” if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
I’ve heard so many Christians grumble, gripe, snort, and complain about our country and how we want it to change for the good. We’re frustrated and angry, and blame everything and everyone, including our government, for the woes we face every day in our country. Some us even live in fear of the direction in which our country is going.
The sad reality is that we Christians play a major role in the spiritual and moral decay in the United States of America. Yes, I said it because if we take a good, honest look at ourselves, we can see that we have become weak, cowardly Christians who choose to put blinders on and hide within the four walls of our man-made temples, and/or homes. We refuse to go out and introduce the world to the only One who can change the world, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
Do we Christians really want our country to change? We must do what our God says we must do:
- Humble ourselves before God – we must recognize and acknowledge that God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent, and we are not. God reminds us of why we should never trust ourselves: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV Bold and italics mine).”
- Pray – many of us have a minimal, or non-existent prayer life. Prayer is one of the ways in which God and man can communicate with one another. Expectant, fervent prayer demonstrates faith in our Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent God.
- Seek God’s face, His wise counsel – if we acknowledge and believe what God says about us (“our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked”), then it stands to reason that we must seek God and His perfect, wise counsel in all things.
- Repent – as a nation, we must repent of our ongoing sin. We must ask God to forgive us for our idolatry as we try to replace our Creator with ourselves, and worship ourselves and all things created (Romans 1:18-32). We must, as a nation, surrender to His Lordship. We must become a nation that loves God above all else (Matthew 22:37), and love others (Christians and non-Christians alike) as we do our own selves (Matthew 22:39).
If we do these things, God promises to do three things,
- To hear our prayers for forgiveness and repentance from His throne in heaven- if we cry out to Him with a humble, sincere, and contrite heart, He will hear our prayers (Psalms 51:17).
- To forgive our sins – “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).”
- To heal our land – if we do what He has asked us to do, God will change the social and spiritual climate of our country and make us into the real, greatest country in the world as He intended us to be from the very beginning.
But none of this is going to happen as long as Christians continue to be isolationists and stay hidden from the world within the four walls of our temples. If we want peace in our country, we must introduce it to the prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.
“No Jesus, no peace; know Jesus, know peace.”
So, Christians, we must get up, get out, and go to work!!!!
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).”
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends[a] of the earth (Acts 1:8).”
See you out there!
In Christ’s love,
Phil
Phil Covone's Blog 