Have you checked the news recently and found headlines like these? A 20-year-old passenger on a cruise ship argued with his dad and then jumped overboard to his death. Former NFL linebacker Terrell Suggs was arrested for brandishing a gun in order to threaten another customer in line at Starbucks. A 22-year-old woman began shooting at motor vehicles in Florida, claiming she was “directed by God in relation to the solar eclipse.” Also in Florida, a 21-year-old premed college student stabbed his mother 70 times. He said they had a good relationship, but he found her annoying and wanted to kill her.

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These stories were all reported on the very same day.

Bizarre and nonsensical acts of violence like these are occurring with increasing frequency across the country. How do we react? How ought we to respond? How do we pray about all this?

Did you know that Jesus told us to expect these things? He told his disciples: “Because of the spread of wickedness the love of most men will grow cold” – Matthew 24:12

Jesus warned us that wickedness would increase and that the love of most men would diminish. And that’s what we’re seeing today: the twin evils of wickedness and of human love growing cold.

The Intercessors for America community has been encouraged very much over the past year by a passage in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah lived in a time like ours. People lived in willful ignorance of God and His ways, wickedness was increasing, and death and destruction appeared to reign. Darkness was everywhere. And here is what Isaiah wrote:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. – Isaiah 60:1–2

Today, too, a thick darkness covers “the peoples” (the nations). This “darkness” is more than just a lack of light. It is, more directly, the overall impact of a lack of light. And we’re not talking about any ordinary darkness. No, this is “thick darkness” — a darkness we can almost touch. This darkness fills up the hollow spaces and seems to be permeating everything. This darkness is another way of describing the violence and evil we see around us.

In the midst of the darkness, the glory of the Lord is seen. The passage from Isaiah does not say maybe, sort of, or it might. No, it speaks of God’s glory as an absolute outcome, a result with a 100% chance it will happen.

Similarly, when Jesus talked about wickedness increasing, He went on to say:

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations … ” – Matthew 24:13–14

The darkness is increasing, and so is wickedness. Yet the Bible tells us that the glory of the Lord is rising, and the good news is going all over the earth. He promises to save those of us who hold out to the end.

As president of Intercessors for America, I see daily how collective and concerted prayer for America builds faith and hope in each one of us. Focusing on God and on praying to Him keeps us from being consumed by wickedness, and we begin to see His fingerprints upon and throughout the news. IFA has prayer groups in every state, and these groups are reporting answered prayers weekly.

Here are a few recent examples:

Nearly half the states in America have banned gender-change treatments for minors. And this legislative trend seems to be consistent with a growing opposition to the “transgendering” of children.

Pornhub has shut down in four states, after the legislatures of those states acted to protect children from access to sexually explicit material.

Florida has just passed several pieces of legislation to protect children from sexual predators and so-called “grooming,” and increasing the punishments for such crimes.

Moreover, a recent spirited prayer meeting in the Arizona Senate chamber preceded a decision resulting in the resurrection of a pro-life law banning abortions.

So, there is good news among all the bad. And the report that continues to encourage me the most is this: Growing numbers of people are turning to collective, concerted, consistent prayer for this nation.

Share this article to encourage those who are worried about America and it’s dark headlines.

(Originally published at Higher Ground. Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash)