Pray when the bullets kill you

There's nowhere else I'd want myself or my kids to be than praying if violence comes

This might be the shortest post I’ve written here. Those who bemoan or mock the value of prayer when nutjobs shoot up a church or Christian school, or when Christians say “thoughts and prayers” in response to violence, have a completely wrong conception of prayer and its purpose.

I’m not going to offer up a slick analogy or metaphor for prayer. It is wholly supernatural, in that it’s addressed to God, and only God can answer. Therefore, prayers offered to anyone else or answers expected from anywhere else are not, in the Christian sense, prayers at all. Without disrespecting other faiths, prayers offered to gods, idols, or the stars are fine for those who do that, but there is no parallel to the Christian prayer to the triune God of the Bible: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (I will allow that Jewish prayers to the same God are indeed heard and answered.)

James, the brother of Jesus, wrote: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.” (James 5:16.)

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.” (James 5:17.)

If these prayers were heard and answered, then our prayers are heard and answered. Then why do children die at the hands of creeps? Because there is evil in the world. We cannot pray the evil out of the world. That is the domain of God, and His plan.

However, we can pray that those who are innocent are in the hands of a loving God. The most fervent prayers are the ones by those about to die for their faith. Many a prophet was murdered, stoned, beheaded, even crucified. Many a saint became a martyr for the faith. Hebrews chapter 11 is full of examples.

God has promised a reward for those with faith, but the reward is not promised in this world. “And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39-40.)

Let me put it this way. If the bullets are flying, there is no place I’d rather my kids be than in prayer. That goes for myself. If I am to die, there is no prescription I’d rather follow than the act of the martyr, calling upon the One who can save me, body and soul, or destroy me, body and soul. Would anyone rather die with a closed fist shaken in the face of the almighty, and in the next instant be delivered to the devil, whose hatred burns with eternal enmity against God and God’s creation? We do get what we ask for—if we ask for God to be absent from our lives, then He is absent in our eternity also.

If we ask for God to be present in our lives, even at the last instant, God will be present in our eternity also. None of us know when eternity is coming. But it is coming to us all. Whether by a creep’s bullet, by persecution for speaking words of faith, or by old age, we will face the veil of death, and cross it.

So yes, for the two children who were killed in the act of praying, I pray for their parents, for their family, and for all who knew them, that their act of martyrdom would accrue to glory in heaven. Were it my child, I would grieve for my loss, but there would be joy at the fact that when eternity came, it arrived in the act of praying. And I would be grateful for others who offer their prayers for my own well being.

In 1873, Horatio G. Spafford penned a hymn called “It is Well with My Soul.”

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

• Refrain:
  It is well with my soul,
  It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Prayer is not a shield for our lives, yet it is essential for our souls.

There is nothing like God’s wellness, and nothing that compares with His reward. That is the purpose of prayer. It won’t stop the bullets, but the bullets can only take our physical body. It can never take the soul. The creeps can never win, and those who bemoan or mock prayer cannot reap the reward it brings until the peace of God enters their heart.

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