Defeating Islamic extremists will take more than human effort

ISIS on the move in Iraq

How do you stop an enemy who has no regard for human life? How do you defeat an enemy who isn't afraid to die? How do you appease an enemy who has sworn to drive you off the face of the earth? 

It's time to face the truth about Islamic terror groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and others. They are an out of control, scary bunch with little regard for human life, not even their own. And that's what makes them so dangerous. Not since Hitler has the world seen an adversary quite this diabolical. The shear brutality of these Islamic terror groups defies human comprehension as we see innocent victims beheaded, women and children abducted, raped and murdered, suicide bombers committing mass killings and execution style murders of whole communities — proving that they will stop at nothing.

A man beheaded by ISIS

It's pretty clear that Islamic terror groups are determined to wipe their enemies off the face of the earth. They envision a new world order where their brand of Islam will reign supreme, and where to survive, others must submit or be killed. It's what these Islamic terror groups believe, and what they have sworn with unwavering allegiance to achieve. The question is do we dare sit by and watch or do we take action?

President Obama and other world leaders are mistaken to think that Islamic terror groups can be defeated by conventional warfare and weapons, like drone strikes, airstrikes and military force, as happened recently in Paris and Belgium. In all of history, I can think of no other enemy quite like the Islamic terror groups, not even Japan's suicide kamikaze fighters can compare. You hit them hard and the Islamic terror groups just keep coming. So, what's the answer you ask? 

Ever think of praying? This suggestion is not directed at skeptics who never pray, but rather to those believers who do. God's people have a vital role to play in this conflict, and that is to pray for our enemies so that God will intervene in their lives and ours. In his article, "The hardest prayer: why it's time to #prayforISIS," writer Carey Lodge suggests three practical ways to pray for ISIS and the other Islamic terror groups:

1. If you want to pray that they would all perish, instead try praying for justice.
It's so easy to wish that every militant would be killed, leaving the Iraqi people free to rebuild their lives. But rather than pray for their deaths, perhaps instead ask for God's will and justice to be done, trusting that his understanding is greater than ours.
2. If your instinct is to pray for military success, pray instead for peace.
Pope Francis himself has suggested that military action against ISIS could be justified, but rather than focusing our prayer on further violence, petition instead for peace, reconciliation and stability.
3. Rather than only praying for Christians to be saved, pray also that members of ISIS would turn to God.
How incredible it would be for radical Muslims to see the witness of the Iraqi Church, the testimony of persecuted Christians and encounter the living person of Jesus. Nothing is impossible [with God].

Women gather in church

By no means are we limited to these prayers only, but pray we must as individuals, as congregations and as nations. What a shift in the atmosphere it would be if  world leaders at the U.S. led Summit on Violent Extremism would pray. Prayer is a proven game changer and the most powerful weapon in the hands of a believer. As recorded in scripture, many David verses Goliath type victories have been won through prayer. And there are enough praying Christians in the world today to defeat any weapon that Islamic terror groups may try to amass against us. 

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. Matthew 5:43-45