Coronavirus / Covid19 and repentance revival

I struggled with how to do this post. It's not the end of the world, though it might feel like it - here's how to avoid going through the End Times and what to do if you are left behind. (See first link for more detail on the End Times.) And, many signs show we are getting close.
God is personal and gives perfect peace and comfort to those who call on Him, like teen moms from my previous post. We need to be careful and avoid the occultic stuff that gives false peace, as shown here. I thought about the National Day of Prayer which led me to start this blog years ago, calling for repentance and how we all mess up and need it. But while I have a number of blogs like this which speak of how to pray for our nation and why repentance is needed, not just for what we've done but what we've failed to do (it's sad this on honesty, compassion, etc. has so few views) and a few actions to take as part of revival.

I have a free blogged book here on taking the spiritual lead in your home (and, when we can, your neighborhood and community) which anyone can benefit from, and I encourage all to pass it on. As to the pandemic, though, I wanted to wait to see how bad this was going to get; we now don't have much face to face contact, which I lamented in one post about using phones so much from another blogs, but we can still learn to care deeply about others and love unconditionally like I talked about, not shallow like some..

In some ways, the response is the same no matter how I begin. One might ask as I did in another post or two if America is going to be judged for its sin. Whether it is or not, the answer for each of us as individuals is that we need God in our lives. We need him desperately, and that's how we are in a place with less to do where we can pray more fervently. I share at the end of this a part-by-part piece on one verse about how to do that, but put simply, pour your heart out to God in repentance for this country and seek Him to save lives and, more importantly, souls - not just for our own desires but for His glory.

   God loves us and wants to give us perfect peace. He made this world perfect but we brought sin into it, and death by sin. All Creation groans under the weight of that sin. (Yes, viruses were created to be harmless.) Thankfully, there is a perfect Heaven, and God will remake this world someday. But, He doesn't force us to choose Him. He lovingly guides and calls us to choose to be saved from our sin. So, we must pray He will use this to draw many to know Him personally. Eternal life with God begins the moment you trust Him to save you from your sins, when He comes to live in you through the Holy Spirit.

1. Know Jesus personally now

I will start with the simple ABCs of salvation and explain why we must pray and how. Because we must keep an eternal perspective.

Because, accepting His free gift of salvation is as easy as ABC.

1. Admit you are a sinner in need of a Saviour, that you can't save yourself becasue your sin separates you from God so you can't get to His perfect heaven on your own;
2. Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died for your sins and rose from the dead to take the punishment for your sins; and,
3. Call on Jesus to save you, Choosing to Confess and to turn away from your sins and trust Him completely to forgive you and make you new inside, to change your "want to."

You can do that right here reading this blog, as can anyone you share this with. Just pray something like this in your own words. "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I don't deserve your perfect Heaven. But, you died to take the punishment I deserve for my sins, and then you rose from the dead. I believe you did this for me, that you conquered death and are alive always. Lord Jesus, today I repent of my sins, I turn away from them and invite you into my heart to make me new inside. Make me a new creture, Lord, and work in me through your HOly Spirit. I believe and trust you have saved me today, not by any work I have done or who I am, but all becasue of who you are. I trust and believe in you as my Saviour, and receive you into my heart and life to make me new. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Rejection of God's free gift of salvation means separation from Him forever in a horrible place. God never wants to send people there. It was created for the devil and his fallen angels. . People choose to go there when they reject His free gift of salvation the that In God's great love, He clearly spells out that He doesn't want anyone to go there and how they can avoid going there.

2. Share His love with others

I won't be long with this so we can get back to discussing the Coronavirus. But, h=just like a beggar would want to tell another beggar where to find bread (and we are all like that), we should share His love and salvation with others.

God loves us, so He wants us as His followers to share His love and salvation with others You can share it like above, use the Gospel here or use something like this longer online tract. For someone to talk to and teachings, you can go to www.Godlife.com/Gospel. You can easily memorize the 4 Spiritual Laws (or order the tracts) like shown here. (See here for other languages.) . But, for it to work, remember they must believe you, so don't be a Pharisee.

 Once we know Jesus personally of course, we should live for him not because we have to but because we want to, because of the peace he gives us.

3. Back to the Coronavirus/Covid-19, we can be assured of a few things.

A. Our most important act right now is to pray
      We have time on our hands, we must pray without ceasing, intercessory prayer. It is the most powerful connection possible. We must seek God's glory, not ours. There is a lot of stress right now, but no matter when it comes, and how, God can see you through.
     Pour out your heart to God, as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says - the church hasn't replaced Israel, and America certainly hasn't, but the church has been grafted into God's Kingdom. We are His people, and therefore, we can humble ourselves and pray, seek His face, and most importantly, turn from our wicked ways. Then, He will hear from Heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. Another post about how God can heal the church and country is here.

B. While we wait, we can still, through the Internet, writing, etc. be Godly examples.
     Here are some great examples of answers to give when people ask about the Bible's reliability, etc., as well as how to show ourselves to be Godly people. Here are more ways, especially in sharing God's love with Muslims like the link shows, or this to show ways to show the Bible is true.
      Also, check this on God's Word (which also helps those of other religions thanks to words like "begotten being explained).

     The important thing to remember is, too many people just think we're against stuff - we need to be known by what we're for, like helping others and unconditional love, like above, the deep kind, not the shallow fleshly kind like when we say we love pizza. There are things to focus on like here which will help give you peace and joy, for instance. like in Philippians 4:8, linked below..

