At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. (2 Chronicles 7:13, 14 NLT)
This Old Testament promise from God was given to the Israelites, but it’s not hard to imagine that God would want the same response from his people today. We Gentiles were offered the chance to be grafted into his promises alongside the Jewish people when Jesus gave his life on the cross as the one true sin sacrifice. Once we choose to accept God’s free gift of grace and to give our lives to Jesus, we become God’s children. Co-heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God and all that he has to give. (Galatians 3:26-29)
As I read the verses above, it seems to me like something God could be saying to Christians in America today. Our country is running from God at full speed. It seems like every day there’s a story about some way the courts or the Government are trying to make the God of the Bible, the One True God, obsolete. God’s not threatened by this. He’s sad, for sure, but he’s not threatened. We can take God out of the schools. We can change God’s definition of marriage. We can take his name out of our pledge or off of our money. None of that changes who he is or what his plan is for this world and the people in it.
But for those of us that love The Lord and value the freedoms we are supposed to have in America. For those of us that know the moral relativity and lack of truth we are instilling in the future generation is a horrible tragedy that will end in disaster. For those of us that anxiously await Jesus’ return, but know we have work to do until he comes. We have to humble ourselves and seek God. We have to pray that he brings restoration to America. We have to look at our own children and imagine their life in ten years, twenty years, fifty years… Do we really want them to live in a Godless society. Do we really want their moral compass to be whatever feels right for them?
And how about the fact that Jesus is coming back and taking those of us that have put our faith in him to be with him while the rest suffer in eternal hell? Whatever your belief about the timing of his return, the Bible makes it clear that he is returning. How often do we think about what we’ll be doing when he does. And even more scarily … what our children will be doing.
Pray, Christian, pray! Don’t stop fighting for the gospel. You are guaranteed victory if Christ is your Savior.
If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. (2 Timothy 2:12 NLT)