Praying During The Russian War On Ukraine - Resources

I've been collecting resources for myself and the people of Celebration-Harderwyk to help understand and pray for the always-changing situation in Ukraine.  Here is a quick collection of the ones most helpful to me:

Join Harderwyk's Good Friday Prayer Vigil by CLICKING HERE to sign up for a 20-minute slot.

An Update from April 12: 

Ukrainian Seminary Professor’s Plea—Please Don’t Tire of Praying - Minakov also hopes Christians around the world will continue to pray for Ukraine. “People get tired of bad news, and they forget,” he said. “So my request would be to please continue praying. You know how to pray—we want this war to end soon.” - CLICK HERE for the entire post.

Original Post - Began March 17

Ukrainian Church Prays Psalm 31 - a 3:30 video produced by the Ukranian Bible Society made available by the American Bible Society.  Very moving and a good model for letting the words of the Scriptures guide our prayers.  CLICK HERE

On Not Becoming the Hate We Hate by Scotty Smith - CLICK HERE for his prayer from March 13.  You can also find his daily prayers that have been focused and helpful.

How Readers Around the World Are Praying for Ukraine by Tish Harrison Warren - This is a column by a favorite writer of mine in the New York Times.  If you click for the entire post, it will ask you to register for a no-cost account to be able to see it without subscribing.  CLICK HERE for that option.  Otherwise, I will close with one of the prayers included there, just to give you a taste:

I (Tish Warren) will close with a prayer that was offered by a woman after evacuating from Ukraine. She has asked that her name be withheld. Her husband is a Ukrainian pastor, and she noted that his family is currently in occupied territory, and she is unable to have contact with them. She wrote:

Father-God, may the attackers’ fingers freeze; may they drop things; may they not see clearly; may their equipment malfunction; may they experience overwhelming hopelessness, enormous fatigue and a complete loss of any desire to fight; may their communication be broken; may there be confusion. Lead them to surrender. Stretch the kilometers before them into endless kilometers of non-advancement. Remove their leadership and replace them with people who make decisions that reflect a fear of you.

Oh, God, infuse defenders with incredible surges of renewed alertness, strength, hope, courage. Inspire those who want to help. Show them specific, effective ideas. Move them swiftly and safely.

The worst is yet to come, Lord, if you do not stop it. But please, no peace where there is no peace. We ask for peace united with righteousness and truth.

God of all comfort, be physically present with all the mothers, fathers, grandparents and children who are hiding, hearing, smelling, enduring. Warm them; fill them with food; give them water, toilets, communication with their loved ones, the Gospel, hope in you.

We repent of making idols of political leaders and news outlets. Forgive us for wanting them to be our gods and saviors. Forgive us for being unreasonable, for not wanting to admit both the good and bad in all of our leaders. It is this spirit that leads us to dictators because we abandon responsibility and reason. We confess the seeds of war that live in our own hearts.

We humble our hearts, our bodies. We ask you for mercy. Thank you that you love mercy and have all power.