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II Chronicles 7:14
Prayer Changes Things
"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." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Much has been said about the importance of "getting involved" in the politics of our country, but I believe that this verse makes it clear that the real hope for America is the prayers of God's people. Since the government has reversed the meaning of "separation of church and state" and used it to their advantage, Christians have been up in arms about losing their "rights" and freedoms. We need not join in protests; we do not need to write our senators or criticize our president, we need to pray for them, earnestly and sincerely pray. Who is going to pray in Truth but God's own people? Yes, the fate of our country lies in our hands, but not in our activity in marches and in protests, but on our knees in the activity of prayer. To some, this seems to be a cop-out, but in that way of thinking, we desecrate the precious power of prayer. Why do we take these things on ourselves instead of leaving them at the foot of the throne of God? Only because we do not believe that prayer is enough to do the job. Or perhaps we don't believe God will do it without our involvement. Wake up America! We would not have this attitude in other areas, why do we have it in the area of "patriotism"? To "heal our land" of all its faults, we must seek the lord diligently and earnestly in prayer.
I have heard many convincing and persuasive arguments for getting involved in politics. Some have scolded us for allowing atheists to wretch prayer from public schools while we "sit idly by and do nothing". They say we are not losing our freedoms, but giving them away by our lack of involvement; we have all heard these messages, and they have some merit, but the real duty of every American is to pray, to get God's attention, after all, only He can change our country and "heal our land". How often must out Lord command us to pray before we will get the hint? The Bible is full of admonitions to pray. The "speaking out" publicly may have its place, but there ought to be a "secret time" of prayer that far out weighs the power of the pen or the voice of the minority. Whether you are a "Moral Majority" or a "right wing" minority makes no difference when you pray.
If you believe in government intercession or intervention, I condemn you not, but I admonish you to be careful, it can easily overwhelm you and change your focus from prayer to personal and physical involvement; it can change your focus from Christ to the "system" and take your time away from prayer and fastings. The "powers that be" are still ordained by God, so let's get Him to working in them, and not ourselves! In this way, we are actually doing more for our country than all the armies of people who lobby and protest and petition the government because "prayer changes things". If we really believe that, let us put our hope in the Lord through prayer, and not in our committees and factions.
--Marty Dunn
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