A Prayer for the Preemptive

Bishop Paul Lanier  |  September 24, 2024

Bishop Paul Lanier, The Fellowship’s Chairman of the Board, shares a Christian perspective on recent events impacting Israel, the U.S., and the world.

I want us to pray together. But first, I want us to give God glory. I want us to praise our God for all he continues to do in and for Israel.

As you know, last month Israel launched a preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon. There is no doubt that the terrorists fully intended to launch thousands of rockets and missiles towards the Galilee, towards Tel Aviv – and towards civilian targets.

War is, of course, deadly and tragic, and no matter how hard Israel works to avoid civilian casualties, they will occur. What we must recognize is that Israel does try to limit harm to civilians – issuing evacuation warnings to homes and apartments at least 20 to 30 minutes before it attacks a location.

Inevitably, there are those tragic moments when civilians lose their lives even when Israel is trying its very best to avoid those casualties. When that happens due to an Israeli strike, it is crucial that we recognize it is a tragic accident.

Not An Accident – A Strategy

But when civilians die because of enemy attacks against Israel, it is not an accident – it’s a strategy.

In the August strike, rather than waiting for the enemy to attack, Israel took action to wipe out Hezbollah missile launchers. Unfortunately, they were embedded in civilian locations – another terrorist strategy. Knowing that Hezbollah threatened it with the launch of thousands of rockets, Israel was able to go in and wipe out those spaces.

I have been praying for preemptive strikes. When you’ve got 7 fronts to address, 7 faces of enemies determined to come against you (8 if you include Turkey, which is always volatile), you simply cannot wait for those enemies to rally together in a moment of demonic synchronization and to come against you. You must take out those Goliaths preemptively, one at a time.

Thankfully, in this case, Israel was able to do that. And we thank God for giving such wisdom to Israel’s leadership and such strength to its soldiers.

As it is in the world, so it is in our own lives. So I want to ask you, what is the name of the enemy that is coming against you? What is that diagnosis, that disease, that calamity, crisis, dissention? What is it that’s trying to destroy your wellbeing?

Our “In the Beginning” God

I tell the people in this ministry and in the church that I serve, we don’t just wait to hear bad news. We choose to believe in a preexisting condition, and that condition is the love of God. We know it is the word of God because the Scriptures refer to Him – to your God – as “in the beginning God.…”

You worship the “in the beginning God,” and he makes preemptive strikes against what the enemy is trying to do against your life and mine.

I ask you now to please pray for all the civilians in Israel, especially the children.

I ask you to praise God now as if you could already see the miracles to come, as if your prayers were already answered.

Join me now as I pray: “Almighty God, I thank you for the precious people who worship you, who love you as you adore them.

“You have heard us giving you praise and honor and glory for all you did in Israel and for using the IDF to keep your people safe. Thank you for the fact that they were able to go in and stop thousands of lives from being lost.

“Grant them great wisdom, great strength, and great faithfulness. For all of this we give you praise. Amen.”

As always, thank you for your time.

Bishop Paul Lanier