Image courtesy of [koratmember] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net".
Our country is in trouble! Not only because of the shutdown or the impending raising of the debt limit... again... or the childish, abhorrent behavior of most of our leaders.
Our country, the country I love, is sick!
Our country has fallen into grave and serious sin!
Most of us, if we would search the depth of our souls, know it! It stares us in the face from the tv set and the computer every day! Our ears are filled with it... just walk down the hall of almost any high school or listen to what is playing on ipods!
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Is 5:20
This is not a political or social commentary today. I try to stay away from thing like that in my blog.
Today I am calling for everyone who reads this post to prayer. Serious and authentic prayer for our beloved country...
Right now I am teaching the book of Daniel. What an amazing book of God's sovereignty and power and love!
Daniel was a young Jewish boy living in the nation Israel about 603 BC. For years before Daniel's birth, Israel had been under the leadership of some dreadful and immoral king. They had forgotten the calling God had for them. They had also forgotten God's law. Now that was a very bad thing for so goes the king, so goes the nation. Soon the whole kingdom had forgotten God's law and Him!
You see...God had chosen, from all the people groups in the world, the Jews to be HIS representatives on earth. HE had given them the responsibility of showing the world who HE was so the world could know and believe in Him and Him alone!
When the Jewish nation would follow God's laws, God would bless them abundantly! And the whole world would wonder... Who is the God of the Jews... He is so good to these people, and they are abundantly blessed far above all the people on the earth. And through these blessings from God and the Jewish nations love and devotion to God all the people of the world could know and believe in the one true God!
But when the Jewish people were disobedient to God's word and they would sin, God would judge their disobedience and bring curses upon them. Not because He is a mean or hateful God, but He needed His people, the Jews, to represent Him and not dishonor Him. He would bring punishments upon them so that they would remember who they were and the call God had on their collective lives. He would put the pressure of curses upon them so the Jewish people would repent (turn back to God) and keep his commandments and be that beacon of light in the dark world once again!
God had warned the Jews to turn back to Him through the prophets for over 150 years. But they were stubborn and wanted their own way. So God brought judgement on them through the nation of Babylon.
Babylon, a rising and great power in the region, took the Jewish nation captive and totally destroyed it and their capital Jerusalem and God's sanctuary, the Holy Temple.
This was the ultimate curse! Destruction of their nation. They had become the curse itself!
But God never is without mercy. One of the last kings to reign before the Babylonian captivity was Josiah. During his reign God's law was reinstated and the people repented. He was a good king and loved God and obeyed his law. A great national revival occurred. Remember, so goes the king so goes the nation.
Daniel, who was living during the time of the reign of Josiah, was taken captive and sent to the idol worshipping country of Babylon with a strong foundation of the law and great belief.
Many trials and glories came upon Daniel when he was in captivity, but he always remained faithful to God. Remember the lion's den (Daniel chapter 6)?
When Daniel was an old man, still living in Baylon but now under the rule of Medo-Persia, he opened the book of the prophet Jeremiah and saw something astonishing!
As he read he began to realize that God's punishment of captivity was almost over. God had promised the Jews they would return to their own country.
This greatly troubled Daniel. The Jews had been sent into captivity for their disobedience to God.
And now the judgement was over and they were going to go back to Israel with much of the same spirit of disobedience that God had punished them for in the first place!
And now the judgement was over and they were going to go back to Israel with much of the same spirit of disobedience that God had punished them for in the first place!
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans (Babylon), in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was [revealed as] the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, [namely], seventy years
Daniel 9:1-2
Daniel's prayer in chapter 9 is an authentic picture of the character of God and the state of the Jewish people at that time. I am overwhelmed by Daniel's truthfulness, transparency and humility!
Although Daniel was called "highly esteemed" by God, He humbled himself before God and prayed for Israel. In his prayers he included himself in Israel's corporate sin and abject disobedience! (I know this is long, but PLEASE read it)
Daniel says...
So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek [Him by] prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, "Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land.
"Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day-- to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. "To the Lord our God [belong] compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
Daniel makes no excuses in his prayer... no sugar coating... no pointing the finger at others. He was real and authentic and repentant!
Read the words of Daniel... let it touch your heart!
