It is a battle.
Not against flesh and blood, the Bible tells us; we aren’t at war with those who choose abortion or even with those who provide it.
We fight “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
It is a battle. But how do we fight it? As video after shocking video has been released these last few weeks, how are we to respond? With outrage, yes. With concern, of course.
But what can we do?
Hold up a sign outside an abortion clinic? Make a presentation in class? Share videos on Facebook?
Maybe.
The beauty of God’s plan is that each of us play a different part.
Some will be called to advance legislation to protect the vulnerable. Some will work directly with men and women making the life-or-death decision. Some will rebuild the culture of life itself by caring for human lives others think are less important, like the elderly, disabled, or unwanted.
Though the specifics of our involvement can be different, here are three things each of us must do.
1. Pray.
The pro-life battle is fought in hearts, and only God can change those.
As Brother Andrew said, “Our prayers can go where we cannot … there are no borders, no prison walls, no doors that are closed to us when we pray.” He may have been referring to countries behind the Iron Curtain, but it’s just as true of Planned Parenthood walls.
Think about it! As children of the God of the universe, we have direct access to His throne of grace and can intercede for the hurting people in our own communities. Through prayer, we have direct involvement in the unseen war that is waged all around us with the “cosmic powers.”
Prayer is our most powerful assignment — and it applies to all of us.
2. Give.
While we wrestle with our role in this fight and wonder how we should spend our efforts, many other people are already in the thick of battle.
Look up your local crisis pregnancy center and see what needs they have, or donate to a national organization like Save the Storks.
Our money (which we are only stewards of anyway) can be used to further organizations already established to bring hope to people in crisis situations and save the lives of pre-born babies.
3. Be.
It sounds simple, and it is. Be pro-life. Live it.
Prove with your actions that you believe in the God-given dignity of every human being, whether we’re talking about a pre-born infant, an elderly grandfather, a disabled young woman—or a pro-choice advocate.
You may be surprised where this will take you.
Corrie ten Boom and her family stood in the path of the Nazi swastika during World War II. As evil laws and leaders took over their small country, the ten Booms wrestled with how they should respond. They knew this new government was against the very God they believed in and lived for, but how could resist such a powerful enemy?
Early in the Nazi occupation, Corrie spent an evening with a Jewish family. As she watched the father play with his children, she realized that these people — these very people she was sitting with — were in danger. In that happy yet endangered home, Corrie prayed.
“Lord Jesus, I offer myself for Your people. In any way. Any place. Any time.”
She had no calculated plan or specific assignment. But she offered herself for whatever God would bring her way, and He brought His assignment to her. It is estimated that, throughout World War II, over 800 people were saved through the work of the ten Boom family.
Pray.
I know I already said this, but, even as Christians, we skip this step far too often (or at least skimp on it).
Pray for the safety of unborn children, specifically (but not only) in your area. Pray for women in desperate situations, and for men who can’t be involved in their child’s life — or don’t want to be.
Pray for abortion providers, that they would see their own bondage and escape to freedom in Christ. Pray that pro-life advocates would remember that our goal in this fight is the glory of God and dignity of human life, not winning an argument or arrogantly advancing our own ideas.
And pray for me. Pray for yourself. Pray that we would all find our place on the battlefield.
Share Your Thoughts in the Comment Section!
There are currently __ Comment(s)
There are currently __ Comment(s)
Nice points. I can’t think of a whole lot of ways that I can directly get involved because there aren’t any abortion clinics in my area (that I know of anyway). This is definitely a horrid issue that I will be praying about. Also, people, keep in mind that there are a lot of people out there who have had their own experiences with abortion, so please don’t make a post hating on all the mothers who choose abortion. Is it wrong? Yes. Do we as Christians think that it is Biblically incorrect? Yes. But, does God forgive those who repent and follow Him? YES! Abortion is wrong and we should do all we can to end it, but it shouldn’t drive us to put down already guilty-feeling moms and dads. This is an issue that breaks my heart. We should, however, do what we can to solve this problem with love.
Thank you for mentioning this, Emily! I think it’s really important that we keep this in mind. We can’t understand the circumstances that lead to abortion. It doesn’t make it right, but we do need to have compassion and love, because it appears to be a largely an uneducated decision which people often regret afterwards.
Great article, Lauren!
Thank you so much for this! It is so encouraging to remember that there are things we CAN do, no matter how inadequate we feel sometimes. Very helpful!
-Grace (trueandpure.wordpress.com)
Boom! I was actually thinking about writing something just like this. 🙂 Thank you so much for being bold and speaking up about this!!
It is a great things if there isn’t an abortion clinic near you! The harder it is to get an abortion, the less it will actually happen. You can still pray though! 🙂
Thanks for this Lauren!
