A Prayer of Blessing After The Mall Shooting
Sunday, June 4, 2023 found visitors to North Star mall running for their lives. We were there.
See this news article for more information.
Whether you were there or have lived through something similar, we want to offer this prayer for you to find peace and not live in fear. We were able to help people to safety. Mike even wrenched his back helping people over a wall. We were also able to pray for individuals that were in terror. I’m glad we were there because Christians can absolutely change the atmosphere of the places they are in and while what happened was awful, it could have been much, much worse.
Good morning. If you were there yesterday when that terrifying incident happened, I want to give you a prayer today and I wanna give you some words of advice. I was there; and I can honestly say that with my faith in God, I had no fear and I want to impart that to you because looking around you could see the faces and how much fear and terror was present.
My heart went out to people. The first thing I want to tell you is to let out those feelings. Don’t stuff them in an attempt to be mature or an attempt to protect your family or friends from the rawness of the emotion, but find someplace that is a safe place; even, if it’s your car after an event like that, if it’s at home, your closet in the shower with a family member or a friend, let that emotion out.
You need to cry, you need to sob, and you need to let it out because if you stuff it, it develops a callous over your heart to where you can no longer feel anything. You can’t feel good and you can’t feel bad, and that is not a way to live. So please, Let that emotion out.
And if you’re a parent and your child was present, make sure they know it’s okay to cry; because a lot of times we say things like, oh, it’ll be okay. ‘Don’t cry honey’. ‘Don’t cry, honey’. That’s not helpful. You need to tell them it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to feel this way and it’s good to let it out and let them cry and sob. You don’t have to say anything. You just need to be present. So if you were there or if you’ve experienced something similar, I want to give a prayer to you.
Prayer is not something you do as a last resort. It’s something you do as a first resort. There is one God of the universe and He has all power to forgive, all power to judge, and all power to bring you peace, but there are principles in the spirit realm that cause us to feel or not feel his peace; that cause us to suffer harm when we didn’t have to.
And that’s a whole adventure and other topic than for today. For today, I want to say a prayer over you. I want to say a prayer of blessing and a prayer of release to help you release this pain and this fear and move back into a place, or move forward into a place, of security.
I’m going to pray with my eyes open. You pray however you wish. Heavenly Father, I ask in the name of your son, The Lord Jesus Christ, that you would come into this person’s heart and mind and you would take this situation and you would cause it to do good things in their heart that you would cause them to pursue you; to find out how someone can have peace in such a situation like this. I pray that you would cause this person to know you in a new and intimate way. I pray, Lord God, that they would pursue Jesus Christ as the savior of their own sins, because we all sin.
‘Sin’ simply means to fall short of the glory of God, his perfect plan, his perfect way. There is no human on earth that has ever met that standard; except Jesus Christ. God sent his son to die for us, that we can be reconciled with God. And I pray that for you. I pray God, right now, that you would come into this person’s heart and into their mind and into their spirit, and you would remove the fog of fear.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command fear to flee. I command you to remove your claws from this person’s mind and their heart and their spirit, so that they can hear the voice of God, that they can hear the gentle whisper of God that is wooing them to come into his presence, to come into knowledge of him, that they can have peace in their lives, that they can have a relationship with you in their lives, that they can know what it’s like to be forgiven.
I pray God that they would know that their lives are in the center of your hand; that they cannot die until it is your time, until it is their end of season. I pray, Lord, that they find a place of security in that, that they learn to trust you because the real issue is not that we are afraid of man. The real issue is that we are afraid of you.
Let us not be afraid of you any longer, but let us run wholeheartedly into a fullness of joy and a fullness of life to know that you’ve got this, that we don’t have to try to have control and we don’t have to be afraid, but that we can run with you and not from you.
Father, I pray for the revelation light of Jesus Christ to come into their heart and to their mind right now. I pray that this person would know you as their savior, that they would see that their shortcomings are as bad as a murderer’s shortcomings because you are so righteous and so holy, but that you didn’t hold that against us.
Instead, you made a way for us to be reconciled to you. I pray father, that the person listening right now would know Jesus Christ as their savior. That he came, he died on the cross, and he was resurrected on the third day so that they could know you. I pray, holy Spirit, that you would come into their room right now, that they would sense the overwhelming love of God in the room, that they would sense the way that you feel about them, not the lies that they’ve been told their whole lives.