3. Coronavirus / Covid-19 isn't one of the deadly plagues of Revelation, but it shows a small dose of how it might be.
     There will come a time when things are a lot worse, during the Tribulation. This is a time when the antichrist will  uniting all against God's perfect love, a time you must prepare for as I show here by avoiding deception. I also show how to avoid such tribulation(or spread around to help people if it's too late and the Rapture comes) in this post which is important enough I also linked it above. There you can see how to turn to Him, and how turning things over to God will free you.
     Is it possible that - during a time with lots of quarantine - the Rapture will come and few will notice? Perhaps, but the Rapture could come at any moment. So, as that last post said, make sure you don't get left behind, and know what to do if you do. Don't worry about when it'll come, keep trusting Jesus no matter what.

4. Think on things of Phil. 4:8 to help calm fears over the pandemic, and to draw closer to God.
      This speaks of the list int he verse I mentioned.
     We need to focus on God's system, but instead emphasize the world system which is against HIm nd follows the devil. That's one reason so many are terrified, but also why so many will turn to the devil's ways is we're not careful and if we don't warn them of the coming judgment. Becasue, this is a global crisis, and we must trust God's ways to solve it, by believing in Him and what He said would happen.

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Finally, here is something long on 2 Chronicles 7:14. I share about praying for America above, but this also shows, going piece by piece of this verse, what is needed. And, how to see how many great things are in the Bible.

2 Chronicles 7:14. “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.”

My people/called by My name: Notice 2 things.

1. We are His people. We are not the chosen people – the Jews – of Genesis 12, but we have been grafted in; we are called by His name. Romans 8:15 says we have the spirit of adoption in us. We were once in bondage to fear. He has freed us like a tender, loving father who will never provoke to wrath, never discourage his children with putdowns, but will speak the truth in love and spea life to them. We are adopted into His family.

2. We can’t lose our salvation. How do we get that from this verse? The people are sinning terribly; so much so God has smitten their land. It can be a disease like the virus going around today, it can be a famine, it can be a spirit of destruction hat brings people against each other, but in the midst of all this, they are still His people, called by His name. They never lost that, even in the midst of horrible sin.

Humble themselves and pray:

To be humble is to realize we can’t do it ourselves. It’s admitting our faults and failures. It’s accepting we’re not perfect, but God is, and He has the right to rule in our lives. He says we shall have no other gods before Him – we put many things in our hearts that we idolize.

To pray to Him is to acknowledge He is Lord. Yes, we sometimes pray when other things are on our minds, but this is not the fleeting thought we quickly apologize for, like being too quick to criticize or not bothering to listen because we have things on our mind. People put many things ahead of God, and they need to be humble like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 and return to God. This is made clear by the next part of this verse.

Seek My face:

We need to seek God’s face because we are not following Him.

“Wait,” you say, “I am.” Okay, but all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I’m just as guilty of not praying enough as anyone, I get distracted by things of this world. And just admitting that to God and turning from it is one way to seek His face.

And, if we are right with God, if we do walk with Him, then we should be interceding for others, for this nation. Do we pray for our leaders, or only the ones we like? If we put certain people on our “naughty list” and refuse to pray God help them or work in their lives, it is not Godly. He wants children to pray for and help their parents because they are in charge. And, in the same way, He says to pray for our leaders, not to keep complaining. He says to seek His will for our lives, not our own desires. To seek His face, then, is to seek Him; not just to go through the motions but to actively let His Holy Spirit work in us.

Turn from their wicket ways:

Again, why pray for past sins of others? We are interceding like Jesus does for us. He mediates on our behalf. So, we can intercede for others.

My ancestors fought to free the slaves – they left West Virginia, then part of Virginia, and joined Ohio regiments. They were Germans and Germans hated slavery. Yet I beg God’s forgiveness for the horrible cruelty of slavery. I don’t just say, “My ancestors were on your side in that one, Lord.” I intercede for our country.

Daniel did the same thing in Daniel 9, praying for Israel, and the sins of his forefathers. He didn’t just say, “I wasn’t there. Not my problem.” I don’t know if his forefathers were persecuted or not, but being handicapped, I could just say, “Yeah, we had it rough” and not seek God’s forgiveness for others. I acknowledge the sins of my country and pray we will turn away from them, and turn away myself.

But, this also involves action on our part now. So many have neglected family, but now they have a chance to reconnect and love them unconditionally. So many rely on imperfect people instead of a perfect God, but now they are learning they must rely on God. So many are selfish and worked toward self-gratification instead of thinking of others first. So many turn to things instead of God to give them peace and comfort. And so on.

So, when we turn from our wicked ways, we must do so ourselves, and then pray others will, too. This doesn’t mean we have to become Amish, we can enjoy pleasures, we must just stop putting these things ahead of God and acknowledge God gives them to us to enjoy and see His creation in nature, in our skills, etc..

Imagine, for instance, if all the money spent on better and the lottery were spent on helping the poor and supporting missionaries instead. Now that’s something to seek God’s face to it happens. There’s a reason Billy Sunday preached so much against sin – he knew it could be used to help those who really need that help.

Then will I hear from Heaven

The Psalmist writes “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.” (PS. 66:18) But, He will listen when we ask Him to point out any wicked way in us so we can forsake it. (Psalm 39:24, other verses.) He knows we’re not perfect, He just wants a willing heart, because He wants to hear from Heaven. That’s why He tells us even with a nation filled with sin how we can see our nation healed.

And I will forgive their sin

God is always ready to forgive. He came into the world not to condemn it, but so that the world through Him might be saved. Each of us is only a single, sincere prayer of repentance away from eternal life. Then, once we have the Holy Spirit living in us, we can know for sure He will lovingly guide us and forgive when we mess up. So, we should be interceding for others and sharing His love with them so they, too, can be saved.

