Moral Outcry

***This post was written by Jared Olsen. Jared is the leader of Bound4LIFE Tallahassee. He and his wife, Karina, serve as Intercessory Missionaries at the International House of Prayer Tallahassee. His desire is to see wide-spread revival grip America and wholeheartedly believes that unyielding intercession will bring that to reality. You can connect with Bound4LIFE Tallahassee here***

Since the last week of April, victories have been won and momentum is building in the state of Florida on behalf of the unborn. Seeing that we have not yet come out from this great battle, here is an update and report of these past events, which, I pray will stir faith and urgency in your spirits and give some direction in these coming days.

Every Wednesday morning for the past six months or so, our Bound4LIFE Tallahassee chapter has been conducting a Silent Siege in front of the FL Supreme Court and the FL Capitol. Some weeks we have clear strategies to pray for; others we simply take our place on the wall and stand for God's burdens (Ez 22:30).

Last week, our team had been invited by a few pro-life representatives to meet and pray with them after our morning Siege. This meeting unfortunately was canceled as members of the House were debating bills and passing laws as it was the last week of session. We heard that there was some pro-life legislation hopefully to be presented in the Senate. To be honest, this was surprisingly under the radar to us and seemingly came out of nowhere. So, to the Senate gallery we went.

After much debate and prayer in the Senate (they debated, we prayed), by the end of Wednesday (4/28) the FL Senate passed some amendments regarding ultrasounds and abortion measures. Faith began to stir in our spirits as we realized that the ultrasound amendment contained the same language as the ultrasound bill that died in the FL Senate with a 20-20 vote in 2008. The entire bill containing these amendments passed in the Senate a day later, before going to the House for a final vote on Friday. This all seemed like a long shot as Friday was the last day of session. Nevertheless, we prayed.

Accordingly, before session ended that Friday, the Florida state legislature passed a bill (HB 1143) that included some key pro-life amendments involving ultrasounds and tax-payer funding of abortion. Anti-abortion advocates called the bill the ``most significant pro-life measure that's ever happened in Florida's history.'' Once this bill goes to Gov. Crist office he has 15 days to sign the bill into law or veto it. If he does nothing after 15 days, the bill law will automatically go into effect.

Bound4LIFE leaders in Florida had coordinated a state-wide Solemn Assembly (4/24) which happened to be the Saturday before these votes took place. Solemn assemblies like this is God's divine strategy for releasing mercy and blessing upon a land in crisis, rather than judgment (Joel 2). I believe the success of the pro-life amendments which passed in Florida were a direct result of our unyielding, strategic prayers.

How do we respond? We strongly encourage emails and phone calls to Gov. Crist's urging him to sign HB1143. However, it does not end there. Abraham Lincoln declared, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go." In addition to this pro-active action, and I dare say, preceding, guiding, and running before this, do not underestimate the power of prayer. This is God's invitation for the Church to pray.

When God comes to us with opportunities to pray, what do we do with these opportunities? Are we like Rees Howells and his Bible College that took the call to pray seriously and their intercession changed the course of WWII? As Paul said in his day, so we are today: "...a great and effective door has opened... and there are many adversaries (1 Cor. 16:9)." A door has opened unto us for prayer to influence hearts where persuasion and arguments only go so far. Arguments can change minds, but encounters with God change both hearts and minds. Let us pray for these encounters. I want to emphatically charge you to hold the line of intercession in Florida. Pray for God to influence Gov. Crist to stand for the unborn. Pray for ending of abortion and sending of revival to America. Your prayers can shape history in this hour!