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“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and of the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11
The Church of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has within her the power to once and for all put an end to terrorism. That is a bold statement, but it is none-the-less true. By exercising faith in the form of praying for terrorists, the Church can put an end to terrorist attacks.
Jesus said, “…love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” Matthew 5:44. To say that terrorists are enemies of those they (the terrorists) want to destroy would be an understatement. Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. One way to love one’s enemies is to pray for them. Therefore, relative to terrorists, Christians can fulfill the love commandment by praying for them, asking God our Heavenly Father to have mercy on them and turn their hearts and minds away from evil and unto Him.
The act of praying for one’s enemies causes the power of God to be released. If Christians pray, God will intervene and separate people from sin. That is why God sent Jesus to die on the Cross, so that men would be separated from their sins. “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 Through the power of God, men can be separated from the sin of hate that leads to murder. "...The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." James 5:16. It is God's desire and good pleasure to separate men from their sins. (2 Peter 3:9)
"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way." 2 Thessalonians 2:7
Terrorism is an example of lawlessness. Such evil has been in the earth a long time. However, the power of God through the Holy Spirit restrains evil in the earth. Since the Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of Christians, we have at our disposal the power needed to restrain lawlessness in the earth. One of the ways we can do this is by exercising our faith through prayer. There will come a time when lawlessness will no longer be restrained. Until that time comes, we in whom the Holy Spirit dwells have a responsibility to do our part to restrain evil through our prayers. If evil is running rampant, we should step up our prayer life. Evil should not have a free reign while the Church of Our Lord and Savior is still in the Earth. Satan and his minions should have to wait until their time comes to wreck havoc. It should not be allowed now! We Christians have the spiritual power to stop evil from running rampant in the earth...and until Jesus Comes for us, that is just what we ought to do.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:4,5.
References
Hayford, Jack W., ed. Spirit-Filled Life Bible. New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991.
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