A Remnant On Our Knees

Bible Text 2 Chronicles 6:21 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

A praying remnant can change everything. A remnant of believers has the ear of God, it’s just that simple. And I believe one of the reasons in these desperate days why God has restrained a hand of judgment upon our land is because of a remnant of pray-ers.

We need to understand how serious the times are. We need to understand that this is a serious and difficult day. We need to understand that the church has often fallen asleep, and we need to pray that God would turn the hearts of His people back to Him. Unless the hearts of His people return to Him the nation will never turn back to Him. The nation will not turn because we say, “You’re doing bad and terrible things.” The nation turns when the hearts of God’s people turn to Him in repentance and say, “Lord, have mercy on us.” A heart that is humble before God, is a heart that God can use to change and motivate the hearts of others. 

Take Him seriously and understand the critical nature of this hour. Come before the Lord in constant prayer recognizing that politics will not change the future, but prayer turns the nation around. Prayer is heard by God who does incredible things. If the prayer of Elijah could turn Israel back from drought to fruitfulness, then the prayer of a remnant can change our land as well. Rather than spending our time moaning and groaning about what is happening, and what is going on with our morality, and what is taking place in our culture, I believe God is calling us to be on our knees before Him, and to understand when the enemy says, “Oh, one person can’t do anything about this,” that that one person with God is a majority! One person with the living God is one who is equipped with power to change the future!

I believe the Lord is calling us to take Him seriously and take prayer seriously. Because you can vote, you can express your opinions, you can display your flag, but in the end the prayers of God’s people alone can turn the land around, beginning with the church.

Prayer: Join with us as we get down on our knees today to pray for America.

By Pastor Christopher Dodge

Excerpted from “Light to My Path” https://youtu.be/8OhCp5DlQ_4

 

Heal Our Land

Bible Text 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) “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.”

Our land, our country, the U.S.A. needs healing, do you agree?  There is a brokenness that goes beyond the political, the economic, the social, do you sense it, too?  Will the right candidate, another law, more funding, etc., heal our brokenness?  Throughout history when God’s people recognized their country going down a destructive path, they called on God, their Father, for help.  They recognized their profound need and cried out to God out of desperation.  

God, out of his deep love for US(A), who has called us to be His own, spoke these words of promise.  He said, “If we will humble ourselves before Him, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways…”(stop!).  Can we do that right now?  Wherever you are, would you pause, pull over, stop for a minute, and tell God you are sorry for the things we have done, for turning away from Him and for making decisions and pursuing paths that were and are not good…(pause).  Can we confess our waywardness on behalf of our country?…(pause).  

Prayer:  Lord, we recognize we’ve made a mess of things.  We need your help.  We have turned from You and even pursued evil.  We are sorry.  I am sorry.  Thank You for Your promise that You HEAR US, that You FORGIVE US, and that You desire to HEAL OUR LAND!  We stand on that promise.  Thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who took on Himself the punishment of humanity when He went to the cross.  Thank You for the hope we have in His resurrection.  Heal our marriages, heal our schools, heal our business, heal our government, heal our country, through Jesus!  We believe You can and will, through Jesus!  Amen

By Pastor Kevin Schuessler

Unclean Lips

Bible Text Isaiah 6:5 (NLT) Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”

”I’m sure glad I’m not like THAT guy”…”he’s got real problems”…”I’ve got troubles, but that guy’s a MESS…!”  How “natural” it is for us to compare ourselves to others and come out smelling sweet!  We can always find someone “worse off” and think that by that standard, we are “good” with God.  But the prophet Isaiah had no such illusions.  He saw a vision God showed him.  In it, angelic beings were worshipping the living God with the words, “Holy, holy holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory”.  Isaiah instantly recognizes he’s in the presence of a holy God, and he is undone!  What convicts Isaiah?  His mouth.  He says, “I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”  He recognizes just how serious the problem is, both for himself and his people!  

Are we any different in the U.S.?  Are we even shocked anymore when someone uses “J….C…” God’s most precious name, as a swear word?  Or when we joke about sexual things, describing private, intimate things that belong in couples’ bedrooms?  Has it become perfectly acceptable to tear apart a person’s reputation by gossip, by calling it “being honest”?  When we carelessly get sarcastic or insult a person, are those meaningless words, or have we done real damage?  Do words actually have the power to kill, or give life?

Maybe we also need to confess our personal and national sin of “unclean lips” before our Father in heaven.  As Isaiah came clean before God, look what God did.  One of God’s angelic beings brought a live coal and touched Isaiah’s lips, and declared Isaiah forgiven!  

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, I confess that I have used my lips, my mouth, my words to destroy, to lie, to mock, to blaspheme, to curse.  And I am sorry.  Forgive me, forgive us, through Jesus and the awful price he paid on the cross!  Forgive America’s people, Lord, for the careless, even destructive words out of our mouths.  Touch our lips with a coal and cleanse our words, that they speak only life.  And honor you, Father.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Additional Bible passages:  Ephesians 4:29; Proverbs 12:18, James 3:5b-8

By Pastor Kevin Schuessler

The World is Shaking

Bible Text James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

The world is shaking, today, because we have wandered so far. However, the Lord is calling His children back to Himself. Sin is in this world and we need the only One who can redeem and reclaim us and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming King. 

In Hezekiah’s day, Hezekiah saw that reality, and he took to heart what God was saying. Today, God is calling you and me to do the same, to take to heart what we are seeing and what He is saying and to be people who hear His voice and respond to His truth, and follow where He leads.

