PRAYING FOR & BLESSING OUR NATION ON THIS 4th OF JULY
Friday, July 3, 2020
The greatest thing we can do for our nation - especially in this time of confusion chaos and fear - is to pray that the gospel of the Kingdom of God grows.
To effect changes in our nation and cities, the three main thrusts of our prayer should be:
• that the rain of the Holy Spirit fall on our nation - especially on the ungodly and the church;
• for the preaching of the gospel of what Jesus accomplished by His Cross and resurrection to be boldly proclaimed and that the word of God be boldly and clearly taught;
• for the laborers to go out throughout our nation with this gospel sowing the seed in the ground prepared by prayer, watered by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 10.2) Then the harvest will be reaped.
However, no nation can be evangelized and transformed by prayer alone. There is no such thing as “prayer evangelism.” Prayer prepares the ground, then the seed of the word is planted by laborers and teachers, and then the Holy Spirit convicts and opens people’s hearts to respond.
Another important way to pray for our cites and nation is to pray for those in authority.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” (1 Timothy 2.1-2)
First we are to thank God for our leaders. Next we pray that they make wise decisions in harmony with godly standards. This does not mean that we pray only for our favorite politicians and parties, but intercede for God to have His way.
When we pray we are inviting God into every situation, instead of allowing Satan to have his way. In Genesis God gave man dominion on the earth, so He chooses to move in our affairs only as we ask Him. Our task therefore is to do so.
In addition we can command oppressing spirits to flee from our situations. When Adam disobeyed God, he opened the way for the devil and evil spirits to invade and control the earth though unsaved people. However, Jesus destroyed Satan’s dominion on the Cross and then gave us authority in His Name over evil spirits operating on the earth. We do not need to fight the Devil for he is already defeated - we need to simply use the authority of Jesus Name to resist him.
Since we are not in the Old Testament dispensation, Jesus tells to forgive our enemies before we pray. Our enemies are no longer people but wicked spirits that dominate and deceive people. We have authority, in Jesus’ Name, to bind the operation of evil spirits over the political scene of a nation – if we use it. We can command them to take their hands off the government, the economy and social scene of a nation. In Jesus’ Name we bind them and command them to CEASE AND DESIST from their actions against our cities and nation.
Satan’s strategies are sometimes to cause riots and disturbances, political upheaval and economic collapse. We see all these strategies working in our nation today. Christians have authority to pray against this. We need to exercise this authority in our prayer.
While we avoid taking political sides, we do pray that men and women who honor God and His standards will be promoted to office, and those who ignore and oppose God’s standards removed. We are called to peacemakers and never to add to strife.
To be a “nation under God” means to be submitted to His moral standards. A nation that is not under God cannot expect to be blessed. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14.34) Only the gospel can bring righteousness to a nation.
We need to remember that we cannot command the spirits of darkness to be removed completely from our nations – they have a right to remain on the earth until the Lord returns - but we can bind (on a temporary basis ) their operations to accuse, disrupt harass or confuse our leaders. Knowing our authority over evil spirits should not make us devil conscious but full of thanksgiving in God’s victory and enforcing His will in prayer and by receiving His mercies and using our authority against the works of the evil one.
Right now we need to take our authority to bind:
• the spirit of atheistic humanism repressing the truth of God and His values,
• the spirts of anarchy and accusation that seek to disrupt the social contract and spirit of brotherhood and national unity,
• the pandemic and associated fear that is disrupting our lives.
Quotes From The Signers Of The Declaration of Independence
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government but upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” - James Madison
"It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.” - George Washington
“America was not founded by religionists, nor any religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.” - Patrick Henry
“We have this day restored the Sovereign. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, may His Kingdom come!” - Samuel Adams
