I was honored yesterday, with the chance to preach in Winamac, IN, at a breakfast celebrating the National Day of Prayer.  The theme for this year's celebration was "America, Unite."  It was truly a blessing to step into a territory of Indiana on which I'd never stepped foot, and it was amazing to see the people of the Lord that came to stand in unity, but my amazement from this day came from the night prior, when I should have been sleeping, but was spending time restlessly going over the verse on which my message was based.

"...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 (NKJV)

As we sat there at breakfast, celebrating this day of prayer, I truly felt broken because I had missed parts one and two of this five-part series that we should be in the midst of.  As we come together to pray for our country and the world, we must look to the conditions of 2 Chronicles 7:14 before we look to the result.  This verse is a call to action before it is a promise.  Let's look at what it is calling from us:

1) Humility.  I wonder if America was in need of a national day of Humility before a national day of Prayer.  I wonder what would happen if we truly sought to be spiritually meek.  Would we realize that nothing we can do makes any difference in the long run without the life, death, and resurrection of Christ?  Would we see the necessity of prayer on an everyday basis, so that a Holiday like this is not a reminder to pray, but a day of spiritual rejuvenation for a nation daily committed to bringing what little we have to the One, the only One, who makes us worth something.

2) Prayer.  Before we get into prayers about the USA, let's make step number two the one that should follow step number one.  Once we humble ourselves before God, let us pray for his divine grace and forgiveness.  Let us daily recommit our lives, on and for THAT day alone, to live according to His will and for His purposes. 

3) Will-seeking.  "Seek my face," is the call which we have so much trouble with.  It's nice and easy to pray for great things to happen, but are we willing to answer the call, or said better, answer the answer to our prayers?  What if we turned all else aside to find what God wanted for each of us?  Would we work the same jobs?  Date the same people?  Do the same activities?  I venture to say that we were not meant to be so comfortable.

4) Repentance.  Uh oh.  I said it.  Quickly, repentance is more than talking about it.  True repentance is turning away from sinful desires.  It's not like God just tells us to turn, though.  He gives us something to turn to!  He gives us something far more beautiful, far more fulfilling, far more desirable than anything we could ever hope to find.  He gives us Himself.  Only when we get to step four, and turn away from our sinful ways will we ever see the finale.

The finale is not a condition, but rather a promise that WILL be fulfilled.  My God doesn't make promises He won't keep, and so if we do our part, then he "will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  What would a healed United States look like?  What would a healed earth look like?  I shudder to think of the beauty.  So today, on May 4th, let us Unite once again.

Let us Unite in humility, prayer, will-seeking, and repentance.  Then, together we can call upon God to live up to His promise, and He will.

In Love,

Bob Morton