And I will heal their land.

America needs healed not just from the Coronavirus, but from centuries of evil, so much pain that we have caused Him through the meistreatment of others, but also so much painwe have caused Him through our own selfish desires.

We need healed from the bitterness and rage that exists in our land. We need His healing from the terrible way in which we’ve turned the gifts He has given us around for our own gratification. We need healed from that desire to fight for worldly rewards instead of giving toward Heavenly rewards. We need healed of the terrible attitude we’ve had toward life, from the legalist mindset that insisted people be in church without trying to hel them in their daily lives. We need healed from so many sins.

I’m not saing Coronavirus is a direct judgment from God. It’s not like He would judge Israel as His chosen people. We are in the age of grace.

But, I am saying America needs a repentance revival. God has tried so hard to get our attention. Now, this is one more thing where He is begging us to return to Him and be healed. He has removed so much of our lives, so we can have the time to know our Creator, the one who has given us all of this. He has given us one more chance to realize we are filled with sin and to intercede for our country.

And then, when we realize and share with Him we know we are deserving of His judgment, and plead for our nation, for His mercy on us, then we have His promise to get us through this.

He can heal us from this plague. He wants us to have faith that He will. But, not just so we can have fun, as I shared before. He wants it for His glory.

It just takes some dedicated prayer warriors. Will you be one? As Morecai said to Esther, his cousin whom he raised, when she was afraid, because the wicked kind wanted to kill the Jewish people she she was needed to intercede, “Who knows whether you are come into the kingdom for such a time as this?” We need people to pray for repentance revival so God will heal this land. And then, He could restore the economy, maybe not in an instant, but He do great and mighty things.

We just need to have faith.

Call to action - national heart problem needing healed with prayer to give us hope

I've written much about the need for prayer - speaking humbly with God and believing He'll work in a situation. This is a good time, with the incredible turmoil in our nation, to mostly post a prayer and invite others to join, as I did in this one.

I know many feel hopeless after this recent election, and just want someone to bring hope. God looks beyond our differences, He knows there's only one race, the human race, unlike what sinful man tries to do. So, you can skip down to the prayer and pray if you want, but these first couple smaller sections are very helpful to get our hearts in the right mood, as they discuss that relationship with God and the fact intercessory prayer is needed for our country.

 God Desires a Relationship With You - Turn to Him

God loves you and gives everyone - you - the chance to have a personal relationship with Him, so He can give you His perfect love, comfort, peace that passes understanding,and other blessings as we walk in this world. That relationship lets you pray to  Him anywhere, anytime about anything if you trust Him to save you from your sins.

As an example of sin, I've mentioned many times how someone might get cut off in traffic and curse the other driver, when the other driver is rushing to the hospital the bedside of a seriously ill loved one. That need cannot be met by criticizing the person who is hurting; we are sinning then by selfishly putting our desires ahead of others.  This, hopefully, helps show that sin is anything we say, think, or do that displeases that perfect and holy God. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.(Rom.3:23)

Repenting is like a U-turn with your heart. It would be like realizing in your heart, "Oh, I'm sorry. I was only going to the store and was inconvenienced a few minutes, while that driver may have been anxious to go see his mother one last time before she died. I'm sorry I judged them, forgive me and help me not do that next time." It's just agreeing with God that sin is sin and God must judge it; and, that He judged it at the cross when He took the punishment for that sin, dying and rising from the dead.

That salvation from your sin must be received with the heart, not just head knwoledge. It is a free gift - we are saved "By grace...through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God."(Eph.2:8) It's the only system that doesn't require people to something they can boast of to reach God - "not of works, lest any man should boast."(Eph.2:9) That boasting by others is annoying to us, but more importantly, it speaks of works and we can't reach up to God because we can't make ourselves perfect. So; God reached down to us.

The way to receive that gift is to - Admit you're a sinner and fall short of God's perfection, Believe that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take your punishment and rose from the dead, and Call on Him to save you from your sin and forgive you and make you new inside. Choose to pray and trust Him to forgive you and save you and turn from your sins, Caling on Him to make you new so He can live in you and make you kinder, more loving, etc. - you can make that heart-mind decision right now, in fact.

So, that repentance when we trust Jesus to save us is what allows that relationship to begin. Once yuou have done that, you'll still sin because of your human nature but a Godly follower of Jesus grows in their faith and becomes more like Jesus in their love, compassion, etc. - Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 are one great example of how.

This shows that if it's required for a healthy relationship, then we must turn our hearts toward God when we pray. Prayer won't work if our hearts aren't right. This is because when we are turned away from him there is something between us, just like if people have an argument. and one is in Miami and the other in Atlanta. If the one says they'll go to Miami to make up and drive toward Alaska, they'll never be on the road to Miami. Hence, the "U-turn with your heart."

God wants us to have a relationship with Him, but He must also punish sin. That's why we must come with repentant heart and humbly seek His forgiveness and for Him to work in our lives.  God is holy and just and will punish sin; He can't have any sin in His presence. Heaven will be a wonderful place where nothing bad can happen to you, there'll be no suffering, no pain,(Rev. 21), just great diversity of people where nobody has seen, heard, or even imagined the wonders that await us.(1 Cor.2:9) There can be no sin there, or it would cause suffering. So, God provided that way of salvation so any who are in Christ are new creatures - "old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new."(2 Cor.5:17)

God wants us to enjoy His presence here, too. All are supposed to be equal in Christ Jesus(Gal 3:28). We have failed in that, and must repent of the evils of the last 400 years, not just the last 50; and, we must also repent for things we failed to do as well, such as how we haven't spoken out enough agaisnt violence against women.

