Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

(Matthew 26:38 NKJV)

On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, He tasted the bitterness of deception and the agony of persecution.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus anticipated the sting of death and His soul became exceedingly sorrowful.

When was the last time that the Church, the body of Christ, felt exceedingly sorrowful for lost souls that are dying in the kingdom of darkness?

When was the last time the Church felt exceedingly sorrowful against the spiritual wickedness in high places and the rulers of darkness controlling this earth?

When was the last time that the Church felt exceedingly sorrowful for unborn babies, newborn babies, and children who are mercilessly slaughtered daily somewhere on this earth?

When was the last time that church felt exceedingly sorrowful for the orphans, the fatherless, the widows, the homeless, strangers and foreigners, the oppressed and the outcast?

When was the last time?

Let today be the day that the Church lament because Jesus is weeping and He says, “Watch with me and pray.“

My brothers and sisters, the Lord has impressed upon my heart to pray.

He said pray because we are living in crucial times. We are at the end of the ages and we are seeing the signs of the return of Christ.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:6- 8 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

We are at the beginning of sorrows because the world is at war.

The war may not reach your shore as yet but it is coming.

Right now you may be enjoying peace in your country and the war and conflict seem far away, but the Lord is saying to you, pray.

We cannot afford to be silent!

We cannot afford to ignore what is happening in this world because “when we think it is peace and safety it will be sudden destruction coming upon us as labor pain upon a pregnant woman, and we will not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

Jeremiah’s lamentation for his people

The prophet Jeremiah’s soul became exceedingly sorrowful when he saw the calamity upon his homeland and he could not keep silent. He lamented,

My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My bile is poured on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the infants faint in the streets of the city.

They say to their mothers,“Where is grain and wine?” As they swoon like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out in their mother’s bosom. How shall I console you? To what shall I liken you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is spread wide as the sea; Who can heal you?

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captives, but have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.

(Lamentations 2:11-14)

Let us take a closer look at verse 13 that says, “O daughter of Jerusalem, O virgin daughter of Zion.”

Look around the world 🌎 and see the countries that are being destroyed by weapons of mass destruction and insert their names in this verse.

Look to the east, look to the west, look to the north and south, and select the countries that are being bombed by vengeful men. Look at the countries that have been ravaged by earthquakes and storms.

Look at the rubble and the destruction and recognize that babies, children, innocent women, men, and elderlies are buried beneath that rubble.

Their blood are crying out to God to have mercy!

Thus says the Lord: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

Jeremiah wept for his people, crying out to God for mercy.

It is time that the Church lament, weep and cry out to God for mercy on behalf of the innocent people who are being slaughtered mercilessly in the street.

Jesus Christ died for all people irrespective of your color, culture or country.

Romans 6:10 says, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”

Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Therefore, no innocent people need to be slaughtered and sacrificed in the street in the name of Jehovah.

No one should take vengeance and slaughter children and innocent people for the sake of christ because Christ has already paid the price for all.

Let the Church lament for the oppressed and persecuted people in this world.

So my friends, we will pray and we will continue to cry out to God and say, “Lord have mercy!”

When we lift a glass of water to our lips we will think of all the children in this world whose lips are parched and their bodies dehydrated because of lack of water and we will say, “Lord have mercy!”

When we put a morsel of food in our mouth we will think of the millions of children who are starving for lack of food and cry out to God, “Lord have mercy!”

When we go to our bed at night, before we place our heads on our comfy pillows we will think of the thousands of innocent people who are buried alive under the rubble of war and we will cry out to God,

“Lord have mercy!”

Have mercy, O Lord, upon your people  who are perishing because of the sins of evil men.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Only you, Lord, knows wickedness of men’s heart and only you can change it.

So, have mercy upon your people whose hearts are hardened because of sins.

I pray that you will turn their stony hearts to flesh and give them a heart like yours. Have mercy!

Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us! For the world is exceedingly filled with contempt (Psalms 123: 3) and hatred to for our fellow human beings whom we can see.

Your Word says, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” (1 John 4 20-21)

Your Word also says in Galatians 3:28-29 that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Your Word, O God, further states that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we are Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and have all made to drink into one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Therefore, all people are equal in your sight and there is no partiality in you. You are a God of everyone.

So, have mercy on the poor and helpless and consider their troubles. The souls of the dying are crying out to you, O God, for mercy.

Hear our cry mighty God. Have mercy upon the afflicted and answer their cry for help.

Do not leave us nor forsake us because you are a God of justice and it is not your will that any should perish but all come to repentance.

Teach us your way, O Lord, and lead us in a smooth path, because of the enemies. Do not deliver us to the will of the adversaries (Psalms 27:11-12).

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

(Psalms 27:13-14 NKJV)

We will wait on you, O Lord, because you are a God of mercy and your compassion never fails because they are renewed every morning.

We thank you for hearing our cry of mercy. We praise your holy name.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen!

Additional References: Psalms 9:13; Psalms 27; Romans 3:29; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Lamentation 3:22-23

Are you praying?

If you are weeping with me, comment, “Lord have mercy!”