One other thing I think we can do is to be prepared to give an answer for why we believe abortion is wrong, and know how to answer pro-abortion arguments.
I recently have been in 3 debates on abortion. 2 online and one in real life with a doctor (who is the father of one of my sister’s friends). I was respectful and loving in all these discussions (they were not arguments) but I was also truthful.
Thankfully I have researched the topic and how to counter virtually all the pro-abortion arguments. It’s actually quite easy because the topic is simpler than say “Creation vs Evolution”, but you still need to be prepared.
I just recently created a page on The Soldiers of God with great recources for fighting abortion.
It’s at thesoldiersofgod.com/abortion
Hope y’all find it useful!
It is not only the moms and dads who are guilty. Our whole nation is guilty. We are guilty when we don’t speak up about abortion but instead ignore it, and sometimes, we are more guilty than they are. They really might not know what they are doing.
I don’t know what sort of pro-abortion arguments you are talking about, but I hate when abortion ad advocates say they are all for “women’s rights.” It’s like, “If you really cared about women’s right, you wouldn’t be killing so many women every day.”
Right!
That’s one of their arguments. We need to be able to answer those things. Like for example:
Lie #1 – Life doesn’t begin at conception.
Lie #2 – Abortion is a women’s right.
Lie #3 – Abortion is needed to prevent overpopulation.
Etc.
All these are lies and can be easily countered. But without a defense against them, we can’t convince anyone of anything.
#3 is so awful! (Well, they’re all awful, but especially #3.)
Emily,
You’re so right! We may never know how many people around us have been affected in some way by abortion, and it is important that we be considerate of that. God’s grace and forgiveness can cover an abortion decision just like it covers each of our sinful decisions, and we are called to share the same love and healing that have been given to us. Thanks for sharing your thoughts – and your heart!
-Lauren
Grace,
It’s very true: If all of us did what we could, no matter how “little” it seemed, it would add up to a lot. And wherever we are lacking, God is more than enough. Thanks for reading!
-Lauren
Trent,
Thank you for your thought-out response. Being educated and prepared is important – as is being loving and genuinely concerned, as you mentioned. Justice for All is an organization with some great resources on equipping people to defend life graciously. You can find more about them here: http://jfaweb.org/HOME.html
Thanks for sharing!
-Lauren
The worst one is when women say ‘it’s my body’. Well no, actually, it’s not. It’s your child’s body??
So true!
Because it’s so not true that the earth is overpopulated!!! In fact, in 30 years the population is expected to decline because most people aren’t having the required 2.2 children that are needed to keep the world’s population. 1 to replace each parent and the 0.2 is for all the miscarriages! If people really believe that abortion is needed to control the earth’s population, they are HORRIBLY deceived. Abortion is truly going to make the world’s DECREASE in population WORSE!!!
Amen!
Another great resource is ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments by Randy Alcorn. I’ve gone back to this book several times and it’s incredibly detailed! I most definitely recommend this for defending a ProLife view!
Side note, but percussion for Christ?!? As a fellow percussionist, I’m interested in this username. How do you use your percussion for Christ?
Please, everyone just get married young and have tons of babies!
I like that idea! 😉 but its kinda not that easy always. Hehe! Right now I am trying desperately to find joy and meaning in my singlehood because marriage is not a part of God’s plan for my life at this moment. 😉
I know, it’s so annoying. I don’t get why a woman should have the right to kill her baby! Come on, people! It goes against human nature and everything else. Ugh.
Thanks a lot for this Lauren! Prayer truly is one of the most important things we can do in this battle, the Lord’s really been impressing that on my heart lately and I’ve started to take close to an hour at a time to pray about this, it’s so important!
Thanks for reading, Amanda!
Everything we do as humans either glorifies God or glorifies us. There is no middle ground. I feel like, if we give Christ the glory and praise in whatever we do, we are doing it for him. My music has also opened many doors for me to witness to people. I think that in whatever we do we should look at it as Christ and see where the Lord has opened a door for us to minister to someone. You are always where you are for a specific purpose. By the way, what do you like playing best in percussion? I’m a mallet player all the way.
Good response. As far as mallets go, I love the rich tone of a marimba. Marching band is really fun though, and I’ve played snare in the past for that and I’m playing bass drum 2 this year (you know, the one with all the weird off-beat parts :D).
“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything” (Ecclesiastes 11: 5 ).
Life is a precious gift from God, and, as such, is a mystery. Ultimately, it can’t be explained by biological science, because its meaning goes deeper than human knowledge. As Christians we know that there is more to life than the empty mechanics taught by the world today, and this is something we MUST share. It’s incredibly sad that these children are being murdered in this way – but those who reject God’s gifts of purpose and love are more to be pitied.