How To Repent for a Country? Intercessory Prayer

It's great to share that love with others, and something we must do. Jesus could come at any moment, and each must be ready and share how to get saved now and what to do if millions vanish. However, that's about individuals.

Interceding for a country is like that, in a way, though. Our country is a mess. Many verses speak to things we should have done, such as Micah 6:8,etc. about God requiring mercy, loving everyone as equals no matter what race and treating them as equals, helping the powerless, etc.. But, that country is made up of individuals who can be reached and changed on the inside.

God knows our country has a heart problem, as this shows. It can't be solved by laws, but must be healed by God, because laws or political leaders would only work from the outside and not impact the heart. This is why we still have problems with racism, for instance, after so long. Only God's justice is perfect, as I discuss here.

Even so, individuals should follow God's ways and not mistreat or look down on thsoe of other races or women, and must make sure justice applies equally.

this requires a move of the Holy Spirit. It would mean that god would be interceding for many people, and that takes very fervent prayer. Such a Heaven-sent revival must begin in our own hearts, which is why I went over what I did above; we must seek it for God's glory and not ours because only He knows the perfect thing for our country; also, because he wants us to focus on things of heaven where nothing can happen to them and not things of earth which will pass away. He has our best interests at heart doing that. There is more discussion of intercessory prayer here, too.

There are other posts here, too, which speak of repentance revival, but it all boils down to this - God's people seeking for God to intervene to pour out his Spirit to change those things which displease Him. that, of course, requries our hearts to be right with Him to do that.

Once Jesus saves you He comes to live in you through the Holy Spirit, but you still have a sin nature and so you'll still struggle. There is a lot of bitterness and anger on both sides politically right now, for instance - things that stir up pain and hatred. God allows bad things so we don't become mindless robots - and so cause and effect can continue without some strange cartoon physics. However, He wants to guide us through those hard times with His peace. When things like anger and bitterness are fed they lead to destructiveness. Instead, we need to build the  Fruits of the Spirit in our lives(Gal.5:22-23) which I've mentioned.

We need people like you to be prayer warriors and spread this around so people will intercede on America's behalf.

With that, I ask you to please join in prayer and pass this around, too. Print it out if you want. Just remember, it's not just words you say, it's speaking with God personally for things to be made right. It can be your own words, of course, as long as you are in agreement with god about the sinful ways of this nation and how he can change it. We need Him; we can't do it without Him. But, He also promises that with Him, all things are possible.

A prayer of national repentance 

"Dear Lord Jesus, we have sinned and come short of your perfection. We have seen so much violence and oppression and other mean stuff in our nation, and I know you hate the culture that has developed. Lord, I'm sorry we have been so mean, in many cases since our founding as colonies, and I ask you to please forgive us.

"While we kept important things like honesty, love, and so on which you say are vital we didn't do that with some people, we were sinners who needed to let you change us on the inside. We failed at that Lord, and for that I am sorry.

"Of course, I too am not perfect, and so before I go further I ask your forgiveness for my sins, I know you died to take my punishment for my sin and rose from the dead, and I trust you to forgive me and save me from all my sin. I plead the blood of Jesus over all my sin and invite you to work in me, making me new on the inside, so I can make a difference the lives of others. And, in this nation.

"Lord, today I come to you because our nation is in turmoil. No matter who had won the election, the other side would have been up in arms. Lord, we know we can't make this world perfect because we are all imperfect  people. Lord, we need you to work a mighty work in this nation. We recognize we have no hope unless we turn all of our problems over to you. So, Lord, I plead with you to please heal this broken land.

"I plead with you, Lord,first, to forgive us for relying on people to solve the things only you can solve. Lord, we know you alone are the author of hope, we are not able to create a perfect world, and when we try it ends in selfish boasting and other problems. When we were more dedicated to you, we at least recognized the need for civil discourse and those who truly followed you would proclaim the need for us to be free, and we could look past our faults, but now we have so many people who are so full of faults, and yet they attack each other so vigorously. Lord, we repent of our search for people who just worry about more or fewer laws and instead ask your Holy Spirit to move int he hearts of the people of this country to turn to you.

"Lord, as part of that turning to you, we admit to 400 years of sin in our land, that we have not treated others with respect, we have not established true justice for all, we have created a backward system and despire the revivals you brought centuries ago, we kept trusting in outward appearances and slogans and di not repent of our wicked thoughts toward others. For that, Lord, we repent and turn back to you and trust you to cleanse us from these stains.

"Lord, our actions have brought about spirits of discord, of bitterness, of anger. Our focus on the things of this world have caused us to lose sight of that which unites us, that being the cross at the foot of which all truly are equal. We have fought over jobs and neighborhoods and things instead of acceptign others as equals and being united in a common cause, that of sharing sweet fellowship with you and lovingly leading others to Christ so they, too, can know that forgiveness and love you give to all who put their trust in you.

"Lord, we ask humbly that you would eliminate this spirit of discord and bitterness and anger and violence and rioting, and instead bring a spirit of peace and calm and comfort to all Americans.

"Lord, we pray that you would foster a spirit of communication between all Americans, that we would learn learn to get along with one another int he way you proclaim it, for we are not "us" and "the other" but we truly are to be "one another," united in hope for each other and sharing that wonderful fruit of the Spirit, bestowing love, joy, peace, gentleness, and so on to all and learn about each other and coming to treat one another in a civil manner the way we should.

