Lord, you said we must first bind up the strong man before we can have peace in our house. Today is a very significant day in that Saddam Hussein was captured. A strong man has been bound up. We cannot capture such strong men without your divine strength as you are greater than any power on earth. You have dominion over all things (Ps. 103:19). But whereas there is still no definite security if American forces gain control over a region there is lasting security in you.

Lord, I have prayed that 100 Osama Bin Ladens would become 100 Saint Pauls. I have prayed that you would knock the proud and the mighty off of their horses and show them who the Lord is, who they have been persecuting. I have been praying for truth to prevail in regions where the strong man has put up walls to keep truth out, where Christians are persecuted for their faith, where they are put in jail and where converts from Islam are killed. You took down the iron curtain in Berlin, Lord. I am asking you to do it again, but for the territories of Islam, Buddha and Hinduism. Break down also the walls in Europe. Soften the hearts of people to the truth, that you are the truth, the way and the life. The "progressives" and the "enlightened" and the "agnostics."

And for those in the Church who are caught up in sin or without fire bring revival. Bring about a birth of grace in every nation. Lord, I am thankful to you this Sunday morning because you were raised from the dead. The strong man was convinced he had killed you but he was wrong. God is not mocked.

I thank you Lord for your victory in my home. I thank you for giving me strength to be calm when I am confronted with insults to my pride and when I am wounded by verbal darts from the weak. I am grateful that the peace of Christ is the example to follow when strife is around me. And I thank you Lord for softening my heart so that I can hear criticism and counsel without rejecting it. It is important to communicate and understand rather than defend, even if I disagree with the criticism leveled against me. Help me to be a model of peace. I can't do this without your strength. I only mention it hear in thanks because I trust you will answer this prayer. For I know that you are strong while I am weak. I count the matter as done because I don't pray in vain. And I am writing my prayers because I expect to track down your success that I might praise you before all, that your name might be glorified.

And rightly so. I have known your power in my life. I have seen your miracles with my own eyes. And I am a changed man. And I have seen others changed by you. I have seen them become godly, fleeing from their old ways and being brought to peace and goodness. Lord with such change it is difficult to understand why we are persecuted. Except I know that we are still works in progress. And I know that many misunderstand. And many follow after false gods. And your truth conflicts with their truth. They perceive rightly that the two can't co-exist. Therefore, the world hates us, as you said it would.

Hating us most is Islam, which has as a pretext that the Bible was changed for political reasons. But there is no record of any Bible anywhere that reads the way it is quoted by the Quran. That contrasts with over 30,000 ancient copies of portions of the Bible that are basically all the same, mutually testifying to one another. They boast that all their copies are exactly the same while there are many variances in the texts of the Bible. But that is because the Quran was never written until the seventh century. What varies in the Bible is not the original, just the copies. But still, the variances are minor. Lord, you have provided proof that Jesus is the Christ through the Bible through prophecy and through redundancy. Islam can't make any such boast. No other religion can. All anyone needs to do is investigate the facts and they will come to realize it. Yet they don't investigate. And I have heard every rediculous thing said as an excuse to reject you. The only reason people investigate but don't find you is they are not seeking truth. They are seeking to disprove you because they are worshipping some false god. But let them read the works of Justin the Martyr and discern over each text such a second century man exposited both to the Roman Senate, to Caesar and to the Jews.

Lord, have mercy on mankind because we are blind and we have no love for the truth. But heal us, starting with me.