bound4Life.com

Day 4 - September 29

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 slavery 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:

God of Justice, you heard the cry of your people when they were being oppressed in Egypt, and you proved yourself to be the God of justice, who rescues the helpless. You likewise rescued us from the kingdom of darkness, and brought us into the Kingdom of your Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, who saves us from the power of Satan, sin, death, and hell. Make us people of justice, ready to intervene to save the helpless. Indeed, as your prophets have announced, let justice roll on like a mighty river, to save all who are in need, especially the unborn. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life