If God has burdened your heart for the state of our nation (or the nation you live in), we are asking you to join us in a day of prayer and fasting to petition God to send a revival and turn our nation back to Him.
We need a revival
The majority of Christians know that America is perilously close to being judged by God. We know we need to see God move in hearts of our people. It’s time to act! We have been complacent for far too long. Complacency. That is our guilt in where we are today. We have not stood up as we should when they removed prayer from schools or made abortion legal or when “redefining” marriage. With every move our nation makes away from God, the less of God we see in our nation. The result is the America we live in now. Will we not learn from the lessons of Israel and Judah as to what happens to a nation when they turn their backs on God?
Lessons from Israel and Judah
Israel and Judah’s biggest sin was idolatry. They chose to worship false gods and they forsook the one True, Living God. Occasionally a king who’s heart belonged to God would lead the nations back to worshiping God, but when that kind died and the next king same along, they returned to idolatry – over and over again. God sent prophet after prophet to call the people back to Him but that would not listen. Eventually, God said, “Enough!” and judgement came. God sent the Assyrians in who conquered the lands and sent the people into exile.
This pattern is repeated all through history. We see small, insignificant countries rise to greatness when they follow God and then when they turn their hearts away from God, the nation crumbles. Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” But Isaiah 60:12 tells us, “For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.”
Praying for Revival
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God tells His people how to receive healing for their nation. We can apply this verse to America today. If we want to see God act and move in our nation, then there are four things we must do. When we do those four things, then we find God does His part.
Where Revival begins
2 Chronicles 7:14 starts out with three important words: “If my people.” Revival doesn’t begin when the lost come to Christ – it begins within the hearts of God’s people. At the time of 2 Chronicles was written, God’s people were the nations of Israel and Judah.
Today, God’s people consists of all those who have surrendered their lives to Christ. God’s people are the Christians. Revival begins when complacency in the hearts of Christians is traded for a burdened heart. It begins when our eyes are opened to the blatant sin in our nation and acknowledging our part in it. It begins when we are convicted over sitting within the walls of our comfortable churches on Sundays and not winning our communities for Christ. Revival begins when we feel convicted that we have not stood up in the political world and have therefore allowed laws to be changed that has led our nation away from God. It begins when we look around and realize we see less and less of God in America and more and more of Satan at work in our land.
WANTED: The Living God
Do you feel like God is missing from our nation? Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul”
Deuteronomy 10:12 tells us, “what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
God still requires this today. If you feel like God is missing from our nation, its time we begin seeking Him with all hearts and souls. It time we fear Him, turn back to walking in all his ways. It’s time we renew our love for Him and to serve Him and only Him with all our hearts and souls.
What We Must Do to See Revival
From 2 Chronicles 7:14, God gives four instructions to His people when a nation has turned away from God:
Humble themselves:
Pride is one of our biggest problems. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 21:4 says, “Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.” Pride was the sin that changed the angel, Lucifer, into Satan. Listen to the words in Ezekiel 28 that describe this angel turned devil: “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.” America has become a proud nation. When pride sets in, we no longer see a need for God. If we want to see a revival, then we need humble hearts bowed before God.
Humble themselves:
Proud hearts cease praying. The prayer that brings revival isn’t a memorized, repetitive prayer. It isn’t a quick “Lord send a revival” then check the box on your to-do list. Prayer that brings revival comes from a broken and contrite heart poured out before God. It is the prayer that acknowledges our complacency and pride as sin and asks for God’s forgiveness.
Seek the face of God:
Seeking God’s face simply means we seek His presence. When was the last time you truly took time to seek Him and just sit in His presence? I believe we do not do that because when we come face to face with a Holy God, our unclean unrighteousness is exposed before us. We do not want to see ourselves for who we really are. However, the only way to a broken and contrite heart is to have ourselves exposed before God. Instead, we want to compare ourselves to others who are “more sinful” than us so we don’t have to feel quite so bad about the “little” sins in our own lives. We pat ourselves on the back for being in church every Sunday and we even dutifully bring our Bibles and listen to the sermon but then we rarely open our Bible again until the next Sunday.
We say we live honorable lives before God because we don’t drink, cuss, steal, or kill. But do we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul? Jesus said that this is the greatest commandment. Before that He said that the 2nd greatest commandment was to love our neighbor as our self. But our nation is ripped apart over the color of skin. For a moment, think about this question: “Who is your neighbor?” Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you and show you who your neighbor is. Then turn to Exodus 20 in your Bibles and read the Ten Commandments. Which of those have your broken? Yes! It’s time we seek God’s presence and allow Him to expose our sin so that we can experience His forgiveness.
