We Need To Pray

Introduction

After what we have just witnessed in this nation, we have no other options left. Prayer is an absolute must.

We are spiritually at the point now in America that revival is no longer an option. It is an absolute last ditch effort to stop the total collapse of our society!

We don’t need to get into the specifics of what happened yesterday, but suffice it to say that we just saw God spare a leader that the enemy has been trying to silence for some time now. And this isn’t all about one man either, it’s about the freedom he is fighting for. Freedoms that keep the enemy from totally shutting our churches down and outlawing our lives of faith.

This scenario is not new, it has played out many times throughout the course of history. We know if we have studied history that many nations have fallen prey to the satanic schemes of leadership. And even in the face of what we have seen, there are those that say everything is going to be alright; but that’s not what the Lord is saying.

Jeremiah was a man that was living in times similar to what we are experiencing now. At times he felt like he was the only one that God was talking to. Most people didn’t want to hear him because his words were not what people wanted to hear.

In Jeremiah chapter 14, the first 6 verses describe the famine that has come upon the land of Israel as God has them under judgement.

Make no mistake, America is under judgment at this very hour yet God still calls for us to come to Him.

Jeremiah prays on behalf of a nation that doesn’t seem to care.

Calling for Mercy

Jeremiah 14:7–9 NKJV

O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name’s sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You. O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O Lord, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!

Jeremiah is confessing that they deserved everything they were getting!

When we recognize our sins, it does not benefit us in any way. We cannot argue with God in favor of ourselves when we have sinned, for we are guilty.

You may be saying to yourself,

But I haven’t done these things!

I’ve repented long ago!

I’m a blood bought child of God!

These things may be true, but it does not remove us from our responsibility to pray for our nation.

What is happening absolutely grieves the heart of God for our nation. God never delights in imparting judgment over a nation.

Lamentations 3:32–33 NKJV

Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion According to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.

Ezekiel 18:23 NKJV

Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 18:32 NKJV

For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”

God is calling us to cry out to Him on behalf of those that are too ignorant and deceived to cry out for themselves.

They have no idea that they are driving us towards destruction because of their dead spirits.

When God Says No

This is a tough thing for us, because we are so used to hearing about God’s grace over us. But we will we not also hear Him when He is fed up with the debauchery of our land?

We tend to be a people that think that God doesn’t speak negative things anymore.

Malachi 3:6 NKJV

“For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

Hebrews 13:8 NKJV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I believe God is showing us the desperation of the hour. He means business, and we need to act accordingly.

Jeremiah 14:11–12 NKJV

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.”

Some would surely want to argue that this word from the Lord was given to people that lived thousands of years ago under different situations.

To them I would say, this nation has done far worse than those in Jeremiah’s day and it is only the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that has gotten us this far.

I am aware that there are those that prophecy that America will not fall and that we will prosper. But not unless we repent and seek God’s mercy as a nation.

Lying Prophets

It is imperative that we do not fall prey to the false prophets that seem to outnumber the true prophets that are calling for us to humble ourselves, repent and pray.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

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.

Again, it is us that must pray in the stead of those who refuse to pray.

Jeremiah noted that people were listening primarily to the false prophets.

Jeremiah 14:13 NKJV

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

Does this not sound a lot like some of the same prophecy we have heard over this nation?

But God answered him

Jeremiah 14:14–18 NKJV

And the Lord said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them.’ “Therefore you shall say this word to them: ‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow. If I go out to the field, Then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.’ ”

Sometimes God will allow us to go through a time period of judgment so that we understand how much we as a people have filled Him with indignation.

Chapter 15 of the book of Jeremiah records that God continues to speak of the coming calamity upon Israel

Jeremiah 15:1–2 NKJV

Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’

We Are Still His People

It is not until verse 19 of this chapter that Jeremiah receives assurance from God.

Jeremiah 15:19–21 NKJV

Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” says the Lord. “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”