Regardless of the party for which you vote … regardless of the “side” that you fall on when it comes to the pertinent issues at hand in our country today … if you consider yourself a Christ-follower, this is a collective call to repentance to you, to us, for the heart of America.
It’s easy to believe that repentance is not necessary when you’ve been on what you believe is the correct side of things. Don’t we all? Isn’t that the exact state of America? Everyone on their own “right” side? Nineveh probably felt that way as well.
But repentance is the mark of a mature Christian. It’s realizing who you are in comparison to our perfect, Holy Savior, Jesus Christ. And the closer we get to Him, (consecrated on this journey into the image of Christ) the more we should be actively and continually on our knees in repentance as the revelation continues to unveil of how we have ALL fallen short.
By grace alone have we been saved.
Why repentance for America? Because we have all collectively stood by while God’s children are continuously murdered in the womb.
We have allowed our living children to be subjected to the push of hardcore, Godless indoctrination, trafficking, exploitation, the not-so-gradual numbing of their senses and the destruction of their health.
We haven’t looked out for the widows, nor the orphans. This is not the government’s charge – it is OURS.
We have watched all the lines get blurred, and right become wrong in front of our eyes.
We have bowed our heads and our wallets to idols of godless institutions, education, and propaganda for our own ease and entertainment.
We have sought quick, mindless, and comfortable.
We have abandoned small business for big boxes.
We abhor that which takes time, ships in more than two days, or doesn’t provide the instant gratification we need to sustain our overfilled lives.
We have allowed the enemy to divide our households, our churches, our communities.
We have NOT been our brothers’ keeper.
We have cowered as the enemy roars for all he desires to steal, kill, and destroy because we’ve been afraid of looking “unChristian-like” and roar louder.
We have made idols out of godless pop stars and Christian celebrities alike.
We’ve spit on the dedication, service, and sacrifice of those who went before us to attempt to secure the freedom originally granted by God.
We have allowed the only living God, our Lord Jesus Christ, to be removed from decision making, teaching, public forum, and in some cases, even churches all in the efforts of not appearing “political” – as though the God we serve isn’t God over all areas of our lives.
Galatians 5:1 tells us that it is “for freedom that Christ set us free” and we have regularly and willingly given over our freedoms in exchange for the acceptance of “man” who has become like a god over the One True God. We are absolutely DOOMED. Not all passive, but not one righteous.
Still not convinced, Christian? James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10).
IF even a word of this has sparked something in you, IT IS FOR THIS REASON YOU ARE CALLED.
We are believing if we come together as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, that TODAY will be the spark of repentance and Lord-willing, revival in America.
2 Chronicles 7:14-15 says:
... If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
This is a holy PUSH and PLEA for Him to do as He says and open His eyes and have attentive ears to the prayers offered in this place. This is an effort to lift this broken land to the only One who can heal it.
There is POWER in collective prayer and repentance. There is POWER IN REVIVAL.
LORD, Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. And in America.
Friends, in Chapter 1 of Nehemiah, we read:
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”
Nehemiah's Prayer
As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”
Nehemiah’s first response was prayer, intercession, repentance for the collective whole of the people.
As Christians we are His people. As Americans we are a people.
Our constitution says We THE PEOPLE.
We DON'T repent because we are trying to "sway" an election in the spiritual realm. We repent because we ARE CALLED TO DO SO AS CHRISTIANS, and we pray for the Lord's will to be done.
We absolutely deserve NOTHING this election. Look at our options. We have one candidate who outright rejects the Lordship of Jesus Christ and pushes an appallingly anti-God agenda, and another who pridefully drifts toward evil at the cost of winning votes and making business deals. THERE is NONE righteous. And they're our options because we have all accepted that you can only pay to play and no one else is courageous and God-fearing enough to go against the machine that has become our political system that wasn't designed to be a financial war. WE DESERVE A GODLESS KING because we have abandoned GOD AS KING. We do NOT deserve God's mercy. We do not deserve prosperity, peace, the protection of our "rights" or our families. WE DO NOT DESERVE THIS. We deserve hell. If WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT REPENT, there may be no more of this people to repent.
