Daily Devotional for Thursday June 10, 2004

Wrapping Up 40 Days of Prayer, Fasting, and Repentance for Our Nation

(Psalms 91:15; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Deuteronomy 5:29; 1 Kings 3:14)

In the Daily Devotional for March 11th I wrote these words: ?I am not giving up our nation to God?s judgment without doing everything I possibly can to stop it! Over the past 54+ months I have done many Devotionals on the spiritual state of this nation. I have dealt with the various pressing spiritual issues that face us like abortion, marriage, family, sexual sin, and the false gods and religions. I have laid out over and over the responsibility of the church, Christian leaders, government, and each of us as individuals in dealing with these spiritual issues. I am very sad to say that the spiritual state of our nation is worse today than when I started Liveprayer. But that only motivates me each day to get up and work harder! I am convinced that because of the fact we have willingly, deliberately, and blatantly turned our back on God, our nation is OWED His judgment. If God did not spare the children of Israel, His chosen people, for their gross idolatry, for having other gods, for turning from Him, then why should we expect His mercy? It has only been His mercy that has kept God from unleashing His judgment on our nation. We cannot be so blind, be so foolish to think that God?s judgment for our gross wickedness as a nation will not be felt at any moment.

The past night I have been up, back in the Book of Jonah in Chapter 3. I have been wrestling with God over the fact that if He had mercy on Nineveh, why can?t He have mercy on the United States. The Holy Spirit showed me this. God spared the city of Nineveh from His wrath because the people humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes, repented of their sins, and turned their hearts back to Him. THE KING NOT ONLY PUT ON SACKCLOTH, BUT ISSUED A PROCLAMATION CALLING THE PEOPLE TO PRAYER AND FASTING AND TO TURN FROM THEIR EVIL WAYS BACK TO GOD!

I am calling for a 40-day period of prayer and fasting for the United States from May 1-June 9. I am calling on every man, woman, and child in this nation to get on their knees and beg God?s forgiveness for our nation turning its back on Him. I will be calling on President Bush to make a proclamation that there will be a National period of prayer and fasting for the spiritual state of our nation from May 1-June 9. This will be an opportunity for him to lead our nation back to the God of the Bible. Jonah could not force the King to put on sackcloth and issue his proclamation, the King had to be convicted by God to do it. I cannot force President Bush to put on sackcloth and issue this proclamation, but I pray he comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to do so.?

I came under great conviction by the Holy Spirit that God was telling me to quit talking and start acting. What God was asking me to do was clear. Declare to the people His coming judgment for the sins of this nation, call the people to a period of prayer and fasting for this nation to turn from its wicked ways and turn back to the God of the Bible, and encourage President Bush to follow the lead of the King of Nineveh and issue a proclamation to the people of this nation to observe this 40 day period of prayer and fasting.

I was obedient and through the incredible efforts of those who receive the Daily Devotional, we know of over 3 million people that participated in these 40 days of prayer and fasting for our nation. That was so encouraging to me since it represents 1% of the US population. A faithful remnant that was willing to sacrifice their very lives each day for 40 days to pray for our nation to turn from our sins and turn our hearts back to the God of the Bible.

The only disappointment was the silence that came from President Bush about this critical time. God gave me three separate people close to the President to insure he received the information and request to issue a proclamation to the nation about this 40 days. Can you imagine if President Bush had gone on t.v. one evening, shared the litany of sins this nation is responsible for, and asked the people of this nation to fast and pray for the next 40 days for our nation to turn from our sin and back to the God of the Bible?

I guarantee you that instead of 3 million, there would have been 30 million, maybe more. Those who are only interested in politics will say it would have been a suicidal move. I say since when is asking people to fast and pray, to turn from their sins and back to the God of the Bible a suicidal move? He is already blamed for being a ?Christian President.? Those who oppose him will oppose him any way. It would have been a bold and courageous move that God would have honored. Sadly, he chose to not respond to this opportunity which ultimately is between him and God.

God led me to actually fly to our nations capital to launch this 40-day period on May 1st by praying in front of the White House from noon-3 p.m. in sackcloth and ashes. I was blessed to have several dozen people from the Liveprayer family show up to pray with me. Some flew in from other parts of the country to be part of this special time, and as only God could orchestrate, we ended up having pockets of people from Liveprayer praying all around the White House that afternoon. (You can see a short video clip of that time in Washington DC by going to www.liveprayer.com and clicking on the American Flag icon on the left side of the homepage.)

In looking back on these past 40 days, so much has happened in our nation and world. From the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that broke the day after we began, to the legalizing of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, to the death of President Reagan in the final days of the fast, much has happened over these past 40 days.

One of the things I have learned over these past 13 years of serving the Lord is that more than anything else, God is interested in our obedience and faithfulness. Time and time again, God will ask us to do something that when it is over, we look back and scratch our head wondering if anything really happened. Often, we never see the results of things that we do for the Lord. That is where faith comes in. Knowing that NOTHING we ever do for God is in vain.

The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His thoughts, His ways, are not ours and so much above our thoughts and ways. The fact is, there is NO PLACE IN THE BIBLE that says we must understand everything God is doing. But the Bible does say we are to be obedient and faithful. I have no doubt there are times God calls us to do something for no other reason than to test our obedience and faithfulness.

I love you and care about you so much. My prayer today is simply that God will honor the sacrifice we have made to him for these past 40 days as we stood in the gap for our nation. I don?t know of any sane person that wants to see the judgment of God unleashed on our nation, but I also don?t know anyone that really knows God who would blame Him if he did. As I have stated in the past, we are not only due God?s judgment, we are overdue.

But I believe God heard the cries of His people these past 40 days. I believe He will honor our sacrifice as we repented for the many gross and wicked sins this nation is responsible for, including the greatest sin of all, turning our backs on God our Creator. Only eternity will show us the fruits of our sacrifice. May God continue to extend His grace and mercy to this nation, and may we turn from our wicked ways and back to the God of the Bible.

?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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.? ? 2 Chronicles 7:14