"If My People..."

This is a message that has been burning in my heart for quite some time, however, the Lord has been dealing with me lately to put down in writing and share it, because it’s a message that needs to be said out loud for everyone to hear. I realize that it will also stir criticism because it’s a message that not everyone will gladly receive. It will be hard for some people to hear what I am sharing. But this is a message that must be acknowledged, because I believe, as many of you do also, that our freedoms in America and our way of life is in grave danger. I believe that we are standing at a crossroads at this very point in time, and we, as Christians foremost, and then as Americans, must make some crucial choices.

I apologize to my friends and readers who live in other other nations of the world, because I have mostly directed this message to American Christians, but I believe that some of you stand at the same crossroads that American Christians do, and you must also make the same difficult choices that we must make whether it be for your nation, or for yourself individually. Or maybe yours are a little different than ours, but you must face truth just the same. But I believe that America is in a position right now where we can no longer go about our merry way expecting the American dream to sort of “drop” in our laps. We can no longer expect to live on the blessings of generations past.

For over 230 years, America has been extremely blessed by God as no other nation in all of history has ever been blessed. We have risen to a place of world-wide recognition, international monetary blessing, and dreams fulfilled that can only be categorized as real live miracles from God. In this great nation, every person has been given the opportunity to live a life of prosperity and success. Many people can tell their own stories of how richly their lives have been blessed because of the freedoms and opportunities that this great country has afforded them in order to reach their highest potential. It’s each person’s choice what they do with the opportunities that they have received, but it cannot be disputed that the hand of God has touched this land mightily and blessed it in such a way as no other nation can claim…not even Israel, the “apple of His eye”.

In America, it is possible for a person to migrate here from a place where all they could look forward to was poverty and pain, and here they are able to, through honesty and hard work, find of life of peace and prosperity. Opportunities abound for people who are willing to pay the price and give God the glory for the grace He has bestowed upon us. Anything has been possible for the people of America.

In years past, America was the most honored and respected nation in the world. We have lent a helping hand to many other nations who were down and struggling and we’ve reached out to give assistance when national disaster has struck in many other lands. America has been great because the people of America have been great and the government of America has been great. God has honored our giving and our helping attitude. He has blessed us as a nation because we have been champions to the cause of the poor and needy throughout the world. And America has been great because we have stood by our allies when times were hard and they were going through difficult battles. But most of all, America has been great because we have been a nation which worshipped and served a Great and Mighty God. Yes, we have always been a Christian nation and we have been proud of our rich Christian heritage that has been handed down from generation to generation.

But over many years, I have watched the things that made America a great nation begin to change and erode. I have seen a shift in the priorities of the people of America, and I for one, fear for the future of this great nation. I saw a brochure recently that said, “They know less about Jesus than any generation in our history.” and then you open it up and it says, “They are our youth, our children and grandchildren.” (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) I believe that we need to take a careful look at the direction we are headed in, and where we are leading our children and young people, because if we don’t change our direction very soon, I’m afraid it will soon be too late, and there will be no turning back, and God’s hand of favor will leave us to our own devices.

2 Chronicles 7:14 holds a very familiar portion of scripture to most of us, but I would like to also look at verse 13 and see what that says, “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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.”

Solomon had just finished the great temple he had built for the Lord’s dwelling place and he and all the people of Israel had consecrated it and dedicated it unto the Lord. He had also interceded to the Lord for the people of his kingdom, and asked that when the people did sin and turn from the Lord, and when they returned and repented to God for their sins, Solomon asked God to forgive them of their sins and to prosper them once again. It was in that setting that God made the familiar promise in 2 Chronicles to His people Israel.

What we need to understand is that God loves Israel. He chose Israel specifically to be His people, and He has not cast them away. But we also should understand that He loves you and He loves me, and He loves America. Though God chose Israel as His very own people, America chose God! When our forefathers left their native land and came to the United States of America to establish a new nation, many lost their lives for that cause. They did not make those sacrifices so that people could take our privileges concerning our religious freedoms from us, but they came because the government had established a national religion in England, and they were not permitted to worship and believe as the Bible instructed. That is what the Constitution means when it says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Our Constitution says nothing about the separation of church and state. The law was intended to prohibit the government from establishing our religion, and it also does not allow it to prohibit the free exercise of our religion. How have we come to the place where our children are not allowed to pray in school and the Bible is banned from government facilities? Why have Christians allowed this to take place, in spite of our Constitutional rights? The Constitution guarantees us the right to freely exercise our religion, but we have allowed a few to, not only twist and turn the Word of God, but to also twist and turn the Constitution of the United States so that it no longer protects our freedoms, but it allows people to distort it in order to deny the very freedoms that many people have died to protect. How can this be?