(I know it is long, but it it important)
"Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him (God). "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done [anything] like what was done to Jerusalem. "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. "Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.
"And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day-- we have sinned, we have been wicked. "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [have become] a reproach to all those around us.
"So now, our God,listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name."
Authentic prayer.
Daniel poured his heart out to God! He was overcome with grief, sin guilt, and shame! He fasted and dressed in sackcloth, a sign of great mourning and sorrow.
I think we need that in this time too! We need to take a lesson from Daniel!
Our country is sick with sin and disgrace! We are blessed to live in an age under the grace (undeserved blessings) and not under the Law. We can give thanks and praise to Jesus for that!
We need to pray... to talk to God. We need to humble ourselves and cry out, confessing our nation's sin and disobedience!
IF MY PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY AND SEEK MY FACE AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, THEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN, WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN, AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND!
2 Chronicals 7:14
This verse was meant for the nation Israel. It was an assurance that God would hear them if they would stop sinning and repent. If they would seek hard after God and His ways. God promised them that He would forgive them and heal their land!
We too, those who are called by the name of Jesus, need to stop following the sinning ways of this world. We need to humble ourselves before God. We need to corporately and personally seek God's face... asking Him for forgiveness. We need to be strong and purposeful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is the lover of our souls! He loves us far above our comprehension.
Let's turn to him in humility and confess our nation's sins. Lay it all out there! Sugar coat nothing!
Ask God to help you follow hard after Him! Ask Him to help you be a faithful disciple of our Lord Jesus!
Our land is need of healing!
Let's us turn to the Great Healer... God!
This is not a political statement. Please do not comment on anything political here.
Please leave a prayer for our country instead!
Thanks you.
Thank you for voicing the distress my heart is feeling. The directive that Military Chaplains be jailed if they minister to Military Members during the shut - down is appalling! Being raised in the Military and having Friends and Family who still are in; I am deeply saddened by this. I requested my Friends and Family on FB this week to come to prayer for our Nation and it's Leaders and felt led to use the same scripture 2 Chron. 7:14. God bless you for stepping outside the "normal" post and opening your heart to all of us who follow you! We can start a prayer revolution!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I was just thinking the other day that our country is not the one I grew up in. My prayer is for God to work in the hearts of our leaders of government. I know God is in control. I pray His will be done.
ReplyDeletethanks for this, you hit the nail on the head. May God have mercy on us!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! God is very specific in stating that He will bless the nation that honors Him and sadly He has gotten lost.I'm praying.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bravely saying what is on so many hearts and minds Yvonne. I will be praying (I have been praying!) that God will bless this country and influence men's hearts and mind to do what is right. I appreciate this post.
ReplyDeleteYvonne, what you have just shared has been deeply troubling my heart. I see this wonderful nation that once trusted God turning away and forgetting Him. We have trusted our government and followed our sinful desires and not trusted in the One who created us. May we humble ourselves and pray for hearts to turn back to Him.
ReplyDeleteI must share with you that on that tragic day our twin towers were flown into and so many lives lost I felt led to write down 2 Chronicles 7:14 on an index card and I did. I have kept it in my wallet all these years as a reminder to pray for this nation. It is tattered and worn on the edges and I wish I could show it to you.
Amazing how that scripture describes what is going on right now and how we should pray. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen that scripture being discussed over the past couple years.
God forgive us and help us to be bold as you have Yvonne. May the prayer revolution begin!
Thank you for giving voice to the concerns of my heart and mind. I've been praying and I will continue to pray for Godly wisdom and leadership in this nation that we all love. May all our eyes be opened to TRUTH. We need moral clarity in this nation. What an inspiration you are! Prayer does change things!!!
ReplyDeleteI believe there are many more of us out there who share these feelings that you have voiced. Thank you for this post. May God have mercy on us.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully and truthfully said, Yvonne! Praying for our country and that I would follow hard after Him and teach my children to do the same. When I was young, I remember practicing on a type-writer by typing, "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country..." It is time for us to come to the aid of our country by praying for it. Thank you for the reminder and the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Nici
Thank you for this post~ Praying for our country!!! Love you my sister in Christ ~ GOD is still in control and everything will work out for His glory, but it sure is hard to see America in this shape! Praying for Christ's soon return!
