A Time to Cry Out
Wow, what a unique season we are in! Our nation is being attacked on every side — spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. As a country and as a people, our country will only be destroyed if that destruction comes from within, a belief that Abraham Lincoln expressed so eloquently so many years ago!
In all of my 80+ years of living on planet earth, I have never encountered anything like what we are facing as a nation. Crisis after crisis. Chaos at every turn. Seemingly, our country’s very existence at stake. But I am also reminded of the words of the great old hymn, “Rise up, O men of God, have done with lesser things….” Friends, we must rise up — in prayer, in spiritual warfare and in intercession!
It is time for us as the Church to lay hold of what is ours! God birthed this nation; man did not. As we look at our history, we see the hand of the Lord in every era. So let’s cry out to Him with the text of The Battle Hymn of the Republic: ”Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…” in our lives, in our families, in our communities and in this nation!
There is power in the name of Jesus. There is healing in the name of Jesus. There is strength in the name of Jesus. To say that “there is something about that name” is truly an understatement!
I would encourage you — as I am also encouraging myself every day — to do the following:
• Cry out across your mountains of difficulty in the name of Jesus
• Cry out along your road of worry and fear in the name of Jesus
• Cry out through your valley of uncertainty in the name of Jesus
We do not travel alone through these journeys but are part of a host of united sojourners, pleading for the rain of revival to sweep our land! Don’t look around in dismay, but instead look UP in faith, as the Lord of heaven and earth Himself is here; just as He was for the early Church; just as He was during the First and Second Great Awakenings…but now here in this very hour, standing in His mighty power as He looks across this needy nation and world, urging us to humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our wickedness so that He might defeat the power of the enemy, loose His mighty acts among us and heal the land! But what He wants to bring tomorrow is rooted in our actions today. There is always a time of death and testing before there is resurrection. There is a time of seeing Jesus in every situation…then comes the testimony of the great things He has done!
The answers to all of our questions are found in these principles:
• Our confidence in His unconditional love
• Our expectation of His imperishable hope
• Our obedience to simply do the next thing He asks us to do
• Our trust and knowledge that what He has said, He will do
• Our understanding that our lives are not “salvage” to be saved
out of the world, but rather investments to be used in the world
The meaning of a trial is not only to test worthiness, but to increase it; as the oak is not only tested by the storms, but toughened by them. Heaven is always above us…so let’s always look toward it. God will always use obstacles to serve His purpose in our lives! As another old song of faith goes,
Be strong!
It matters not how deep-entrenched the wrong,
How hard the battle goes, the day, how long;
Faint not, fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.
Be strong, be strong, be strong!
God takes us where we need to be, not always where we would like to be! So dear ones, during every circumstance and every situation, be flexible in letting God lead you where He needs you. Realize that there is a divine purpose He is working to actively accomplish in you and through you.
Wherever God leads you, stay there; and occupy that place because you know that He owns it all. We are exactly where we are supposed to be in every season of life!
Love permits pain. Where is faith without trial to test it? Or patience with nothing to bear? Or experience without tribulation to develop it? Remember, delay is not denial. It’s all about His perfect timing! (John 11:6)
When we lay aside our faith and our hope, we lose our peace. But when we come to Him in surrender, weakness and brokenness, He is able to bring to us that perfect peace that goes beyond our own understanding and that guards our hearts and minds against the most fearsome foe. And He will also pour into us the new wine of His Spirit and equip us with all the power we need to do His will.
My friends, be blessed, encouraged and strengthened, and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY FOR OUR NATION to continue to be that light and beacon that America has always been in the world!
Blessings to you all!