"Lord, we also see much oppression in certain specific areas, too, and it is for those things we pray an end, also, for you say to go boldly - not brashly but with confidence you will hear and heal our land, because your people pray. And, Lord, with these specifics, please help us to remember to pray consistently as these will be spiritual battles which will take time.

"Lord we pray for an end to racism in our police, we pray for those who have betrayed the people by harming innocents to be brought to justice, and we will trust in your perfect justice, but we also ask you to end the violence against blacks and others who don't pose a threat, Lord, work in the police departments and give them the desire to constantly work to ensure that they don't have police who will do these things. Lord, please protect all those blacks and African-Americans and turn Black lives Matter into a cause that is moved by the Holy Spirit to cry out to you and to invite white people to join just as was done in the 1960s and which will help the police who are doing their jobs. Lord, we also pray for the protection of the police and an end to the slaying of all innocent people.

"Lord, please heal our inner cities, rebuild families and give women and youth encouragement to be the leaders where needed, as you did the Shunemmite in 2 Kings 4:8 onward, that our youth may have good role models who are Godly people, and turn our culture away from the terrible pain, heal that pain and agony, Lord, so we may not be hurting each other so much, we cry out to you for an end to all of the inner city problems through jobs that matter, that can give us hope, so we can truly make a difference and be free from the scourge of drugs and such. Lord, please trn hearts to end the violence gaisnt women and minorities and children and everyone.

"Lord we really pray for an end to all of this violence and rioting and destructiveness. Lord, we beg you in Jesus' name, do not allow the devil to have his way in this land, please prevent the forces of darkness from increasing the pain, but instead bring an end to those organiers who have agendas of destruction and instead raise up people who have agendas of conscientious dialogue who can and will truly accomplish things to heal this divide.

 Lord, we have focused so much on worldly goods, and we repent of that focus on that and ignoring the thigns of God, family and kindness and peace, help us to be content with such things as we have, but at the same time cause the rich to also be content and not be demanding more than they should; Lord you know the role you have for each of us and we pray you will help each of us to have that peace and not ignore the fact you do call us to be able to own thigns - hence the admonition never to steal or covet - but you also call on us to not oppress the poor, so please, Lord, end the oppression that occurs so much. please heal the divide between rich and poor and cause people to all focus on building treasures in Heaven by giving to those causes which will help those that are in need.

"Lord, we further pray for a healing of the divide which has occurred because of gender inequality, Lord help us to recognize that you have a specific plan for each of our lives, and that is to be treated lovingly and with compassion and never to be seen as objects, which is true for all, male and female. Lord, we ask you to end porn and all devient sexual stuff, send your Holy Spiritt to convict our hearts and set them right. Lord, we pray that you will send a calming spirit to those who feel agitated and stirred up by the harsh and even evil words of some leaders, and at the same time that those leaders would repent and no longer say or do evil but will instead humbly allow you to work int heir hearts and make them more loving and compassionate toward others.

"Indeed, Lord, increase the compassion of all of us, but at the same time help us to realize that you do call sin as sin for a reason, and please help us to remain steadfast against the sin in this land, that it may be stopped and that your ways would be established as right in our hearts, and that you would see to it that people are protected no matter what they believe and that our freedom to worship you and practice our faith not be curtailed, as you say in Your Word and as our Constitution says, too.

"Lord, please also send a spirit of calm over all those who protest the most recent election, that instead of worrying about who is in power we instead work to make this world better, because with all of this bitterness and anger there is so little hope, but when we have effective communication where we know things will be better we do hve hope, and so I pray that a spirit of peace and a willingness to discuss solutions instead of complaining about problems be evident in each and every person. Lord, change the hearts of our leaders where they need changed to fully come along what you will for us, those who do not know You may they truly come to know youpersonally as their Saviour, and may all who know you be drawn closer to you. may they be torn away from false gods and realize that you are the God of love, and may they be drawn to you and receive you by faith alone for perfect peace and stability int hese troubled times. May those who are on the fence renounce their ties to the New Age stuff and the worldly system some have and instead may they lean wholly on you, knowing you will win in the end; indeed you have already wont he victory.

"We also pray that if there are any scandals that justice would be done and that you would be glorified in showing that actions have consequences. Indeed, Lord, we pray for the hearts of all those in power be brought to you.

"Lord, you provided a great revival to break out int he late 1850s because 2 businessmen began to meet to pray at lunch in New York City and it spread; Lord, may we see the same attitude in business today, that people would stop beign greedy and that they would stop mistreating any employees.

"Lord, may people further grow those fruits of the Spirit and be honest, gentle, considerate, not backbiting, and in general may we all become more Christlike instead.

"Indeed, Lord, we pray for an end to all the terrible abuse and misuse of people, especially sexually, may you protect all those who can't protect themselves, and may you work in every situation to ensure that our children are safe fromt he effects of demonic forces which are out to seduce them into thinking they hve no hope; provide them with hope, Lord, may they see you at work and sense ou are real, may they all call on you to save them nd if the Rapture is close then I pray they will all be saved, because there are so many who have not been able to hear clearly to make a decision because of the terrible exploitation which goes on, the wful stealing of their innocence by a cruel and wicked world bent on making them think they are accidents when in fact each of us is created by God for a very special purpose, each of us is special to You, Lord. Indeed, we pray for an end to all the harm being done by our education system and for you to end the problems of bullying there, too, by teaching young people to value others as you, Lord, value them.

