Praying for America

TEXT: 2 Chronicles 7:14

TOPIC: Praying for America

Pastor Bobby Earls, Northgate Baptist Church, Florence, SC

Sunday morning, April 19, 2020

These are historic days in which you and I are living. The panorama played out before us over the past few weeks in America and around the world as a result of the Coronavirus have brought us to a place we have never been before. And where we are now is frightening and disturbing to all of us.

I have the challenge to speak today not a word of politics, we have enough of politics; I have the challenge to speak a prophetic word today from the pages of God’s word, to the Christian Church. What should be our response to times like these? I believe the first and most appropriate response for us as Christians is that we should pray for America. That’s the simple challenge of this message, Pray for America.

As a background of the message, we turn to the Book of 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament. The Book of 2 Chronicles; and follow along with me beginning at verse 13 in the sixth chapter:

2 Chronicles 6:13 (NKJV) (for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits

(7 1/2 ft) long, five cubits wide,(7 ½ ft) and three cubits(4 ½) high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven);

—This is a most unusual posture for an Oriental monarch. He never kneeled before anyone, much less on a scaffold nearly five feet in height before the people. But Solomon did. He ... knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven, 14 and he said: "Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. (2 Chronicles 6:13-14)

And in 2 Chronicles 6:19, Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You:

And thus begins the longest recorded prayer in the Bible.

Now look at verse 40: 2 Chronicles 6:40, Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.

Now, look at chapter 7, beginning at verse 12: And the Lord appeared unto Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard your prayer.

Verse 14, is one of the most famous passages in the Old Testament, in all the Bible:

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. 2 Chronicles 7:14,

God speaks to nations. He has spoken before. He spoke to ancient Israel, to His people. He spoke in response to Solomon’s prayerful intercession for his country. What God said to Israel three thousand years ago still has meaning and relevance to us today, to America today!

As I challenge you to pray for America today, we need to first notice some very important principles or truths we find in this passage from 2 Chronicles. First,

I. GOD’S RECOGNITION OF HIS PEOPLE, 2 Chronicles 7:14a

“If my people who are called by my name….”

The message of course was to ancient Israel. As King Solomon and the nation of Israel came to dedicate the first Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon was young and on fire for God. His heart was pure and fully dedicated to the God of his father David. Solomon’s earnest intercession to God for the people of Israel received an answer. And God began first, by setting forth an admonition, a pre-condition for those He called “my people,” those who were “called by His name.”

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord

, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Psalms 33:12 (NKJV)

…the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Titus 2:13-14 (NKJV)

Now let me give you an American history lesson you will not hear taught in our public schools.

In the early years of our country’s history, the 1800s, there was poured out upon our people a great movement of God. Under Charles G. Finney, a layman, a lawyer, a great revival swept across our northeastern states. For example: Rochester, New York, at that time had a population of fifty thousand people. In the revival led by Finney in Rochester, there were one hundred thousand people baptized in the New York churches.

Another example of what happened in those days is in the story of J.C. (or Jeremiah) Lamphier, another layman, hired by the Fulton Street Church in New York City. Many of the other churches had left the downtown, moved out, quit. But this church remained. And they hired a layman, Jermiah Lamphier to invite people to attend the congregational services and to hand out tracts.

In great discouragement, he went to the house of the Lord, the Fulton Street Church, and bowed down in prayer for an hour and a half. He announced that he would do that at noon for a week. And the next week, there were six people who joined him. The next week, there were twenty. The next week, there were forty. He announced, then, that they would meet every day at high noon for an hour of intercession. The church was packed. And other churches in New York City were packed. And that great intercessory movement swept through America.

In 1863, in the darkest hour of the Civil War, the United States Senate unanimously passed a resolution petitioning President Lincoln to set apart a day of national prayer and fasting. President Lincoln responded promptly with this following proclamation. I quote: "Now therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring with the views of the Senate, I do by this proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer."

What do you think might happen if our President and the leaders of the Senate and House of Congress would once again declare that this April 30, 2020 would be a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer?

I do believe that all across America and all around the world, Christians are beginning to cry out to God for His mercy and His help. During moments of national and now, global crisis, God looks to His people to stand in the gap and pray.

Please notice also, not only God’s Recognition of His People, but also God’s Requirement He gives His people.

II. GOD’S REQUIREMENTS FOR HIS PEOPLE, 2 Chronicles 7:14b

“If we…..will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways,…”

God gives us a simple four-part strategy. Four things we must do:

1) Humble ourselves; that is come before God in brokenness and contriteness. Tony Evans says, “Humility includes the idea of dependency—the recognition that without the Lord, we can do nothing (see John 15:5). Prayer, in fact, is by its nature an admission of our weakness and need. Many Christians don’t pray because they are too proud.”[1]

2) Prayer, that involves not only confession of our own sins, and the sins of our nation, but intercession and petition for God’s mercy, grace and restoration.

3) We are to seek His face meaning we need to turn back to God; to look to God again as our source of strength and greatness. To seek God’s face means we must become God-conscience, seeking God again, drawing close to Him, to know Him personally and intimately,

4) Repentance, turning from sin and wickedness, a getting down in the dust of the earth and turning from our own sin, and hating the sins that are destroying America. We have for too long trusted in and worshipped our own selves, believing man himself is god and able to save ourselves. We have worshipped our money, our prosperity thinking we have all we need and there is no room for the True God in our lives!