I pray that this person, right now, learns to trust you, whether small things or whether big things, that every day is a miracle. Every day is a miracle that the enemy has not had his way in our life to destroy us, but that you have protected us from the hand of the enemy in everything that we do. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you would teach this person to stand firm, to put on the full armor of God, that they would not have to suffer unnecessarily.
But that they could learn to yield the sort of the spirit and the shield of faith and put on all of the accessories of war so that they would not suffer harm because they were unaware or because they were ignorant, or because they have been deceived by a world that has told them it’s good to play with witchcraf, that it’s good to play with spells, that it’s good to play with spells and chants and charms and things and dream catchers and crystals and things that they think are gonna protect them; but instead, invite the work of the enemy into their life because they have set themselves up against your plan. And I pray God, that you would break off that blinder right now and that you would set them free from deception so that they can know the fullness of joy.
So that they can walk in their inheritance and the things that you created them for before the beginning of time and no longer will their family line walk under the curse of Satan. My friend, you can be free. If I can Be free. You can be free. The only reason that I’m sitting here today with a smile on my face is because the power of God in my life through his son Jesus Christ, to save me.
I want to finalize this prayer. I want ot break all fear off of you.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command all fear to go. I command you to release this person’s mind and their heart, that they can have peace. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I break off all shock and trauma from the events that transpired. I break off every delay that they would not be delayed from finding God, that they would not be delayed from finding peace and fruitfulness in their life.
And I decree by the power of God that you will have sweet sleep tonight. I pray Heavenly Father, that you would surround their bed with Warrior Angels; that they may sleep in peace.
I ask you now, is there any reason that you would not make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior?
Pray with me.
Dear God, I ask you now to forgive me. I ask you now to forgive me from doing things in my own strength. I ask you to forgive all of the times that I have ignored your advances toward me and said, no, I’m going to do it my way and in my timing, I ask you to forgive me from every evil thing that I’ve done, and most of all, for rejecting your forgiveness over my life, your plan over my life.
I receive now the forgiveness of God through the blood of Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross, and through his resurrection from the dead, that I may have new life. Heavenly Father, I ask you, I don’t know what a good father is. I’m asking you to teach me. I’m asking you that I’m going to trust you to do it your way instead of my way. And I now confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord. Because I have now confessed Jesus Christ as my savior. I am forgiven. I am redeemed
I also pray, God, that you would impart right now a special infilling of the Holy Spirit to this person that has prayed this prayer. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have full access to the throne of grace; the throne of God. I ask for the Holy Spirit to come into this person’s life right now, to fill them with power from on high, to fill them with joy and to clean out every dark corner, every cobweb, and to bring them in the fullness of understanding of the life that you have for them.
I want you to look at me. If you’ve prayed that prayer for the first time; then your life is radically different from this day forward. That’s not a thing you just did for one moment. That’s a thing you did that’s going change the rest of your life. I encourage you, get a Bible, get one that makes sense to you, whether it be the New American standard, the Easy to Read version, whatever, just get a Bible. Start reading it. I love starting in the book of John. It’s towards the end and it’s a good place. Start reading. Start exploring who God is and what his plans are for you.
Find a church and especially get baptized. If you’ve never been fully baptized fully under the water, I encourage you to do so. Something supernatural happens when you’re baptized. It’s not just a symbolic act. While, it is a symbolic act, it is poetry in motion; but, also there’s something powerful to it. God commanded us to be baptized after we chose to follow him through Jesus. It’s a step of obedience. That’s very important.
As you look for a church, don’t be afraid to try several churches. Churches are different groupings of people, different personality types, different values. You’re not going to feel comfortable at every single church, and that does not mean there’s anything wrong with you or them; but look for a church that you feel welcome. Look for a church that preaches the truth of the Bible; but, I digress.
We’re here today to break off the shock and trauma of the events that happened. Know that your life is in the center of God’s hand and if there are things that keep happening to you, that black cloud that keeps following you; there’s a reason, and I want you to make that your prayer. I want you to pray and ask God, Why does this keep happening? And I want you to wait and watch for an answer, and he’ll bring it. He may have already brought it and you rejected it, so ask him to open your eyes.
And while you’re at it, thank him for protecting you yesterday. Yes, it was scary; but thank him. Thank him that you are in the center of his hand. The pursuit of God is worth it. Please don’t live in fear.