Praying For The Healing of America

Ron DiCianni

Isaiah 1:16-18… Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless. plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

From The Rebirth of America by the DeMoss Foundation:

The hour is late; God’s judgment has already begun to fall. Western civilization as we know it, is clinging precariously to the thin strand of human effort and achievement. All of man’s combined attempts, time, wealth, and ability alone are not adequate to hold back the destruction of our nation. We are engaged in a great spiritual battle between the very forces of Heaven and Hell. Human weapons will not suffice. Only divine intervention will return this nation to a solid footing.

Yet there is hope– hope as great as the goodness and grace of God! The Sovereign Ruler of the universe stands eager to manifest Himself to a generation that has never clearly seen God. He is ready to extend His mercy on our behalf.

All the resources of God Almighty are at our disposal! He rules in all the affairs of men. “He turns the king’s heart whithersoever He will.” Nothing is too hard for God. There is no disease He cannot heal; no condition He cannot change. God wants to come and bless our land today. He wants to heal us and forgive our sins. He wants to raise high in our nation the standard of His Holiness.

But if judgment is to be averted, we must meet God’s conditions. Four thousand years ago, when Israel was an infant nation, God knew that they would eventually sin and experience His consequent judgment. Thinking of the time when Israel would be at the end of her resources and in a hopeless condition, God made a wonderful promise.    II Chronicles 7:14… If My people which are called by My name will 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 heal their land.

If there was ever a time when we as a people needed to seek God and cry out to Him for mercy, it is now. Now is the time for us to turn to Him, commit our lives wholeheartedly to Him, and cooperate with Him in rebuilding the spiritual foundations that have been destroyed. The pain that our nation now feels does not have to be the agonizing pain of death. Rather it can be– it must be– the rejoicing pain of birth– the rebirth of our nation.

Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever. Thomas Jefferson

Preparing for Personal Revival: This is the moment for self-examination, without it we are wasting our time with God.

God is eager to manifest His reviving presence and power in every generation. But we must take steps to prepare for the release of His fullness in our midst.

On the eve of their passage over Jordan into the Promised Land, Joshua charged the children of Israel to prepare their hearts: …Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Joshua 3:5

The psalmist understood the importance of spiritual preparation for revival: Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His steps. Psalm 85:13 The questions that follow are designed to reveal specific areas of spiritual need in our lives. These areas must be dealt with in preparation for personal and corporate revival.

Steps of Action

1. Pray the prayer of the psalmist: Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23, 24

2. Be totally honest as you answer each question.

3. Agree with God about each need He reveals in your life. Confess each sin, with the willingness to make it right and forsake it.

4. Praise God for cleansing and forgiveness.

5. Renew your mind and rebuild your life through meditation and practical application of the Word of God.

6. Review these questions periodically to remain sensitive to your need for ongoing revival.

Genuine Salvation (II Corinthians 5:17) a. Was there ever a time in my life that I genuinely repented of my sin? b. Was there ever a time in my life that I place all my trust in Jesus Christ alone to save me? c. Was there ever a time in my life that I completely surrendered to Jesus Christ as the Master and Lord of my life?

God’s Word (Psalm 119: 97; 140) a. Do I love to read and meditate on the Word of God? b. Are my personal devotions consistent and meaningful? c. Do I practically apply God’s Word to my everyday life?

Humility (Isaiah 57:15) a. Am I quick to recognize and agree with God in confession when I sin? b. Am I quick to admit to others when I am wrong? c. Do I rejoice when others are praised and recognized and my accomplishments go unnoticed by men? d. Do I esteem all others better than myself?

Obedience (Hebrews 13:17; I Samuel 15:22) a. Do I consistently obey what I know God wants me to do? b. Do I consistently obey the human authorities God has placed over my life?

Pure Heart (I John 1:9) a. Do I confess my sin by name? b. Do I keep “short accounts” with God (confess and forsake as He convicts)? c. Am I willing to give up sin for God?

Clear Conscience (Acts 24:16) a. Do I consistently seek forgiveness from those I wrong or offend? b. Is my conscience clear with every man? (Can I honestly say “There is no one I have ever wronged or offended in any way and not gone back to them and sought their forgiveness and made it right”?)