Could it be that because many Americans, perhaps most Americans, have long ago stopped meeting God’s requirements, we are inflicted with this plague? I believe America’s trials fall into three main categories:

America’s Trials:

1. Economic Crisis

When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence (plague or pandemic) among My people,

2 Chronicles 7:13 (NKJV)

We heard the secular prophets of economic doom forecast from our T.V.s and radios the past few weeks now. Fears of stock market failure; talk of an economic recession or even another great depression like The Great Depression of the 1929 to 1939 days.

One thing is true, there is no such thing in the economic laws of Almighty God as any people, anywhere, living beyond their means, and not finding and facing a payday some day. Our national debt is now fast approaching $25 trillion dollars. If Congress passes another so-called stimulus bill we will quickly surpass $25 trillion dollars in debt. We are mortgaging our children’s future. We are paying today with tomorrow’s resources.

As our President has said, America has gone from the greatest period of economic growth and prosperity to record highs in individuals losing their jobs because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Nearly 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment assistance. I heard this week someone say that for every death from the Coronavirus in America there have also been 700 Americans how have lost their jobs.

I heard Dr. Phil say 250,000 people a year die of poverty. We will likely see personal bankruptcies at an all-time high over the coming year. Without a Heavenly intervention it cannot last.

If we fail to cry out to God for His mercy, asking God to restore our land, to bless America, then we may be fast approaching a pay day someday.

I’ll go even farther and say if America does not experience one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in our history as a result of this Pandemic, I just don’t think we have the moral strength to face an economic catastrophe. I think when that day of reckoning comes, you’re going to see roving crowds of gangs up and down the streets of our cities and our towns, and communities, rioting and looting businesses, stores and private homes. I don’t think today we have the moral strength to go through a disastrous depression. That’s why we need to pray for America to save us from economic collapse and utter chaos.

2. Leadership Crisis

In times like these, we need godly men and women who are not ashamed or afraid to kneel before the nation and unashamedly cry out to Almighty God for His mercy and grace. I’m not trying to be political here. My calling is to declare a prophetic word. But I have been encouraged to see our nation’s leaders asking us to pray to God for his help. I am thankful we have strong Christian leaders like our Vice-President Mike Pence bravely declaring his faith in God and calling upon Americans to pray.

On the other hand, there are still far too many godless and pagan politicians in office right now who only look to politicize this pandemic crisis for their own agenda and their own benefits. I will be nice and not mention any names, but one Governor of one of the most afflicted states in this country recently dared (April 15) “We brought the numbers down (the death totals). God did not do that.”

The Bible clearly warns us, When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;

But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

Proverbs 29:2 (NKJV)

2020 is an election year. If we don’t understand by now how important it is that Christians in America understand we need to elect to office men and women who know Christ, who unashamedly serve Christ, then I’m not sure we will ever learn. We need leaders who demonstrate their Christian values by their political platforms, agendas or past records.

We must cry out to God that He will control who is elected as the next President of the United States. And it’s not just the office of the Presidency. We need men and women who will stand upon the values and truths found not just in our founding Constitution, but in our Judeo-Christian heritage. Every office is important, from our local officials to the State representatives, Senators and Governors.

We dare not leave to the media, or the opinion of foreign dictators, Socialists and Communists, who should be our chief executive.

3. Spiritual Crisis

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

It is far too easy to blame America’s woes on the politicians or poor planning, but the people of God must also accept our responsibility for where America is today. We cannot look to the White House for our solutions. Neither can we expect the House of Congress or the Senate, to be the answer. We need to begin in our house, the Houses of God in America and accept our responsibility for where our nation is spiritually. The Bible declares that “judgment begins in the house of God.” Just as importantly, each of our own houses, homes and families also have responsibility for failing to teach our children about the things of God. The Psalmist cried out, “What will we do if the foundations be destroyed?” Psalm 11:3

III. GOD’S RESPONSE TO HIS PEOPLE, 2 Chronicles 7:14c

“then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

2 Chron 7:15 (NKJV)

Verse 14 may very well be the golden text of this entire book. Though originally addressed to the chosen nation of Israel, it has rightly been applied to those nations which have a biblical heritage. It is the sure road to restoration and revival for all times. If the conditions are met, the promises of God will surely be fulfilled as well.

I love the following illustration.

Henry W. Grady, who was editor of the Atlanta Constitution and one of the tremendous Christian statesmen of American life. Mr. Grady was speaking on the greatness of America, and he said, “I have stood by Hampton Roads in Chesapeake Bay, and saw there deployed the great naval strength of America. And then, on the shore, the parading might of our armies. And as I looked at the navy and as I looked at the army, I said, ‘Surely the strength of America is to be found in its military and naval might.’”

The great orator said he stood under the dome of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. And as he watched the processes of democracy he said, “Surely the greatness of America is to be found in its Senate, in its Congress, and in its legislative processes.”

Then, he said, “Sometime later, I was the guest in a Georgia home, in a farm of an old friend that I knew from boyhood days. And at the end of the day, when the work was done, he gathered his family around him, opened God's Holy Word and, after reading from God's Bible, the family knelt in prayer.”

And the great orator said, “As I knelt with my old friend and his family in the circle of that evening prayer, the great armies and navies of America faded away. The Capitol Building with its Senate and its Congress faded away. And there came to my heart the conviction that the strength of America is found in its godly people.”

Glory to God! That’s why we need to join our hearts and our hands together with a multitude of churches across America to do what is the most important thing we can do at this time: Pray for America!

Will you commit to pray for America? The home of the brave and the land of the free needs your prayers and mine. May we all bow down today to see our God’s forgiveness and His mercy upon us all.

He promises, “If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; (listen to His promise) then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”

Close by kneeling before God in prayer.

[1] Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 486.