Today is the National Day of Prayer.
And we absolutely need this. We have to come together under one Banner of Jesus Christ and plead to the Father by the shed Blood of His Son and repent.
With no repentance there’s no healing. With no repentance we shut the ears of a Holy,Righteous, Just God!
Then the Lord has no choice but to take His Hand off of a Nation and allow them to suffer the consequences. We as a Nation are there!
There is power in prayer!
Nineveh was in Assyria. The Assyrians were God’s enemies. The horrible things they did against God’s creation is unimaginable.
The Lord sends Jonah with a message of total destruction of a whole land and a whole people. Jonah refuses to tell them that there’s a way out of God’s hand of judgment, repent! Jonah thought they get what they deserve. All the Lord wants is for us to come under His authority. To turn away from all the wicked things and be brought back under His more than able hand!
We have turned on Him.
The warning of destruction gets to the King of Nineveh.
Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
Jonah 3:6 NKJV
It takes just one person to realize that our whole nation is coming under the judgment of God! That we have sinned against Him. That we have turned from Him. We deserve His Wrath!
What if all of us cried out to the Lord for forgiveness of the things we have done. Things we have allowed to happen. Things that are evil and we turn our eyes away from them. We have allowed the wicked to prevail and it will continue, if we don’t repent! What if we called upon the Mighty name of Jesus Christ to cleanse us. Cleanse our crooked hearts. Renew our twisted minds. We have to come to a point that we have no other option but repent!
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah 3:7-10
That’s the power of prayer and repentance!
We cry for change in our country. We cry because we see evil overcoming good. Everyday the Light is being over taken by the darkness. How much longer?
Let today be the start.
“But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”
Father forgive us! Forgive us for not standing for Your Righteousness. Forgive us for not being good Ambassadors. Forgive us for not standing in the gap and not professing the Kingdom of Heaven as we have been commanded. Forgive us for not being the light or the salt. Forgive us for denying your Son Jesus. Bring sorrow to our hearts for the things we allowed to happen. Give us the strength to stand up for You. Break our hearts for what breaks yours. Let us all return to Your fold! If it be your will, relent and restore.
Be our strength to stand up for You.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen
Pastor Ed
