Robert & Kay Camenisch encouraging and equipping relationships

Pray for Our Nation

Our nation is in distress, and we have brought it on ourselves as we have turned from God. We are on the brink of destruction from within. As we celebrate our liberty, let’s pray for God’s mercy and His intervention.

If God’s people will turn from their wicked ways and humble themselves and pray, He will hear from heaven and heal their land.

Daniel’s prayer for Israel in Daniel 9 is a good model for how to pray in these troubling times. Below is the essence of that prayer, with some adjustments to make it applicable for the USA rather than for Israel.

O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.

Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our leaders, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame, as it is this day—to all the people of America, those near and those far off, because of the unfaithfulness which we have committed against You.

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us through His Word and by His servants the prophets. Yes, all America has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

And He has confirmed His words, by bringing upon us a great disaster. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth.

Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who established this nation with a mighty hand, and blessed it and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from this land; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, and Your people are a reproach to all those around us.

Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servants, and our supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on this nation, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

May His kingdom come and His will be done so that He will be glorified in our land.

Celebrate the Blessings!

As we celebrate July 4th, we have much to be thankful for in America. We enjoy freedom of thought, spImage result for image of fireworkseech, worship, and of opportunity.

People flock to America seeking the liberty to follow their dreams. They overcome deprivation and hardship in order to begin a new life. Many of those who came to America with nothing have become great success stories.

In church Sunday, a petite little lady with an accent voiced her gratefulness that this 4th of July marks 40 years since she became a citizen of the US. She radiated with gratefulness for her life as an American. She is celebrating.

I’m grateful to be an American, grateful to be a part of the land of liberty and opportunity.

And yet, as I rejoice and celebrate I’m aware that our freedoms are under attack in a way they haven’t been before. Looking for reasons, fingers of blame could be—and are—pointed in the political, cultural and moral realms to explain the slippery slope we are on.

But today, it’s time to focus on our blessings. Time to celebrate being part of a blessed nation.

It’s also time to realize that at the heart of the problem is the heart of the nation. Throughout the Old Testament, it is clear that when God’s children followed God and kept His commandments, they were blessed. If we want our country to remain a bastian of freedom and opportunity, we need to remain a nation that proclaims and lives the motto “In God we trust.”

We can see from history that when God’s people turned their backs on Him, they were not blessed. When they denied God, not only were they not blessed, but they suffered terrible consequences, from plagues, draughts, wars, capture, and more.

America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and has been blessed. We’ve become accustomed to a blessed life, but we can’t count on the blessings continuing if we persist in turning our backs on God.

It’s time to celebrate the founding of our great nation, but it’s also time to take a stand for righteousness and honor the God that made us great.

The job of turning a nation is too big for politicians, evangelists, or of magicians. We need a miracle, but if we want peace and unity, we need one of a supernatural nature, one that only God can do.

We need to heed Paul’s counsel to Timothy, “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 Tim. 2:1-3).

We’re encouraged to pray for all men, not just those we agree with, and especially for those who are in authority. Why? So we can enjoy a quiet and peaceable life, in godliness and reverence. I’ll refrain from saying more because I believe all are in agreement that today our nation lacks quiet and all that makes peace.

Paul exhorts us to pray for a reason. As we pray, God moves on our behalf. In fact, In 2 Chronicles, God promised that He will act on our behalf when we pray.

When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called bImage result for image of praying handsy My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chr. 7:13-14).

We are truly blessed. Celebrate our blessings. Celebrate our nation.  Celebrate with the realization of the source of those blessings and pray for all men, for our leaders, that we will humble ourselves and return to the Lord, and that our blessings may continue.

Happy 4th of July!