Thank-you, Lauren. It’s encouraging and challenging to think about the different ways we can all play our part.
I would much rather be in pit. 😀 I like the marimba and the xylophone the best.
I actually am in pit! Go pitsters! But, unfortunately, it’s a little hard to march in a parade with a marimba, so that’s not an option. 🙂
Amen!! Prayer is SO important!!
Yes!! i think it’s important for us to know how to explain to others why we are against abortion and for life!!
Sam, thanks for reading. I like what you said about “more to life than the empty mechanics taught by the world.” Very true!
I agree that we should be praying for and reaching out to abortion doctors and other providers (check out Abby Johnson’s ministry And Then There Were None: http://abortionworker.com/). I don’t believe, however (and I’m not sure this is what you were saying), that it is an either/or situation. We can be shocked and horrified that children are killed and also reach out to those who, as you said, are blinded. We can pray for justice and protection for unborn lives – and for hearts and minds to clearly see the truth and come to Christ. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! – Lauren
Wow, an hour – that is a great goal! This is a good reminder and encouragement to me to devote more time to it as well. Thanks for reading!
I cannot claim to spend nearly that much time in prayer, but I uphold you for that. Good job!
No. I was not saying it was an either or situation. I guess I just feel like when thinking about abortion we tend to think about the aborted rather than the aborters, when really the abortion doctors are the ones headed towards a more serious death.
Thanks for writing, that was some great stuff!;)
Another option would be truly pro-life would be to work to help women who have kids already. Provide childcare, vote for programs to help low-income families support their kids, advocate for assistance to women and children. Prayer is great, but it doesn’t pay rent, buy food, or help families/women that may be facing difficult decisions.
Hey Trent! I know the rebuttal for #’s 2 and 3, but what’s your answer for #1? If you have time to answer… sounds like you’ve got a lot going on. 🙂
Well I have prewritten respones to Abortion arguments. So this is what i would say:
Science and medicine are clear: life begins at conception.
Dr. Micheline Matthewn-Roth, professor at Harvard Medical School states,
Dr. Alfred Bongiovanni, former Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania states,
Professor Hymie Gordon, founder of the world famous Mayo Clinic’s Medical Genetics Program states,
These three well respected men and women have concluded that from the moment of conception, life is present. You might argue that there is no life, just a clump of cells called a fetus and it is not life, but rather the potential for life that can come later. And if a growing fetus can be considered life, than so can any group of cells in your body. However there are several reasons why that is not accurate.
Firstly, no other “group of cells” will grow to eventually form a fully formed child. Biologically, only life grows more complicated over time, whether that be plant, animal, or human life. Other cells, such as the cells on your hand or elbow do not have the potential to grow into a human being when put together, like a sperm and egg do.
Secondly, there is no other time that there is no time or event in the growth process where there significant enough change to take the place of conception as the turning point from non-life to life.
Thirdly, the reason life starts at conception is because when the sperm & egg cells are separate, there is no significant growth like that of them joined together at conception. So separately, they are the potential for life. However once they merge together at conception, they form a new life, which continues to grow and grow in his or her mother’s whom until it reaches the point where it was designed to leave the mother’s whom, typically at 9 months. This is why it is quite fair and logical to call the unborn baby “life”, from the moment of conception.
well, i would disagree. While prayer might not help things directly, your prayers could help those low-income families to find a way to earn more money, to make decisions, or put someone in their life who can help them.
Thanks, bro!
👍😁
I think that it’s very important to be able to back up your arguments with scripture. Does anyone know of any specific verses?
Hi, Trent,
This summer I started working on launching a pro-life organization, APPOINT, to encourage those in their teens and twenties to step out for the unborn. When I was 16, God showed me that I was supposed to devote my life to saving children from abortion. Back then I was scared, unsure of what to do, and I was heartbroken to let the dreams I had go. I had no idea about how to go about pro-life work and looked for guidance and places that would show me how to put my mission into practice. I was surprised to find that opportunities were slim, especially for youth. (“When you’re older/18/21/done with college…”) I knew that there needed to be something to train today’s teens to step out without fear and spread the word in their own hometowns that a quarter of children are aborted and that we need to speak out for these little ones. That’s why I started APPOINT.
I am looking for other young people who would like to become part of APPOINT and help show our generation how to take a stance for life. Would you consider sharing about us on Soldiers of God? Our website is http://www.AppointTheGeneration.org
Thanks!
I would love to share and your website!
In fact, if you would like to put together a short “article” about your mission and such, than I could post that for you?
Have an awesome day!
– Trent
@trent_blake
I’ll be happy to put together an article! I’ll work on it and get it to you as soon as I can. Thank you so much!
You have an awesome day, too:)
wait, is this nathan moyer from CC?????!!!!! if not sorry.