"Lord I'm sorry for all the evil that has come before, which we ask you to heal in humble repentance today. Lord, there are countless other sins I have not mentioned, so while a calming spirit int he crowds surrounding this electionand its aftermath are the main focus of this prayer, along with some other things, I ask you too, Lord, to please work in our hearts for other things in this revival, that many people will turn their hearts toward you and away fromt he many sins that have befallen our nation. May you bring us a great repentance revival and help me to accept if there are things that maybe aren't in your timetable or that maybe I'm wrong about, kindly help me to understand and at least accept your ways are higher than my ways, as the sky is higher than the seas.

"Lord, please give us that great repentance revival we need, not because we deserve it, not because we hve earned it, not because of our history, but only because of who You are, the God of grace and mercy who is slow to anger and whose mercies are new every morning, who is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

"Lord, please bring many individuals to repentance and to salvation in you, please end this spirit of fear and terror and discord and bring to us a spirit of love, of peace, of unity in you, and end the terrible protests and riots and instead bring us to all want to follow and praise you for your ultimate victory over evil. Lord, please bring us a spirit of acceptance of others not becasue of some political correctness but becuase of the civility you call us to have in loving others, so we can be more like you. Lord, please tear down the walls of hostility and fear but isntead help us to share with others how to work within the existing law to have civil discourse, and give us the freedom to be able to share Christ's love with others and may be receive gldly. Please, oh Lord, forgive us for our sins. For today, Lord, we turn from our sins as a nation, and trust you to forgive us and save us and heal our land. In Jesus' precious name, Amen."

In new year, pray, trust God the Holy Spirit to guide nation

I've often written about how many problems occurred in what many call the "good old days."

As we pray for God to work mightily in our own hearts, lives, families, communities, and ultimately nation, it's great to recall the War Room movie which has done so well. It shows very effectively that we wrestle not against flesh and blood.(Eph.6:12) We are fighting God's enemy, the devil - as noted, the devil was a created being with "untested created holiness" who chose to rebel against God.(Isa.14:12-15,Ezek.28, etc.) The devil's end will be hell and the lake of fire. He wants to take as many with him as he can.

Most readers here are laypeople, but that isn't a problem. Laypeople can and should be determined to go to God to pray for revival; in fact, God deserves all the glory, anyway, since He alone is worthy - we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. So, just as in 1857 a concerned layperson began a prayer meeting that led to a great revival, you can, too.

 The Holy Spirit's Work

It's our job to be Christlike and lovingly guide people to trust Christ as Saviour so they can go to Heaven instead. We have the Holy Spirit's help - how God lives in each believer. In "War Room," for instance, the father's heart is moved because he apparently has trusted Christ as his Saviour already, and so he has the Holy Spirit in him and is convicted of some sins he is doing or about to.(Hope that doesn't spoil anything. :-))

However, Jesus promises(John 16:7-12) that the Holy Spirit is also here to convict unbelievers of their need for repentance, of the need to do what's right - and how we all fall short of God's perfection - and of judgment on those who don't trust Jesus to forgive them. The Holy Spirit is free to do that because at the moment of Christ's death on the cross, atonement was made for all mankind's sin, and the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.(Matt.27:51) The Holy Spirit was free to roam around the world and indwell believers and work in nonbelievers.

So, when we seek God's face for revival, after repenting of our own sins - those over the last 350, not just the last 50 - we can do two types of things. For each believer, pray that they follow Godly principles,stay faithful,put others first, especially family, etc.. And, for each nonbeliever, pray that God convicts them and that they come to know Jesus as Saviour and let Him change them on the inside, but in the meantime, also pray that they do what is right, not be corrupt, accept responsibility for actions, and so on.

it's not our job to convict of sin or to force others to do what's right, but it is our job to pray and seek God Almighty to intercede on our behalf. And, to know the Bible so we can know what those Godly principles are, of course, such as how to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit(Gal.5:22-23) and thus pray for others to, also. Because, Jesus says we'll be known by our fruit.

That fact, by the way, is why it's easy to trust God's Word to show what it means to be Christlike - loving, caring, gentle, meek, etc. - and when people aren't acting like Him.

Two problems - Counterfeit Christians and Heads Versus Hearts

The post before illustrates how to do things nationally by using the example of revival efforts in Los Angeles ,and ways the Holy Spirit can work and ways the devil counterfeits it. Now, let's examine something else the devil counterfeited - actual Christians. Mankind's meddling improved some things, and changed others on the outside for a while, but it has not gotten to peoples' hearts, and that is why there is still so much more evil and why what was there has gotten much worse.

Originally, there were many things we did right in being Godly examples. We respected others, were thoughtful, courteous, compassionate, and so on. However, we were like that poem about a little girl, often thought to be a nursery rhyme. We were either very good or horrid, and there was little in between. We were often only good when it suited us. However, God's Word instructs us to see everyone as equal and to look on the heart. God says to ignore mankind's system, because the world's system - the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life - ignores God; it will pass away someday and mean nothing.(1 John 2:15-17)

We have improved in some ways, as noted. Our laws prohibit the terrible brutality, injustice, and segregation of the past. In other words, the counterfeits of the past don't have legal authority to act in the way they did. However, these things merely impacted head knowledge. Oh, it has helped a lot, there are far fewer people, because of education and being able to live and work together, who think the way people did a century ago. However, while hearts were impacted in that way, we have not improved the heart in the most important way - too many people think mankind can dream up any system it wants and ignore God.

This ignoring of God's laws is what has caused so many problems. While injustice and oppression aren't supposed to happen, laws haven't prevented cases like Tamir Rice's. Without as many people praying and seeking His Holy Spirit to move in peoples' hearts, people more and more act unjustly, and the love of many waxes cold, people are without natural affection, and other signs that Jesus is returning soon.

