A Day of Atonement message - to the All Women's Medical Clinic

(I wrote this blog back in September of 2012 while serving as the Prayer Coordinator for  Fort Lauderdale's first 40 Days for Life prayer vigil)

Yesterday was the first day of the Fort Lauderdale 40 Days for Life's prayer vigil at the All Women's Medical Center located at 2100 E. Commercial Blvd. I signed up for the twelve noon hour and upon arrival, found only one other 40 Days for Life volunteer at the clinic.

Unfortunately, when she left, I was the only 40 Days for Life  volunteer for the next hour and a half. (Please go to the prayer vigil website, www.40daysforlife.com/fortlauderdale and sign up to join the vigil. We need more intercessors!)

The imposing black metal gate remained shut today as the clinic was closed, presumably in observance of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is the holiest day of the year for those of the Jewish faith, a day of fasting, prayer and repentance.

It is ironic that a business that majors in shedding innocent blood of unborn children (abortion) would be closed on the Day of Atonement. 

The shedding of blood was central to the Day of Atonement. (See Leviticus 16.) As J. Barton Paine has written,

"An atonement is, literally a 'covering,' a ransom that averts one's punishment...  atonement furnished a covering over the sin, provides an intervening sacrifice to bear the punishment that would otherwise fall upon us, should God 'see through to our sin.'"

Of course, Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of what was foreshadowed by the Day of Atonement. As the writer to the Hebrews says of Christ,

He did not enter [the Holy of Holies] by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption...the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, [will] cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!   (Hebrews 9:11-14 NIV)

That is why we pray in front of the All Womens Center. Abortion is a gospel issue. The gospel can change the heart of an abortion minded mother to make a life affirming decision. The gospel can change the heart of those who participate and are invested in the abortion industry. The gospel alone provides the hope of forgiveness, healing and restoration for the post-abortive.

Only God can bring this about. That is why we fast and pray. The words of the prophet Azariah to King Asa of Judah, (2 Chronicles 15:2)

“The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you.”

The ten foot high black fence that surrounds the entrance and parking lot of this abortion facility is intimidating. Apparently designed to secure the privacy of those at work inside. But I prayed, alone, out loud, very loud, to an empty building - knowing that a ten foot high black metal fence, as impregnable as it looks, cannot keep out the Spirit of God, and the building, though closed for business, might not be empty. After all, abortion is a satanic enterprise (John 8:44), so should any of his legions be within hearing of my voice, I shouted, among others Scriptures, these words from the Apostle Paul,

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority...having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

(Colossians 2:9,15  (NIV)

A Day of Atonement message to the All Women's Medical Clinic.

Copyright James P McGarvey All Rights Reserved