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abandoned us or has, at least, withdrawn His blessing from us.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
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.
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