Let’s look at Nineveh.
What we know of Nineveh is found in the book of Jonah. Most people are familiar with the story of Jonah and the whale. However, there are many people that refute this story claiming it to be allegory, but we take it to be literal because our Lord Jesus references it as an actual historical event as recorded in both books of Matthew and Luke.
The book of Jonah is the 2nd shortest book in the Old Testament, and arguably one of the most critical as it directly and clearly foreshadows the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ. And it’s the reference Jesus gives to point to it Himself.
Having done some research I can tell you that the story is not nearly as far-fetched as some may think as there have been actually historical accounts of sailors swallowed up by giant fish, and lived to tell the tale, even days later. But I only mention that to further validate the story where this important city is mentioned – the city of Nineveh.
Nineveh was founded by Nimrod – the great grandson of Noah. He was known to be a mighty warrior among men. The capital of Assyria (the world power of the day), it became one of the greatest and wealthiest cities in the world, close to waterways on both sides. It also grew in extreme wickedness. Assyria became a great enemy to Israel by the way. All the more reason Jonah wasn’t motivated to go help save them.
But as we know, God gave Jonah the directive to go on multiple occasions. Eventually, after quite the detour, Jonah goes and preaches a one-line sermon to the entire city. It’s not a lovely Gospel message either. His one-liner is, “Forty-days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” That’s it. No directive to honor the Lord, no encouragement to repent. No mercy. A one-line warning.
Do we have any of those sirens going off in America right now?
And what happened?
The common people responded first. A little group of commoners. Eventually it got to the king and he fell into immediate agreement commanding that all the people and even the animals join in the repentance.
Listen to the account at the end of Chapter 3 of Jonah:
The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Theologian Henrietta Mears compares this miracle to the city of the size of Chicago repenting and turning to God in a single day because of the preaching of a prophet.
By the way, after the repentance comes revival. Repentance always precedes revival.
As if this all isn’t remarkable, Jesus cites this later to let us know that these men – the men of Nineveh will rise up and judge this generation because they repented so easily and quickly at the preaching of Jonah – a prophet who – truth be told – didn’t even care about them.
But Jesus says, “Behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Friends, He’s TALKING TO US.
We have the recorded words of Jesus. Not just Jonah.
We have the provable accounts of His life, not just a rebellious prophet and a whale.
We have His spirit living within us to show and teach us truth.
WHAT EXCUSE DO WE HAVE?
Something GREATER is HERE. HE who is IN US is GREATER.
Ladies, and gentlemen, have we honestly grown so stubborn that repentance is the last thought? Have we gotten so full of ourselves that we can no longer empty ourselves in front of our Lord? Where have our hearts gone? How we have FAILED to teach this. How we have FAILED to show the next generation.
We should all be sitting with our families in sackcloth and ash for many things but today especially for the state of our nation. Are we above this?
Are we above the UNBELIEVING COMMONERS of Nineveh?
I know this sounds like fire and brimstone but if that’s what it takes for us to all realize the rebellion is right here in our own hearts, then so be it.
Yes, for those of us who have professed Jesus as Lord and believe with our whole hearts, we will be saved out of this world eventually, but friends, have we forgotten that we will still give an account for every word, thought, and deed? Including the ones undone. God have mercy on us.
A question for us all: If the Church isn’t willing to repent, is there any hope for this world?
Friends, we’ve failed the mission in many ways. But our hope can be found in Jesus Christ alone. I pray today that we are all willing to stop subscribing to the “right side” of things mentality and blaming the condition of this world on the other side. We are all like sheep that have gone astray. Some of us have tried to hold back evil, for sure. But collectively, we have not stood in unity and solidarity as Christ would like to His Church push back the cloud of evil that has settled on this land. We cannot and could never do it one person at a time. We LET them divide us. We LET THEM exhaust us. We LET THEM defeat us individually so that there be no COLLECTIVE.
SO TODAY, LET THE COLLECTIVE RETURN. WE CAN START IT HERE.
Just us little commoners.
We can be the spark to light the nation aflame again.
One nation
Under God
Indivisible
With liberty and justice FOR ALL.
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