ReplyDeleteFor a moment I thought your site had been hacked. I am fairly new to it and have not seen anything where you had professed Christ before. I am pleasantly suprised! I understand your heart and do agree with you that our country is sick, but I believe that this country is reaping what it has sown. There was a time many years ago when I prayed for this country. But I don't believe that God's hand is upon this country anymore, it is being punished for turning it's back on Him and his word. Things will only get worse until his return. The only time people reach out to him to move is when something horrible happens to them or someone they love. That is not the kind of God I serve. He is not a fairy tale Father. We must be living for him and consecrated to him. This country hates God and wants no part of him in any fashion. I studied the book of Daniel a couple of years ago and am fully aware of the book, of how God moved and what he showed Daniel. And of what the future would be. Now I spend my time praying for the missionaries and martyrs in countries who are in prisons, being starved, beaten, tortured and putting their very lives at stake to share the message of the cross. Yes, this is still going on today. God bless you.
ReplyDeleteThank you Yvonne, for your courage to write this post......Oh, how we need the Lord in this country....the verse in II Chronicles says it all and has been in my heart since 9/11....Oh how I pray that people will see the correlation between God's blessing and our obedience to Him and seeking him. "If" is a little word, but a very big meaning...........Wish we could and would all remember the significance of it. As a parent tells his child, "If" you do this............I will do this. The choice is ours. We need to be on our knees instead of being so preoccupied with our phones, social media and such. It is time to seek the living God....He is our only hope. Thank you again and blessings to you for your courage and teaching. Linda
ReplyDeleteYvonne, Please encourage all your readers to pray for "MY HOPE", Billy Graham's last crusade which will be held across the United States and Canada during the first week of November. I agree with everything you've said... and I believe it's not too late. I have to believe that. I have two children. Please, please, please take the time to look at Billy Graham's website and familiarize yourself with his effort to reach America beginning next month. Most especially, please pray for those actively involved in this initiative. My church is hosting seven events. It's not too late for you, your readers and and their churches to participate. God Bless America!
ReplyDeleteChrista, I am very familiar with it!
DeletePrayers are being said every day. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this post! God tells us throughout His Word that he loves humble men.....he loved Moses because he was so humble. (God loves us all, but these are qualities he loves in people). Pride always comes before the fall, and when we have leaders in our country who are bullies, it breaks my heart. God and history are never kind to bullies.
ReplyDeleteWe need to pray this scripture for our leaders....and that God will turn hearts!
xo,
RJ
We need to vote them out.
DeleteI'm looking at what's going on in "my country too" and I'm not recognizing the country I grew up in and was so happy and felt so secure!!! Our country, the USA needs so much prayers and people need to go back to God and follow His lessons and His orders, not try to do what they want and when they want it...and not only that, taking GOD out of the lives of ordinary people, everyday people, schools, jobs, etc. All the news I'm always listening about it break my heart, I'm hardly recognizing the USA and it's leaders now a days. Thank you so much for sharing dear Ivonne, I will always have our unique and exceptional country in my daily prayers. Bless you and have a lovely week.
ReplyDeleteFABBY
Thank you, Yvonne, for this timely post. If we've ever prayed for this country, we surely need to pray for it now. May God have mercy on us!
ReplyDeleteNot only the US is sick, all the world are! Brasil is sick also, we need to pray for all nations, for all the leaders! May God have mercy on us!
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear and sweet and courageous Yvonne.
ReplyDeleteMay God have mercy on the world, for it has fallen into sin.
Love,
Michele
Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteI so agree! My God have mercy on us and may we seek His will.
Cecilia
Thank you, Yvonne, for your call to prayer. My nation's woes weigh heavy on my heart daily. Too many Christians are calling evil good and good evil. It is a tragedy. I pray for mercy.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post, yes, our nation needs prayers! So many have turned their backs on the Lord.
