By Edwina Patterson

 

A gentle breeze softly blew, and it was unusually comfortable outside this July evening in Texas. The stars seemed to be brighter tonight.  I felt like I could just reach up and touch them. I leaned so far back stretching my neck trying to see all of them at once that I almost fell backwards.

I sat down on the steps on the back porch and marveled at the view–the peace that is so evident to all who visit here seemed to settle my heart from the busy day.  As I sat peacefully loving the smell of the wild flowers mixed with the scent from RJ’s rose garden, I praised God for the silence. No horns honking.  No cars rushing by.  No loud music.  No phones ringing. No interruptions. And for the moment, no responsibilities called me.  Just silence, beautiful quiet silence. The silence seemed to make the moment more dramatic, more valuable. And I loved it!

I found myself not only praising God for the beauty He had created, but also praying for this country we live in–one that gives us all the opportunity and privilege of sitting on our own back porch and praising God. I wondered aloud to God and asked Him how this country founded on principles from His Word had become this strange, weird, unbelievable, crazy, terrifying country that calls itself America. This isn’t the land I learned about in school. It isn’t the land of the free and home of the brave anymore. It’s a land of wickedness and evil, of blasphemy and foul language, of turmoil and anger, of lies and deceit, and of immoral behavior that goes beyond our imagination. This isn’t my land anymore.  It’s theirs–those who choose to carelessly throw God’s principles into the trash like unwanted advertisements.

But it doesn’t have to remain that way.  For God Himself says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land“(capitalization and italics mine). Could it be any plainer–any clearer? The challenges we face in America today are our fault.  “We the people” have ignored God’s principles and have accepted tolerance and compromise.  We’ve edited God’s Word to make our lives comfortable.  Fearing we might offend others, we’ve tried to “get along” with the evil in our land…and look where it’s gotten us.

It’s time for God’s people to get up from their comfortable couches and get down on their knees, confess and repent our sin, put on our work boots, and get to work reestablishing God’s principles in this land. It won’t be easy, but is anything worthwhile easy?! It wasn’t easy for Noah to build the ark, or Moses to lead the rebellious group of Israelites across the desert, or for David to face Goliath, or for Ester to plead for her people before the King, or for Debra to lead the Israeli army into combat, or for unwed Mary to carry the baby Jesus in her womb, or for Paul to be incarcerated for years, or for Jesus Christ to hang on that old rugged cross.  But, they all not only faced the difficulties in their lives, but they used them to grow their faith and they soared above the circumstances!

Do you love this land?  Do you love your freedom to eat what you crave, to say what you think is right, to go where you choose, to wear what you select, to read what you pick out, to marry whom you choose, to worship as you prefer, and regarding freedom the list goes on and on. If so, will you join me in praying for this great country that desperately needs to turn back to God?

Dear Heavenly Father, You who created all things, knows all things, and can do all things, and because there are no surprises to You, we bow our knees–no, we fall on our faces before You, recognizing–with shame and embarrassment–our sins. We have disregarded Your Truths. We have not valued Your Love Letter to us, the Bible.  We’ve not spent time reading it and applying it to our lives.  We have dishonored Your name and disgraced Your love for us.  Our heart attitudes and actions have discredited Your gift of grace. O Father, we acknowledge that we deserve Your judgment–Your wrath.  We have taken Your love and treated it abominably.  We’ve ignored Your nudges and Your warnings to shape up, to admit our wrong doings, and to change. 

We’ve become complacent in our relationship with You and taken Your holiness for granted. By our tolerant lifestyles, we have not pointed people to You, but away from You. In our “me first” culture, we have placed our desires above Your will.  You have every right to wipe us from the face of this earth. But, because of Your tender mercies, and because in the past (even though we are not now living like it) we have chosen to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we–in humility and confidence at the same time–claim 1 John 1:9.  With sincere repentance we confess our sins of disobedience to You, our prideful attitudes, our selfishness, our inattentiveness to You, our complacency, our sinful choices, and our sinful heart attitudes.  We ask You to take another look at us and see that we are covered with the blood of Your Son, Jesus.  Wash us, Lord, from our sins and make us clean. Put our sins away from us…as far as the East is from the West and remember them no more.

Fill us with a passion to bring You glory.  May we seek You early each morning and protect and cherish this fellowship with You.  May we–whatever comes our way–choose to make decisions that please You.  May our daily lives be different than those around us.  May they see Your peace residing in our lives in the midst of busyness and the chaos in today’s world.  Open our eyes to their needs and enable us to minister to their needs. Wrap Your arms of love around us and fill our lives with expressions of Your love.  May it spill over onto all we meet and point them to Jesus.

Lord, heal our land. Bring us back to a people that reverence Your name, to a land and a people who stand in awe of You, to a place where we can serve You with open passion and love. May the name of Jesus be one of deep respect, reverence, and awe. And it’s in His Name that we come to You and make these requests. Amen.

 

I’ll be praying for our country.  Will you?

 

Edwina

©Edwina Patterson