Another example is in how society was never this vulgar decades ago, because we all felt a responsibility to others. however, because we have ignored God, we now have a nation of people who hound the good ones with their awful vulgarity and tear others down consistently instead of building them up.

There are many other examples, but the key is to seek God's face to end the horrid stuff and heal our land. Then, the meanness, hatred, and so on will diminish not because people have to, but because people want to; because they want to serve the loving, living God who graciously saved them from their sin. And, the spirit of Godliness will be caught by those who don't believe.

What the Spirit's Movement Would Look Like

For the Holy Spirit to work, there must be a conscious effort to let Him  work in us first. We should be "filled with the Spirit"(Eph.5:17) - that verb implies a continual action, which can only happen if one is relying so much on the Spirit as to be controlled by Him.(Yes, the Holy Spirit has qualities of a person just like the other parts of the Godhead.) We can't do that in our fleshly natures, but we can continue to strive for it. And, when enough people seek the Lord in prayer, great things can happen.

As to what it would look like, both War Room and the 1857 Prayer Revival link show great examples. Not only do people trust Christ as Saviour in a revival, but people get right with the Lord. Businesses stop being crooked, people stop harming others, and so on. These are spiritual blessings, after all - God can't suddenly give everyone a million bucks because God's nature is to focus on the eternal, although he will reward those who He knows will use that in a way that will help others or help them grow closer to Him.

The increase in honesty, respect for others, and so on will in turn, end oppression because those doing the oppressing will be following Jesus instead. Yes, there will still be sinners around, but thepower of the Holy Spirit will move people to do right.

So, why doenst it now? Isn't God just as powerful? Yes, of course He is; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. However, He is a gentleman and won't go where He's not wanted.

God wants you to want Him to move in this country.

As to how to pray, we've discussed numerous key points in this blog. As the new year starts, just reemember that each believer has a personal relationship with God. When we pray with a repentant heart, we're showing that we understand God doesn't have to honor our prayer requests, but He chooses to when we are right with Him becasue of His love and peace.

So, for  saved person, it would mean unselfishness, concern for others, putting God first on the throne of your heart, etc.

For those who have not placed their trust in Jesus yet, please still pray. As you seek God with all your heart, you will find He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.(Heb.11:6) You will find He gives you total peace and comfort when you trust Him - He gives peace that passes understanding, in fact.(Phil. 4:6-7) he gives perfect, Godly wisdom to anyone who asks.(James 1:5) There are many other promises in the Bible of His goodness to you. No matter who you are, you have been fearfully and wonderfully made by Him(Ps.119:14) - I have numerous handicaps myself but He has still used me for quite a few great things. He will relieve your burdens - His yoke is easy and His burden is light.(Matt.11:28-30) It is simply a burden of following Him and sharing the Good News of His salvation, and he will give you the strength to overcome - He will be your strength, in fact. he will cotinually strengthen you.(2 Tim.2:1)

I've missed quite a few promises and even of those I did, I may have missed some cites, but if you want a really good, encouraging short video on who He is, this is an excellent one. The important thing is that one must simply call on Jesus by faith to save them from their sins, trusting that he is God in flesh and died to take the punishment for their sins and rose from te dead in order to be saved.

We won't just spend our time praising God when there's a revival, though. As noted in the 1857 one, many people repented of their wicked ways, people started to behave justly, families would be restored and many other great things happen in a repentance revival, too, with people treating others as they should, with love and respect.

There will be evil until the Lord returns, of course. However, seeking Him can allow us to truly see thigns change as the Holy Spirit moves. Right now, it is as if God is saying, "This is a big job, a problem that only i can solve, do you want Me to work or do you want to keep trying it yourself?"

We keep trying it ourselves, and it doesn't work. Let's do like that man in 1857, let's get together in the new year and start praying fervently with others. It's a much bigger nation, meaning more problems and mroe of a need to see the Lord work. However, we serve the same God who spoke the world into existence, and He do wonders here, too.

Why prayers don't work without repentance

In the wake of the horrible San Bernandino attack, one hashtag which trended for a bit was that prayers don't work. This post will explain why some prayers don't work.

It all has to do with repentance, and it's pretty simple.

We Have A Friend in God

God is personal, He desires a personal relationship with each of us. First John 1:9 says "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God is always willing to forgive us, He just wants us to come to him and accept we need forgiveness for our sins. That word cleanse helps to explain why repentance is needed by our nation, and why if we harbor sin in our hearts God won't hear our prayers - because truly turning from our sins lets Him cleanse our hearts.

Let's use a personal example. Most of us have had arguments with friends but remain friends. Let's say  one friend asks a favor of another, say helping them to move. The one says okay but then brushes it off and does something they think is more important but put in reality could have been easily put off, and doesn't seem to care they broke a promise.

Now, they remain friends but there would be something between them. The one promises to do something and doesn't care that they really inconvenience the other. If they had wanted to do something different, it would have been easier to just say no I can't do it, although the words I can't bring into question whether its true. For instance, if we're talking something like babysitting and the child is old enough, the kid could come along and entertain the moving person's baby or help to sort small things. But, "Sorry I can't this weekend" usually is just accepted among friends.

Anyway, so if the one that had to move is asked by the other friend to help them, that friend who moved is likely to say, hey, "ait a minute dude, I had to move and you promised to help and then didn't and didn't say why or anything". Ignoring the different layers of things (the reason, difficulty of move, etc.), in general the other should just have to apologize and - being friends - it would be forgiven and things would be back to normal.