Priorities (Matthew 6:33) a. Does my schedule reveal that God is first in my life? b. Does my checkbook reveal that God is first in my life? c. Next to my relationship with God, is my relationship with my family my highest priority?

Values (Colossians 3:12) a. Do I love what God loves and hate what God hates? b. Do I value highly the things that please God (i.e. giving, witnessing to lost souls, studying His Word, prayer)? c. Are my affections and goals fixed on eternal values?

Sacrifice (Philippians 3:7,8) a. Am I willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary to see God move in my life and church (time, convenience, comfort, reputation, pleasure, etc.)? b. Is my life characterized by genuine sacrifice for the cause of Christ?

Spirit Control (Galatians 5:22-25; Ephesians 5:18-21) a. Am I allowing Jesus to be Lord of every area of my life? b. Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to “fill” (control) my life each day? c. Is there consistent evidence of the “fruit of the Spirit” being produced in my life?

“First Love” (Philippians 1:21,23) a. Am I as much in love with Jesus as I have ever been? b. Am I thrilled with Jesus, filled with His joy and peace, making Him the continual object of my love?

Motives (Acts 5:29; Matthew 10:28) a. Am I more concerned about what God thinks about my life than about what others think? b. Would I pray, read my Bible, give, and serve as much if nobody but God ever noticed? c. Am I more concerned about pleasing God than I am about being accepted and appreciated by men?

Moral Purity (Ephesians 5:3, 4) a. Do I keep my mind free from books, magazines, or entertainment that could stimulate fantasizing or thoughts that are not morally pure? b. Are my conversations and behavior pure and above reproach?

Forgiveness (Colossians 3:12, 13) a. Do I seek to resolve conflicts in relationships as soon as possible? b. Am I quick to forgive those who wrong me or hurt me?

Sensitivity (Matthew 5:23, 24) a. Am I sensitive to the conviction and promptings of God’s Spirit? b. Am I quick to respond in humility and obedience to the conviction and promptings of God’s Holy Spirit?

Evangelism (Romans 9:3; Luke 24:46, 48) a. Do I have a burden for lost souls? b. Do I consistently witness for Christ?

Prayer (I Timothy 2:1) a. Am I faithful in praying for the needs of others? b. Do I pray specifically, fervently, and faithfully for revival in my life, my church, and our nation?

Potent Answers to Persistent Prayer

by J. Edwin Orr

In New York’s Manhattan in 1857 thousands attended noon meetings, reported newspaper editor Horace Greeley. In Portland, Oregon, a half century later, department stores closed for prayer.

Spiritual conditions in the United States deteriorated in the middle of the 19th century. People were making money “hand over fist”, and when they did, they turned their backs on God.

But a man of prayer, Jeremiah Lanphier, started a prayer meeting in the upper room of the Consistory Building of the Dutch Reformed Church in Manhattan. He advertised it. Only six people (from a population of one million) showed up. But the following week there were 14, and then 23. They decided to meet every day. Soon they filled the Dutch Reformed Church, the Methodist Church on John Street, then every public building in downtown New York.

Famed newspaper editor Horace Greeley sent a reporter with horse and buggy riding around the prayer meetings to see how many men were praying. In one hour, he could only get to 12 meetings but he counted 6,100 men. Then a landslide of prayer began. People began to be converted (10,000 per week) in New York City. The movement spread throughout New England. Church bells would bring people to prayer at eight in the morning, twelve noon, and six in the evening. The revival went up the Hudson and down the Mohawk. Baptists has so many people to baptize, they couldn’t get them into their churches. They went down to the river, cut a big square in the ice, and baptized them in cold water.

In one year, more than one million people were converted. The revival crossed the Atlantic, broke out in Northern Ireland and Scotland and Wales and England, South Africa, South India– anywhere there was an evangelical cause, there was revival– and its effect was felt for 40 years. It began in a movement of prayer… it was sustained in a movement of prayer.

The 1905 Revival: The Shaking of a Nation

That movement lasted a generation, but at the turn of the 20th century there was need of awakening again. There were special prayer meetings at Moody Bible Institute, at the Keswick Convention in New England… all around the world people were praying that there might be another great awakening in the 20th century. God did indeed answer these prayers– in 1905.