The Bible says, “The prayers of a righteous man avail much before the living God.” The scripture says that the Lord listens to the prayers of His people. God is saying to us in these dangerous days, “Turn to me all the ends of the earth and be saved.” God is saying to us at this time, “Look to the one who is the Holy One of Israel, the One who is faithful and just and true, the One who loves His children, the One who desires to deliver them from tragedy, from danger, and from the might of the enemy.”

Prayer: Humbly come before God today and prayer earnestly for America. Be assured, He hears your prayers for the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. 

By Pastor Chris Dodge  

Excerpted from Hezekiah: Intercession. For the rest of the sermon go to https://youtu.be/kz6JS5TwuuI

 

 

A Word from Patrick Henry

Bible Text Philippians 3:9 (NIV)  And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

On May 1765, Patrick Henry (a Founding Father, “Give me liberty or give me death..”) spoke:

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

What do you think Patrick Henry might say about the shift America has made, away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Prayer: Pray for revival for America. Pray for God to turn our hearts back to Him. Pray for Him to point us back to Jesus.

By Pastor Chris Dodge

A Word from John Quincy Adams

Bible Text Psalm 33:12-15 (NIV)  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth— he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.

July 4, 1821, John Quincy Adams (6th President of the United States) declared:

“From the day of the Declaration…they (the American people) were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of The Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct.”

Prayer: Father, You have said, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” May this be so for America. Bring us humbly before You. Cause a revival over this land! Draw us to Yourself and hold America tight in Your strong arms. Protect her and defend her. And may we, may America, proclaim Jesus as her Savior once again.  Amen 

By Pastor Chris Dodge

Songs of Patriotism

Bible Text John 8:36 (NIV)  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Does your patriotism need a boost today? Sing-a-long to this playlist of patriotic music. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOy24adtTeIr1soqirx1-kPL

Does your heart for God need to be encouraged? Sing-a-long to this oldies but goodies list.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOwEIAh1RydF5QK3evRVfJsX

Prayer: Thank the Heavenly Father for the blessing of living in America and for the freedoms we have been given. Thank God for your freedom in Christ Jesus.

 By Pastor Kevin Schuessler

Prayer is Powerful

Bible Text Psalm 107:28-30 (NIV)

²⁸Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He stilled the storm to a whisper;
    the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰ They were glad when it grew calm,
    and he guided them to their desired haven.

The pleas and the prayers of a godly remnant can accomplish incredible things, not because of us but because of God, because of His promises, because of His character, because of what He has decreed and declared with His word.

Prayer: Cry out to the Lord today on behalf of America and her people. Ask the Lord to quiet the storm and the waves.

By Pastor Dodge from “Let Your Light Shine.”  http://www.awakeusnow.com/light-in-the-darkness.html

Live Free

Bible Text John 15:13 (KJV) Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Some 241 years ago the “Stars and Stripes” flag was adopted as our American flag by the Continental Congress. Since then our freedom has been bought by a price by those who sacrificed their lives to defend the freedoms we have today.  But even before that, almost 2000 years ago, Jesus sacrificed His life.  He went to the cross for our freedom, too.  So let’s fly the American Flag, and join in prayer for America.  Let’s give thanks for all our freedoms.  Those freedoms secured by the many who gave their lives for America and the freedom secured by the One, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

Some great ideas:

• Fly your flag
• Pray for America
• Recite the Pledge of Allegiance 
• Sing the National Anthem, “Star Spangled Banner”
• Sing-a-long with Pastor Kevin’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” https:// youtu.be/yTrx92wCWao
• Sing or listen to other great songs like, “My Country ’Tis of Thee”, “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “God Bless America”, “America the Beautiful,” “God Bless the USA,” “God of Our Fathers,” “Home on the Range,” “Stars and Stripes Forever,” “This Land is Your Land,” “Your a Grand Old Flag.” They can all be found on Youtube.
• Dress in red, white and blue
• Watch – LIVE FREE by Pastor Dodge – https://youtu.be/4tTe-PKUuks

Prayer: Pray for the veterans and their families. Thank God for the freedoms we have in America. Ask for His protection of those freedoms. Thank Him for the freedom we have in Jesus Christ.

By Ann Goehner

Hearing the True Voice of God

Bible Text James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The devil loves to keep people happy and comfortable. Because when God’s people are happy and comfortable, they are not listening to the Lord. When God’s people are happy with rebellion, joyous with perversion, when God’s people are comfortable with half-hearted religion, the enemy shouts for joy.

But when God’s people hear the true voice of the Living God, and understand how pure and holy and righteous He is, and yet also how good and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, the only response can be one of daily humbling oneself before God.

We need to understand that true faith begins with a repentant heart, and an understanding of the truth begins with humility before God. In these days when the nations are shaking, and when the powers that be are wondering how do we stop the powers that are? What God is saying is, “Come back to Me, and let Me deal with the most important issues of the heart and soul, so that the heart and soul of the nation may be changed and transformed.” The path we go on as human beings, rebellious against our creator, is a path that leads to destruction, but the path of faith and repentance and trust in the Living God is a path that leads to renewal, and forgiveness, and hope, and life, and joy.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, lead us back to You that the heart and soul of America might be changed and transformed. We are in a rebellious time, Lord, and we need what only You can give. Bring renewal, forgiveness, hope, life and joy to America in Jesus’ name. Amen

By Pastor Chris Dodge

Excerpted from Hezekiah: Intercession
For the rest of the sermon go to https://youtu.be/kz6JS5TwuuI