What is media and why is it important to God? Loosely, media is a combination of all industrial forms of mass communication. Because media impacts a mass audience, it plays a major role in what we think, how we respond individually or corporately and God is very interested in what occupies our minds.
When many of us think of the various forms of media that are readily available, this scripture would not come to mind. Media is rampant with bad news reports, tragedy, loss of hope and the bizarre. The anomaly is a silver lining to a tragic event, the element of hope or redemptive connection in the story which are a small percentage held up against the enormous media produced daily.
The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that what we focus on affects how we respond to situations around us and increasingly the media is playing a larger role in what we hear, read and see. With the increase of internet websites, growing TV audiences and no shortage of radio, magazine and newspapers, the “airwaves” of our brains as well as the literal airwaves of our nation are being filled with negative messages and in turn our souls absorb this negativity.
Even as forms of media increase and change, we are seeing the next generation grow up with the norm of the internet yet, this form of media is virtually untouched by ways of control or guidelines. We are now living in an “anything goes” media culture with a dramatic impact on us individually but also as a society. 73% of all Canadians age 16 and older are using the internet for personal usage with 64% regularly visiting news sites.
Media can be found at the root of many social and economic changes and is known to cause otherwise unimportant social and political issues to rise to the forefront. It has the power to make or break an election, changing individual views without the average person realizing the change came as a direct result of media influence. This is why prayer in the Media gate is crucial. The word of God uses the phrase “Good News” several times. Isaiah 52:7 speaks of those who “bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion “Your God reigns!”p>
Acts 5:42 reads, “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.
Filling our airwaves with “good news stories” that speak about truth, justice, hope, and praiseworthy things will lead to a spiritual climate change. Good news conditions people’s hearts to the One who is good. The Lord knows the affect continual negative news has on a person. It will drag you into the mud, bring fear and immobilize you unless it is balanced with a message of hope or redemption.
When Goliath taunted the Israelites, he was really filling the airwaves with bad news reports. David stepped in and declared “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand” (1 Samuel 17:46) and immediately defeated Goliath. It is important that we begin to release messages of love, faith and hope and so we need to begin to pray that His truth would begin to shine through in the media. This is not about deceiving people and reporting that we have no tragedy, but rather, reporting the news factually and ensuring at the same time that those receiving it are also receiving God’s message of grace, redemption and good tidings woven through it.
Because of the tremendous influence media has over a mass audience, it is hard to know where to begin to pray. Those currently working in media would be an excellent place to start because they carry a tremendous weight of responsibility and need God’s blessing, favour and wisdom. In Saskatchewan alone we have over 80 small community newspapers, two main newspapers, twenty-five plus local radio stations as well as hundreds of radio and TV stations via satellite and internet web sites. Now is the time to take back the airwaves for God and release his message of “Good News”.
Marsha Seivewright