The Part Repentance Plays in Prayer

It's the same way with God and our prayers. The first prayer He'll hear and answer "yes" to the person praying it is the sinner's prayer of repentance, which establishes that relationship. The person realizes they're a sinner in need of a Saviour. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."(Rom.10:13) That is, calling on Him to save them from their sins and come into their heart and make them new inside, as clearly shown from the context of the previous verses.(This is why not all who cry "Lord, Lord" are saved, they say it with their mouths but don't trust Him to save them with their hearts.)

You may ask, "What about that prayer I prayed that He answered before I knew Jesus?" There could have been someone else praying, or he did it(saved you from ana ccident, helped you do something, etc.) because he knew it would bring you to Him. John 16:7-12 shows the Holy Spirit is at work even among thsoe who don't know Jesus, after all. There are also Muslims who have had dreams where Jesus appears, often after they pray asking God to reveal Himself to them. This is proved by Hebrews 11:6, that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.It usually won't happen where the Word of God is readily available, but yours truly, when global Media Outreach, had a chat experiment, had a person from a Muslim country say he'd just awakened from a dream and needed to receive Christ. Likely, that person had been to a site like Jesus2020.com and had been pondering it.

Anyway, so when someone has trusted Christ as Saviour and invited Him into their heart through the Holy Spirit, they have a relationship with God. Jesus call His disciples "Friends," just like God called Abraham "Friend." And, let's say - like that example with the friends above - that person harbors sin in their heart. Maybe it's hatred of some group, or trying to push God away, or lusting after someone while trying to pray.

All of a sudden, God's like that guy who was moving and his friend wouldn't help him. When he or she goes to ask god for something in prayer, It's like God saying, "Dude, you've got something in your heart/life that's come between us. We can't be close again till you get rid of that." We're still saved, but that relationship is strained, just that like guy who wouldn't help his friend move after promising to, then asks a favor of the friend who moved.

Of course, we're all sinners in need of a Saviour, and we will be till we die because of that old, sinful flesh/Adamic nature. We don't have to confess every sin each time we pray - if we did, those quick emergency prayers for wisdom or the words to say to someone or whatever else wouldn't be possible. God *wants* to hear and answer those prayers, just like any others. He knows each situation, and understands sometimes there are times you have to just shoot up a prayer.

Say, for instance, someone told you they just found they have cancer and you pray for the right thing to say. You don't have time to ask God to forgive you for snapping at someone foolishly and not apologizing to them. (Of course, if you let that anger fester, it can turn into sin in another way - you won't be trying to think of how to offer words of encouragement because you're too busy fuming about the other problem.) However, if you're kneeling in prayer over a bunch of things, and plan to pray for several minutes, that's when you need to let the Spirit remind you to repent of that foolish fury and, if needed, apologize to the person you offended.

Application To San Bernandino, etc.

So, that brings us back to San Bernandino and prayers in general for our country.

Remember that prayer involves a lot of spiritual warfare.I've posted about the whole armor of God as just one of a number of messages on that warfare.The devil doesn't wnt people to get saved - instead he wants people to be as violent and mean as they can and to take as many people with him. So, what's his strategy going to be with the saved world, those who can't be taken from jesus because He is able to keep us from falling(Jude 24) and nobody can pluck us out of His hand(John 10:28-30) and nothing can seperate us from the love of God(Rom.8:36-39)?

The devil's strategy, since he can't have our souls, is to block our prayers. Because prayer changes thigns, but if he blocks our prayers, he can have his way a lot more.

And, that's just what he's done. To prevent evil like San Bernandino, it takes lots of prayer warriors calling for these thigns to be exposed and calling on the Lord to protect us and to revive our nation. But, our country has a problem - we have turned so far away from God that national repentance is necessary. Only then will God heal the land - and, even if 2 Chronicles 7:14 is only about Israel, Jeremiah 18:5-10 contains pretty much the same promise to Gentile nations.

Mucch has been written in this blog before about praying not just for forgiveness for the last 40 years, but for the last 400. Indeed, we also must pray for God to change our hearts - we need to turn from our wicked ways, not just say "I'm sorry" but just keep doing them.

Thankfully, He understands how hard it is. He knows we are just flesh, and that we need His heelp to cleanse this nation. He is still longsuffering toward us, and just waiting for us to turn our hearts toward Him; then, he can be the one to point us int he right direction.

the next post - as long as nothing else intervenes - will discuss one place they are trying to have revival, and also a warning of how we need to pray the devil not counterfeit it. For now, however, just remember that God wants to heal our land. he is always waiting with open arms, just like the father of the Prodigal Son.

The question is, are we willing to answer the call. Not so we can just change overnight, but so the Lord can change hearts once we trust Him to forgive and save us. Only then will He pour out His Holy Spirit and convict people of sin and bring more people to Him and give them that perfect peace, love, comfort, wisdom, etc. he offers to all who trust Him.

it doesn't have to be millions at once praying. But, it does take consistent prayer, with people praying like peter and John in Acts 4-5 that the Lord would intervene and move in the nation despite what leaders want, because we ought to obey God rather than men. And, when you look at the fruits of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23) you see that against such there is no law.

So, let us go tot he Lord in prayer and seek His protection regardless of what leaders want. They have tried to remove Jesus from public discourse. Let us pray and call on the Lord to return, not jsut by saying Merry Christmas, but by actively seeking the Lord and turning from our sins ourselves, being the kind, peaceful, tenderhearted, temperate(self-controlled), meek(power under control), wise, joyful, etc. people he calls us to be. Not by our own strength, but by Him working in us.

Only then can we - in the Lord's strength - bring about change and end the oppression in this country.