Turn from our wicked ways:
Turn from our wicked ways. Now that God has exposed our sin and we’ve asked his forgiveness, we need to turn away from those things. It’s called repentance. If we keep doing the same old things, then their hasn’t been true repentance. If we keep doing the same old things, we have truly sought the presence of God. For if we had, then our heart would be broken for things that break His heart and we would not want to participate in those things anymore.
What God Will Do
When we do the necessary steps above, then we will see God move in our nation. 2 Chronicles 7:14 tell us that God will:
Hear us from Heaven:
1 Peter 3:12 says, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” This verse was Jeremiah’s prophecy that God would return the exiled nation of Judah back to their land after 70 years of being in exile. Will we wait until God brings judgement and then another 70 years before we call on God and pray? How bad do things have to get before we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways so that God will hear us from heaven?
Forgive our Sins:
Before we can be forgiven, we have to admit and confess our sins. 1 John 1:6-10 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us”.
Spend some time with the Holy Spirit and ask Him to reveal the areas of unconfessed sin in your life. Ask Him to show you your part in our nation’s turning away from God. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Heal our Land:
A healed land is one who’s heart beats with the heart of God. It’s a nation who’s God is their Lord. It’s one who is walking in the ways of God and following His commands. I healed land is one who love the Lord, our God will all hearts, minds, and soul. It’s one that does away with idols we’ve erected and given preference to over God.
Daniel’s prayer:
“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. 6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. 12 He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. 13 As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. 17 Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (Daniel 9:3-19)
Has God Convicted and Burdened Your Heart for America (or your nation)?
In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul urged Timothy to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all people.” If you feel the burden for the state our nation is in and want to see God sweep across from sea to shining sea to turn hearts back to Him, then join us on July 5th for a day of fasting and prayer for a revival in America.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” – Psalm 46.10
Will you pray and fast with us and lead your
church to pray for God to send a revival to America?
#revival #America #leadershipresponsibility #prayandfast
Did you remember to read your Bible today?
Do you have a daily Bible reading plan? If not, we invite you to join us as we read the Bible through in one year. Each day we post the selected Scripture to read with links to read it online. Join us in God’s Word today!.
Today’s verse to meditate on:
2 Chronicles 34:21
“Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
Have you learned this week’s memory verse?
Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!
Do you serve in ministry? Great! The self-care blogs are here for you.
In this series of blogs, we breakdown why people in ministry need to practice self care. We explain the differences between stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue. Drawing from both psychology and Biblical principles, we teach self-care to keep ministry servants living out God’s call as a missionary, small group leader, worship pastor, nursery worker, facility/maintenance staff, religious non-profit staff, or any other ministry staff, volunteer, or lay-leader. Regardless of the ministry service God called you to, self-care is crucial to continuing God’s work.
If you can relate to this, then take some time to read our self care blogs.
Test your Bible Smarts with our Trivia questions
Test your Bible smarts and see if you can answer our trivia questions. We post a trivia question every other day and the correct answer on the next day. Stop by the trivia page and grab a question or two and see if your friends and family can answer it. Click here to get to the trivia
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This week’s design:
What’s Inside God, Love and Marshmallow Wars?
This book includes 365 daily activities and takes you on a guided journey through Biblical principles about Godly marriage that you can then apply to your marriage, as well as helping you talk through concepts that can help you develop a solid relationship. Inside you will find simple, quick activities that include:
- Scripture to memorize and meditate on
- Conversation Starters
- Concepts from the Bible on Godly marriages
- Romance Builders
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Join the community of couples on Facebook who are committed to intentionally growing their marriage and learning how to have a marriage that honors God. Here you can post photos of the different activities as you do them, ask questions of other couples, share how God is using this book to strengthen your marriage, and grow with other Christian couples. We’ll see you in the community.
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(Due to COVID-19, we are only tentatively booking speaking engagements for events after September 2020 based on the recommendations as issued by the CDC and our government officials.)
We are eager to be a part of your next church or ministry event – regardless of size. We can bring one of our ministry programs to your church, or we can tailor a message to your event theme. To request more information or schedule a booking, fill out the online form at the link below. Or call us at 904.239.8937.Booking now for Speaking Engagements
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