Monday 5 June 2017

Listen to Jehaziel!

It looks hopeless - a vast army is invading and we're all quaking in our boots.

But wait!  Jehaziel speaks up: "This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don't be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God's."

And God intervenes and destroys the enemy as his people praise him. (2 Chronicles 20)

I have been thinking of this great intervention in Judah's history and the powerful words of the prophet Jehaziel as Christians today face creeping darkness in our cities and nations.  As believers, we must join together - all believers - and pray and seek God's face to turn around these dark times.

And we must believe that the battle is fundamentally God's.

Are we believers too complacent?  Or have we already given up in the face of Islamic terrorism, destruction of the family, racial animosity, spreading crime, the dominance of anti-Christian values in society?  Or, do we simply doubt that God is strong enough to turn things around and heal our cities and nations?

I believe more and more believers are praying.  But much more needs to be done.  Judah was saved when the whole nation came together to plead their cause before the Lord.  The Christian church needs to do the same in our Western countries.

The great impact of united prayer has been documented throughout the ages.

In Acts 4, the early believers prayed together that they would speak boldly for Christ in the midst of persecution and the faith spread rapidly.

In East Germany, prayer meetings in Leipzig led to the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989.  See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/europes-revolution-the-pastor-who-brought-down-the-berlin-wall-1799976.html.

In Uganda in the 1970s, churches from many denominations prayed together - often in secret - as dictator Idi Amin launched terror campaigns against Christians.  A revival broke out among the Christians and Amin was eventually overthrown in the late 1970s.

But first we Christians have to look at ourselves.  Are we prepared for spiritual battle?  What is the state of our hearts?  Do we love others - or hate them?  Those are questions I ask of myself.

Francis Frangipane, author of The House of Lord: God's Plan to Liberate Your City from Darkness, says God's strategy for healing our cities begins with us.

In my city - Ottawa Canada - I see encouraging signs.  The National House of Prayer was founded to pray for our nation and Love Ottawa, a local inter-church ministry, fosters a week of prayer for our city every January.

Yet I feel this is only a beginning as more believers join together in praying to our great God for our nations.

As Jehaziel said, the battle is not ours, but God's.

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