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The great Puritan preacher, Matthew Henry, wrote,

“When God intends great mercy for His people, the first thing He does is set them a-praying.”

(Selected Prayer Quotes, Mike Bennett, 8/5/04-10/1/08)

I have hope for our land because I am seeing more and more people beginning to pray.  Some are praying for revival.  Some of them are beginning to see the necessity of repentance if our prayers are to be heard.  Some don’t yet know enough of God’s truth to know to pray for revival, they are just praying that God will help us in America and do something to change the direction in which our nation is headed.  Some know the Lord so well that they are crying out to Him in very specific prayers, the particular revelations of which would amaze most of us if we knew just how specifically God is leading them in prayer.  I am so grateful for all who are praying for us, be they a citizen here or a citizen elsewhere.  I recently heard a group of South Koreans praying for us with such appreciation for America and such intensity in their cry for Revival and Transformation for us that I was brought to tears.  I knew God was listening intently to their praying.

A major prayer movement has been sparked by Franklin Graham’s Decision America Tour.  He plans to travel to each state capitol before the crucial election in November calling people to repentance and prayer on behalf of our desperate nation.  I had the privilege of being in the Decision America prayer meeting in Kentucky on May 4th.  5,800 people showed up to pray for our state and nation.  Rev. Graham stepped to the speaker’s stand and welcomed everyone. He then immediately asked us to join hands with 4-5 people around us then asked us to pray prayers of repentance as he listed several national sins—things like abortion, homosexuality, greed, materialism, and other things we are so guilty of in this land.  I can’t describe how thrilled I was that he started the prayer meeting with repentance!  The Bible so plainly teaches that repentance is necessary when Christians begin to ask God for revival.  God states so plainly in 2 Chronicles 7: 14,

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

All around America people have been gathering with Rev. Graham for these prayer meetings.  Over 8,000 met in Nashville, Tn. the day before we met in Frankfort.  On May 5, 4,600 gathered in Charleston, W.Va.  Western states have more recently been gathering to pray for our land.  Some 2,500 in New Mexico, 4,200 in Colorado, 6,700 in Arizona, 1,400 in Utah, 2,800 in Nevada, and 7,500 in California.  These are just some of the numbers we have received.  Could it be that God will honor this as a national repentance?  Only He knows our hearts and if these gatherings represent a full surrender to Him by many Americans, but, if it is, we can expect Him to soon do things to turn us back toward Him.  He promises in Jeremiah 33:3,

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”

By bringing believers together across denominational lines and praying together, we know the Lord is pleased.  And He promised in John 17:21 that lost people would turn to Him when His followers unite in true covenant with one another.  Already, 2,000 people have sent texts to the Billy Graham follow-through ministry, saying they have confessed their sin and received Christ as their Lord in Decision America Tour gatherings through April (and this has happened even though the main reason for these gatherings is not evangelism)!

So, should we give up on America?  Or “pour on the coal” in prayer for America?

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.