Fulfilling the Destiny of Our Nation 2

Fulfilling Our Nation’s Destiny–Part 2–by Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

            Last week our focus was on the truth that the fulfillment of our nation’s destiny lies within the hearts of our nation’s believers. God’s justice is dispensed based on what is happening in the hearts of His people and not on what is happening in the hearts of others.  Believers are the representatives within each nation who carry the destiny that God sees for our nation. 

Proverbs 14:34 declares, “Righteousness exalts a nation.” Righteousness that exalts a nation is not righteousness as determined by man.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, righteousness has been imputed to those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. (Romans 4: 22-25): Speaking of Abraham, Paul writes, “And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.”  To impute is to assign, to empower, to allot.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God assigns righteous to us and empowers us to live righteously in Him. 

Righteous living is seen in those who honor God by following His ways.  (John 14:15) Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  Through our imputed righteousness in Jesus Christ, we are to live lives that honor Him. Not only does righteous living honor God, but righteous living also brings blessing into our lives. Many blessings come to us because, through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are able to make better choices.  God’s Holy Word has given us a road map to attaining the heart attitude for righteous living.  Joshua, Chapter Five, is only one of many passages of scripture that outline the heart attitude for righteous living—righteous living that exalts a nation.

In Joshua 5, the Israelites had followed the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan River near Jericho.  The conquering of the Promised Land was both historical and spiritual.  The battles represent spiritual battles we must all overcome in order to walk fully in the promises of God in this life.  Israel came out of Egypt with a slave mentality, wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and developed into a nation empowered to fulfill God’s destiny for them.  God prepared them spiritually for the battles ahead.  The first step was consecration. 

All those who had left Egypt had entered into a covenant with Jehovah through circumcision.  However, all those who had left Egypt, except Joshua and Caleb, had died in the wilderness.  Although they were God’s chosen, the new generation had not yet entered into the covenant and had to be circumcised as a sign of their consecration unto the Lord.  Consecration comes as we embrace what God has prepared for us and choose to walk with Him in covenant.  Consecration goes hand in hand with biblical regeneration. 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). Regenerated people can testify that things are different now. We have received a new power and pattern for living. Regeneration and consecration bring with them new life, and new desires and new goals. 

In the New Covenant, the sign of consecration is baptism. In believer’s baptism, those who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, enter into the baptismal waters to declare their decision to leave the old life behind and enter into a new life consecrated to our heavenly Father.  (Romans 6:4)

It is in that new life consecrated to God that we will become more than conquerors in the chaotic world around us. It is there that believers will, through righteous living and intercession, fulfill the destiny that God sees for our nation. When we believers humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, God will forgive our sin and heal our land. (2 Chronicles 7:14.)

Father, we pray for Your guidance to walk in the righteousness that You have imputed to us.  We covenant with You to leave our old lives of defeat and discouragement behind and to walk victoriously in Jesus Christ. Father, through Your grace, the righteousness of Your people will exalt our nation.  Amen

Fulfilling Our Nation's Destiny 1

Fulfilling Our Nation’s Destiny by Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

As Christians and concerned citizens, we can easily be overcome by the barrage of discouraging reports that fill our newspapers and television and computer screens.  Our economy is not what we want it to be.  Our family structure is threatened.  Sensuality seems to have become our god.  Devastating tornadoes, floods and fires have left many Americans homeless, frightened and in despair. Many feel that God has abandoned us or has, at least, withdrawn His blessing from us.   If God has turned His back on us, where, then, is our hope?

Whenever we have questions about our heavenly Father, the first place to look is in the Book He has written for us. In Jeremiah 17:7-8, we read, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.”  According to His Word, if our hope is in the Lord, we can prosper in the midst of and in spite of the circumstances around us.

I have been blessed, both in this country and in Jerusalem, to be taught by Asher Intrader.  Asher is a Messianic Jewish rabbi who holds dual citizenship in the United States and in Israel.  He has embraced his Jewish heritage and Jesus, his Messiah.  Rabbi Asher is a spirit-filled student of the Bible and a powerful teacher. He teaches that the fulfillment of a nation’s destiny lies not within the halls of the Congress in Washington or the Knesset in Israel, but within the hearts of believers; that to understand the destiny and purpose of God for a nation, we must look with spiritual discernment at the believing remnant within that nation.  More simply put, God’s justice is dispensed based on what is happening in the hearts of His people and not on what is happening in the hearts of others.  Believers are the representatives within America and every other nation who carry the destiny that God sees for that nation. 

We often quote 2 Chronicles 7:14: “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 will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  We quote this passage and point our fingers at non-believers and declare their need to repent.  We often choose to overlook the fact that God is calling His people, believers, into repentance and holiness.

In Genesis 18:17-23, God agrees to spare Sodom from destruction if only 10 righteous men can be found within the city walls.  In Ezekiel 22:30, God says that He will spare Jerusalem if only one righteous person is willing to stand in the gap and intercede for the city. It is a righteous remnant who can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, bring into fulfillment the destiny of a people.

How can we, as individuals, join the righteous remnant whose intercession can determine the destiny of our nation?   Through righteous and holiness.  Today, via the internet, many of God’s people have come into agreement and are praying what we have come to call “The Harp” prayer based on 2 Chronicles 7:14:

H: humble ourselves

A: Acknowledge God

R: Repent of our sins

P: Pray for our land

“Lord, I humble myself before you and acknowledge that You alone are my God and my Savior.  I repent, first of all, for my own sins, and then for the sins of my nation.  I pray that You, in Your mercy, will heal our land.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

During the next three weeks, we will look into the deeper implications of the righteousness and holiness of God’s people and how that righteousness and holiness will lead to the healing of our hearts and of our land.

Freedom 5

Standing in the Freedom of Christ

Part 5

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Galatians 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

                        God is calling us to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” and to face each day and each tomorrow with optimism because of the hope we have in Him.  "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The question is, “How do we keep our hearts set on hope rather than despair?”

          Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is often called the “Epistle of Joy.” Paul wrote that epistle while “in bonds in Rome.”  Far from home and under house arrest, he penned Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.”  Paul rejoiced because he believed in the promises of God.  He rejoiced in the knowledge that his arrest had spurred others to preach the gospel.  He rejoiced because he focused on his relationship with the Lord rather than his situation.  He lived the words that he wrote in Romans 8:38-30, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

          How do we keep our hearts set on hope rather than despair?  We turn, as Paul did, to the promises in the Word of God:  “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2) “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8) “As he thinks in his heart, so he is.” (Proverbs 23:7) To keep our hearts, we must carefully choose our thoughts.  We must set our minds on the things of God rather than the things of the world.  We must remember that no matter what is happening around us, because of Jesus Christ, we have hope. When we have hope, we can experience joy and rejoice in Him.

          In the King James Bible, “joy” is mentioned 187 times and “rejoice” 240.  Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.  When circumstances are difficult, and our current circumstances are difficult, an optimistic mindset and a joyful heart will strengthen us to overcome.

          In Jesus Christ, we have the freedom to be optimistic.  Because of who He is, and who we are in Him, we can forget the things that are behind, allow His grace to make us victorious in Him in spite of our current circumstances and reach forward in expectant hope to the things that are ahead. (Philippians 3:14).

          Remember Romans 8:28:  “All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”  Love for God and obedience to Him are the keys to setting our minds on hope rather than despair.