Daily devotion – The tragedy of Manchester!
“Two Jewish people have died in a car ramming and stabbing attack at a synagogue in Manchester.
The attack came on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar, and is being treated by police as a terror incident.
Police said they believe the attacker, who was shot dead at the scene, was Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian descent.
Three people remain in hospital with serious injuries. (BBC)”
Once again, we read of the plight of the Jewish people—this time, on the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur. While attending synagogue in Manchester, two were murdered simply because they were Jewish.
We hear the voices of weak leaders offering condolences, yet under their watch antisemitism and hatred have been allowed to grow and fester. Families grieve, communities live in fear, and evil grows bolder.
What can the Church do at times like this? Is there anything more than feeling sorrow and outrage? Beloved, there is.
We must not forget that our own nation allowed a protest march in Sydney to celebrate the atrocities of October 2023, where 1,195 people were murdered—men, women, and children, many at the Nova music festival. And yet, so many still go about business as usual, blind to the rise of evil around them.
But we as disciples of Jesus Christ cannot live like that. We are not called to simply be “good people” or to “play church.” We are called to prayer. Prayer is not small—it is the one thing that heaven has given us that directly pushes back the powers of darkness.
Paul reminds us:
2 Thessalonians 2:7 – “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”
The Holy Spirit, working through a praying Church, restrains evil in this world. Did you know that your prayers, lifted in faith, hold back the tide of wickedness?
History warns us. During the rise of the Nazis in Germany, when the Jewish people were clearly in danger, much of the world did nothing. People knew, but they remained silent. Hitler slaughtered millions, 1.5 of the 6 million were children and infants, while many went about their daily lives.
We cannot repeat that silence today. We are Christ’s Church in the Last Days. Our greatest service to the Lord is not ambition, position, or appearance—it is to be His weapon of prayer.
So I urge you: join us each time we gather for prayer here at Calvary. Make your homes places of prayer, as young Daniel did in Babylon. When you bow your knees before Almighty God, that is what makes Satan tremble.
Let us pray—today, for Israel, for the Jewish people, for our nation, and for the Church to awaken.