ReplyDeleteYes, praying for the Lord to have mercy on us and forgive us for failing him. Lecia
This could not be more of a timely post for this nation. We all love our homes, decor, blogs etc. but those who believe in God and his son Jesus know what is truly important in our everyday life. I feel an urgency like never before for this country. The word of God will be fulfilled but I also know in the last days, God is going to pour out his spirit and souls will be saved like never before! Now is the time....Now is the time for the Harvest to be brought in! Thank you for listening to the Lord in spirit and posting this......maybe we ALL should get together and post a prayer chain for this country in the days to come!!! I'm willing and I am praying.....Blessings~~~Roxie
ReplyDeleteMay God Bless you for taking the time to share your concerns and shout out to us! We indeed need God's mercy upon our country! May our hearts be clean and lights be bright in this dark time!
ReplyDeleteYvonne, May God bless you for voicing what so many of us are feeling. It is so sad to see what is going on in our country. It is so frustrating to feel so helpless, but I know that only God can intervene in the hearts of men. I pray for sanity to return to the leaders of our nation and for God to heal our land.
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with you and the others commenting. We speak of how sinful our world is and sometimes we believe our neighbor and other people are the cause. We Christians need to look at our own lives and make sure we are living in a way that honors our heavenly Father. This is the time to speak out just as you have done. Let's pray that hearts and minds will be changed, that our leaders will return to civility and that each of us will do everything possible to further the good of our country so that God will continue to bless this country.
ReplyDeleteLinda
AMEN !
ReplyDeleteYES! WE ARE STILL HERE ALL ACROSS AMERICA!! WITH TROUBLED HEARTS, LOOKING TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.
Thank you Yvonne for speaking out. Yes, I will pray. I just finished reading something else right before reading your post and they are confirmations of the same thing. I am reading Jeremiah right now and it is sad to see what happens to a nation that turns from God. Thank you again and I will be in prayer.
ReplyDeleteCindy
Such powerful words Yvonne. Thank you for posting your Sunday lessons. I do not feel that it is too late for our wonderful Nation to turn back to God. I know that God hears our prayers. I hope you dont mind but I sent your wonderful post to my close friends and family so that they may all join in praying for our land. God Bless you and your family Yvonne and God Bless America again.
ReplyDeleteAmen and Amen!
ReplyDeleteAMEN!
ReplyDeleteAny country that values its "gun rights" over programs for the poor and children and the elderly will end up this way. Vote the Senators and Congress people out who do not appear to do what is right for the country and its people. This means most war-mongers. It is not up to God to do what we can do for ourselves. Nor is it God's fault if we don't.
ReplyDeleteThank you Yvonne for sharing your heart and how so many of us feel. My Pastor is currently preaching a series of sermons on Sunday morning going through the book of Daniel and how it mirrors where our country and the people are today. Praying and will continue to pray for our country, but we Christians also need to examine our own lives and make sure we are living for and loving God with all heart, soul, strength and mind. Thank you again for posting.
ReplyDeleteLouise
ReplyDeleteYvonne, thank you so very, very much for posting your excellent and timely Bible lesson!!! It is indeed time that we Christians take God's Word seriously and constantly pray Daniel's prayer for our nation and ourselves. May God have mercy on us. Keep up the good work, Yvonne, of posting the Bible lessons.
Yvonne, thank you so much for posting this heartfelt call to prayer for our country. Every day it seems as though we move further and further away from the principals and values that made us such a great nation in the first place. My prayer is that God will guide the hearts of our leaders to do what is in His will and what is right for our country rather than being so concerned about operating within political lines. As Christians, we need to be sure we are taking every opportunity to bring in elected officials and lawmakers who have a Christ-centered heart for our nation. Let us all remember to pray daily for God's guidance in our own lives and mercy for the mistakes we have made as a country. If we all do our part, may God intervene and richly bless these United States of America once again!
ReplyDeleteShow me your unseen love in some really touching ways thanks for Prayers For Deliverance and love also..
ReplyDeleteIt is so wonderful to hear other people share their love for God almighty and his precious Word. We as Christians are going to have to start taking a stand for our beliefs as Christians to American leaders now, or I fear the worst. We must get out of our comfort zones and join with groups that represent our values and start standing with them to help push back the hoards of hell and try to get back decency and morals in our Country. In God We Trust!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your message of truth. We would not have ungodly leaders IF the people truly loved and obeyed God. My prayers are for our pastors, that they would share the Truth of holiness so we all could turn our faces toward our precious Jesus and reflect His glory then all will be drawn to Him! May it begin with me.
ReplyDeleteBlessings on you for sharing your heart's cry.