People of God, now is the time to answer your calling!
God has made you mighty in prayer, and in these times of national and international crisis, your voice can make all the difference in the heavens.
I feel it is important at this juncture to take a step back and really look at what is happening in the United States. With class warfare being insinuated between unions and non-unions, labor and management, politicians and the common man, even one race against another, we must remember that whenever class warfare goes unabated in a society, there is a risk of that society sliding into chaos. It has happened before many times throughout history, some of them quite recently. The country of Lebanon was once hailed as the “Switzerland of the Middle-East” due to its financial stability and diversity. Lately, of course, this is no longer the case. Lebanon is just one example of a country where class warfare has recently taken a heavy toll. Others include Egypt and Greece, two nations which helped develop civilization as we know it. I saw it previously in Argentina, and I can tell you it is something to be avoided.
It is not my intention to be an alarmist or a fear monger, rather to call the men and women of God to loving, patient action. If we want to stop the United States from descending into chaos as well, it is time to take a different approach to our disagreements. Treating one another with anger instead of love is what can bring a nation to its knees. There is an alternate way to confront our differences, and that strategy can be found in the words of Paul and the leadership of Jesus.
When confronted with institutionalized evil, the natural response is to become angry. But as Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4:26-27:
“‘In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (NIV).
We tend to think of this admonition as applying to personal conflict, rather than social problems. Nonetheless, anger is anger whether its source be private, personal or political and allowing anger to fester can lead only to a damaged spiritual climate.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul describes how we are to behave.
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (NIV)
We would all like to live peaceful and quiet lives, and it is comforting to think that all we must do to accomplish this is to pray for those in authority. But what we must not miss about this is the prerequisite also described by Paul a few verses later.
Therefore I want men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing. (NIV)
We must lift up holy hands – hands without wrath or dissention. When we do this while praying for those in authority – even our political enemies – what we are doing is prayer evangelism.
In Luke chapter 9, Jesus confronts his disciples’ inability to care for others. When they cannot cast a demon out of a young boy, he calls them a “perverse and unbelieving generation.” This was not simply because they did not have enough faith to accomplish their task, but because they had too little compassion for those around them, so much so that later in the same chapter, Jesus must rebuke them again for offering to call fire down upon the Samaritans.
In the beginning of Luke chapter 10, however, Jesus instructs his disciples in how to pray for others and promote peace as they go out into the world, and from this chapter onward, he never again has to cast out a demon. If it worked for Jesus and his disciples, it will certainly work in the United States as well!
The bottom line is this: we are poised for chaos unless Christians do what we are called to do: change the spiritual climate of our nation by raising a canopy of prayer over America. We have the power to make this happen! It can and has worked before. Newark, New Jersey, once the murder capitol of the United States, has shown a drastic drop in crime since transformation-minded believers began covering it with prayer just a few short years ago. After just a few months of having every street in Newark systematically and specifically prayed for, crime was down by 80%, and in March 2010, Newark went an entire month without a single murder for the first time in 44 years.
Can you picture the results of every street in America being adopted in prayer? Let us take this out of the hypothetical and into the real. In preparation for the 2012 presidential election, let us get every street, home, business and government building in this country adopted in prayer. I would also like to propose another radical idea: Forty days before the election, let those who are praying practice an Isaiah 58 fast. If we share our food with the hungry, clothe the naked and comfort the widow, we as Christians will become the best neighbors anybody ever had, because we will be feeding Jesus’ sheep.
When a nation of believers practicing prayer evangelism becomes the norm , then we will see peace and tranquility in our lives, and in our nation.