I’ll tell you one way we have failed. We see all through the Word of God, that when the nation of Israel had a godly king, the nation prospered, but when the king was an ungodly man, the nation as a whole turned from God and it suffered greatly. But, over and over again, the people of Israel repented of their sins, and God did forgive them and bring prosperity once again. Now, what does all this have to do with America?

This scripture was written to God’s people. As Christians, we are God’s people. When we become “Christians” we become spiritual children of God. The very name, Christian, denotes “Christ-likeness”. Thus when we say we are Christians, we are claiming the very name of Christ, to be His Representatives or Ambassadors on this earth. Therefore, I believe we qualify when He says, “if My people, who are called by My name…” So we would be safe to say that, although this scripture was originally written to Israel, as children of God who carry the name of Christ, it would also apply to us.

Then the next part of the scripture says, “…will humble themselves and pray and seek My face…” Have you ever noticed, when you announce a “carry-in dinner” at your church, how many people come? People show up out of the woodwork, don’t they? I’ve been to churches where people will come to the dinners that didn’t even attend the church service, so they are not visitors. They just came to eat! And they do it all the time. Strange! But then, did you ever notice who shows up when you announce a “prayer service”? Many Christians in America have forgotten the power of prayer. You hear statements like, “Well, all we can do is pray.” But Christians need to understand that prayer should not be considered a “last resort”. Prayer is the VERY BEST thing we can do! And God is saying here that we should “humble ourselves” and “pray” and “seek His face”. These are strange words to many of us. Okay, praying means we go to God with our prayer list and lay our petitions before Him, right? NO! Praying means going to God with a humble attitude seeking His direction and will for our lives. Praying means we go before Him with the understanding that we are not able to do anything without Him. Praying means we need Him, we desire Him, and we are willing to do anything for Him. It means we spend time in the presence of the Almighty God, and want nothing more than to hear from Him. It’s not a ten-minute devotion, it’s a desperate heart, longing for Him and for His presence and for His hand of blessing. So when this writer said to “humble ourselves and pray and seek His face”, he is not talking about a nice, little request from God. He is talking about a cry of desperation! He is talking about falling on our faces before a mighty and awesome God and beseeching Him and imploring Him and longing to see His hand upon our land once again. We have lost the desire to long for the hand of God on our lives and on our land. We have forgotten what it is like to pray and weep before the Lord until we have a “break-through”…until we know that we know we have reached Heaven with our prayers. I remember a time when people would go to the altar after the church service and stay on their knees for a long, long time seeking God’s face. That was when we used to have altars in our churches. And they were made of wood, or sometimes cloth, and they would be soaked with tears when folks got done praying. There were boxes of tissues there, because it was assumed that people would pray and seek the Lord and that tears would flow when they did. Most people don’t know what it means to “pray through” anymore. There was no little 5 or 10-minute prayer. People prayed because they knew that if they didn’t, the devil would have his way in their lives or the lives of their loved ones. They knew they needed the power of God to overcome the sins and addictions in their lives. They prayed, because they knew that without prayer, they were not able to do anything of any benefit to the kingdom. And folks got saved, delivered and set free because they prayed. We don’t do that anymore. We don’t humble ourselves anymore, we don’t pray like we should anymore.

Then, the scripture says we are to “turn from their wicked ways”. You know, it frightens me when I see people that I go to church with living their lives in purposeful and willful sin. It disturbs me that people can go to church, hear the Word of God preached, profess the name of Christ as their own, and then go on about their sinful lives with no remorse. Now I’m going to step on some toes here, but that’s because it needs to be done. Folks, if you are a Christian, a bona-fide child of the Living God…you need to stop sinning! That means you can’t continue to live with or sleep with a man or a woman that you are not married to…that’s called adultery! That means you can’t continue to tell untruths to your husband or wife or children…that’s called lying! That means you can’t go back on that porno website time after time after time…that’s called lust! You get the idea! If it’s sin…you need to stop doing it! That’s what God is saying in this scripture, “…if My people will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways….” It’s called repentance…and until we come to a place of repentance, God will not hear us and God will not forgive us, and God will not heal our land. Our nation is hurting Christians! We have had tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods…not to mention terror attacks...right here in America. Remember verse 13? “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people…”

I am going to mention a few things that I believe we (Christians) in America need to repent of. I’m not talking about other people…I’m talking about us. Until we get The Church right, we cannot expect unbelievers to do anything right. It’s up to us Christians…it’s time to get it right. So here goes…

1. We have become a self-centered people.

2. We have depended on the government to do the job of the Church.

3. We have stopped working to support our families.

4. We have put our eyes on other gods.

5. We have become a prideful people.

6. We have become complacent (lukewarm) in our faith.

7. We have sent our jobs to other countries.

8. We have elected ungodly leaders.

9. We have allowed godlessness to reign in our nation.

10. We have bowed down to money.

“If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 
(2 Chronicles 7:14.)