Let me give you two examples: first, the student world. One of the leaders of the revival of 1905 was a young man of the Ivy League who later became perhaps the world’s most famous professor of world missions. When he was at Yale in 1905, 25% of the student body was enrolled in prayer meetings and Bible studies! The ministers of Atlantic City reported that of a population of 50,000 in that city, they knew of only 50 adults who were unconverted. In Portland, Oregon, two hundred and forty department stores closed from 11 to 2 for prayer and signed an agreement among themselves so that no one would cheat and stay open. That’s what was happening in the United States in 1905.

That revival of 1905 in the United States was linked to the famous Welsh revival of 1904, which swept like a tidal wave over Wales– where 100,000 people were converted in a five-month period. Five years later, J.P. Morgan wrote a book to debunk the revival. His main criticism was that of the 100,000 that joined churches in the five months of the revival, after five years, only 80,000 still stood. Only 80,000!

The social impact of the Welsh revival was astounding. Judges were presented with white gloves: they had no cases to try. No rapes, no robberies, no murders, no burglaries, no embezzlements, nothing. The District Consuls held emergency meetings to discuss what to do with the police, not that they were unemployed. Drunkenness was cut in half. The illegitimate birth rate dropped 44% in two counties within a year of the beginning of the revival, so great was its impact.

Revival– the inrush of the Holy Spirit into the body that threatens to become a corpse. D.M. Panton

Prayer and the Healing of America

Children, equipped with the knowledge of prayer, will strike terror into the heart of evil

In every area of American life God’s laws are being openly, flagrantly violated. It would follow that God’s wrath will not long be restrained. But God’s Word says there is hope; there is a solution.

When God’s People Pray… But we must pray! We must pray humbly, acknowledging the spiritual and moral bankruptcy of our land. We must pray fervently, imploring God’s cleansing and mercy. All of our combined effort, time, wealth, and ability are not adequate to hold back the destruction of our nation. We are in a great spiritual battle between the very forces of Heaven and Hell. Human weapons will not suffice. Only a mighty moving of God’s Spirit will cause us to look to Him and be saved. And we must pray for this moving.

The history of ancient Israel and Judah is full of evidences that the prayers of God’s people in times of crisis result in divine intervention. Remember the occasion when the powerful Moabites and Ammonites came to make war on Judah. Judah faced potential extermination. She was paying the dreadful consequences of her sin against God. Yet when King Jehoshaphat heard of the coming attack, he inquired of the Lord, He proclaimed a fast, and the people of Judah came together from every town to seek help from the Lord. King Jehoshaphat lead all the men, women, and children of Judah in an earnest prayer, prevailing upon God to defend His inheritance. In humility they acknowledged that “we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee” (II Chronicles 20:12).

God heard from heaven, promised His deliverance, and won the battle in such a way that the fear of God came upon all the surrounding nations. Without exception, when God’s people united in specific prayer, God heard, answered, provided, delivered, empowered, conquered– whatever was needed!

One Person Can Make A Difference– Often God used the prayer of one man to cause a whole nation to return to right living. When Israel returned to Jerusalem from exile, the people continued in some practices that were an abomination unto God. Ezra was appalled when he saw the sin in his nation. He tore his clothes, pulled his hair from his head and beard, and fell on his knees with his hands spread out to God and prayed. He confessed the sins of his people and pleaded with God for mercy. As Ezra prayed, all the people gathered around him. They made a fresh covenant with God that they would turn from their wicked ways and obey Him.

There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin with fervent prayer. Today America is in military, economic, and social trouble. We face problems so pervasive as to threaten our very survival as a free nation. But our greatest need is for a spiritual awakening. And apart from consistent, effective prayer, America will never experience the power of God in a spiritual awakening.

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched, and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

April 30, 1863- President Abraham Lincoln’s Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer

The choice before us is plain, Christ or Chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens. The time is come, it now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government. Peter Marshall

The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The greatest people of Earth are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray. S. D. Gordon

Father, in the Precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ send the Healing Rain of Your Holy Spirit… We so desperately need Your Grace, Your Mercy, and Your Forgiveness. Change our hearts Lord that we would be well pleasing in Your sight, obeying all that You command in Your Holy Word.   AMEN.  ~Santos

This is Our God- Hillsong 2008 w/Lyrics