A Time To Pray

II Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, which 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."

I don't think there's anyone who can debate the fact that we are in troubling times. Recession, depression, economic downturn, or whatever other colorful phrase we've been hearing over the last couple of years, it really makes no difference. The point is this country needs to turn back to its roots, the Judeo-Christian principles on which it was founded.

It's been the blessing of God that has allowed our prosperity over our history, and the implementation of Biblical principles that has made our nation strong. Ideals like freedom, individual responsibility, a good work ethic, and people working together for the common good are not newfangled or contemporary concepts, but tried and proven pillars on which a society can be built. And no surprise, each of these basic values, and additional ones, can be found in the Bible.

So what we need is a spiritual renaissance. As one of my former high school teachers used to say, "America needs a moral rebirth." At the time, I thought it was a funny little saying he always mentioned in our morning devotion, but now I see the magnitude of the need. Indeed, America and Americans need to turn back to God...

So who leads the charge? Should we look to our new President, Barack Obama, to start us down a path toward the revival across the land? Somehow I doubt it. What about our elected representatives in Congress? No, for some reason I believe they're just as lacking. So who can lead this country onto the right path?

The answer is the same as when the words were penned in II Chronicles. It's the people of God who must take up the banner and lead this country on the right course. "If my people," is what the Bible says. So we need to lead the way in prayer, in seeking after God, in humility, and in repentance. We can't expect the world around us to jump out there and steer us to the healing of our land. Indeed, the policies and "stimuli" that this world offers are simply more of the same old useless ideas that got us here, and will exasperate the problem further.

No, fellow people of the most High, those called by Jesus name and purchased by His precious blood. We must stand up and attend to the problem. We must begin to pray in humility. We must seek relationship with God and find His will. We must repent, for ourselves, our leaders, our nation. We must turn from our wicked ways (let's say our lackadaisical, stagnant, mediocre, ways). It's time to start praying, walking with God, and being on-fire, Apostolic (book of Acts) Christians...

I think if we will start doing this en masse, along with doing the human things we know to do like voting, getting involved with our communities, etc..., we can watch God turn these hard times around....