The Jewish people around the world woke up today with assurance of new beginning. Every man, every woman who considered their way over the past year and in the fear of the Lord repented of every evil departure from God have the confidence their sins have been purged. The promise rests on the old covenant provision that began with the blood of the Passover Lamb at the beginning of the year and was ratified on the Day of Atonement in the seventh month of the year. In assurance that the Judge of all has reviewed the records and ascribed their names in the Book of Life as members of the community of God’s people, today is the beginning of feasting and joy. The previous ten days have been a season of serious, humble personal consideration and repentance of every evil way of departure from the righteousness of the Living God. What a fitting tone for the culmination of our 40 Days of Fasting and Prayer for America. The Feast of Tabernacles is a celebration of harvest. It is the time of ingathering. Family unites to bless the Lord and rejoice that He has heard and answered their prayers. He crowns the year with goodness. This is the spirit in which we conclude this time of seeking God in repentance, fasting and prayers for ourselves, our families, our churches and this great nation preceding America’s presidential election.

As Christians we enjoy a better covenant with greater blessing through the blood of Jesus shed to atone for our sins at Calvary. Our victory over sin is a triumph over death. For over two thousand years Christ has been preparing a home where we will “tabernacle” with Him for eternity. In accordance with 2 Chronicles 7:14 we have come in humility to fast and pray and seek the Lord through repentance in this season for America. We have this confidence: He has heard our prayers because we have asked according to His will. We rest in assurance that as He hears us we have what we ask. Our prayer is “Lord, give us leaders such that it will be to Your glory to give us the victory through them.” We recognize we are in a spiritual wrestling match. Our war is not against persons with bodies but against principalities and powers, rulers and authorities in heavenly places. These powers take voice through human ideology and political philosophy. We recognize the battle lines are drawn in clear contrast, expressed in values and conditions in our earthy surroundings. The spirit of antichrist is at work through secular humanism and political socialism that enthrones man autonomous from God as the center of everything. This philosophy is encroaching upon Christian liberties in order to suppress the freedom to proclaim and affirm the gospel in the public square. We are placing ourselves under the protection of the banner of the blood of Calvary. From there we are asking for America as a godly inheritance and seeking God’s blessing for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

The clear contrast of values in America’s 2008 election cycle is localized in one question: the sanctity of human life and the extension of human rights and protections for that life beginning at conception. If God foreknew Jeremiah, if He preordained the times and seasons of every man’s existence and the boundaries where he would dwell with an intent that he might seek and find God, if the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, and if John the Baptist when he was six months in Elizabeth’s womb recognized Jesus as He was but a week past conception in Mary’s womb, the privilege and responsibility of every child of God in America is to give voice to the will of God with their vote to choose leaders who recognize and sanction the rights of human life in the womb. It was for life that Christ came. It was for human treasure that He died. Christians put feet to your prayers.

We will continue to update and encourage each of you to pray through election day. In spite of the critical economic troubles now reverberating around the world we realize that our security rests in treasure in heaven where thieves cannot break in and steal and moth and dust cannot corrupt! We set our face with our hearts to seek the Lord and trust in Him for our provision day to day. Let this time when men’s hearts fail for fear be an opportunity for our light as Christ’s to shine brightly. Prepare your hearts to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving throughout the month of November culminating in our traditional day of family Thanksgiving ion remembrance of America’s founding beginning with the faith of the Pilgrims. We will carry a special series on thanksgiving throughout next month. Let us thank the Lord for the president we have had in this administration. Let us thank Him for the long season of strength, peace and freedom we have enjoyed as a nation among the rest of the world community. Let us thank Him for the promise and opportunity America holds today. Let us thank Him for the freedoms we enjoy, especially the liberty to celebrate our faith as Christians. Let us continue to be vigilant and immoveable about protecting and extending those liberties. Let us thank God for the noble and honorable sacrifice of our troops around the world. Above all let us offer thanks and praise for the best news and greatest victory of all: our names are inscribed in the Lamb’s book of life.

Saturday, October 11, is the final day of our corporate fast. People across this nation and around the world have joined together to seek the Lord and pray for America’s election and for revival in the world. We invite you to join with us in a symphony of prayers again on the eve of our presidential election. Here at All Nations Watch of the Lord headquarters we will conduct a special prayer vigil to cover each state’s polls beginning at Midnight on Nov. 3rd through the election day. We are binding the forces of fraudulence and loosing the fear of the Lord together with His angels to assist in this battle. Stay in touch for more details. Thank you for your participation in this 40 days of Prayer and Fasting. Log on to the Watch on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. Next week we will post several of the prophetic words that have come through dreams and visions over the past few weeks and months that we feel pertain to the upcoming election and the financial trouble facing our nation.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:10-13

As we stand vigil for America we pray for the peace of Jerusalem and the protection of Israel. To all our Jewish friends we say Happy Holiday as you celebrate Sukkot! Finally we pray from the 104th Psalm:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord You are very great; You are clothed with honor and majesty. Bring forth food from the earth, make glad the heart of man, make his face shine, strengthen his heart. The earth is full of Your possessions—living things small and great. These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good. You send forth Your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the earth. I will be glad in the Lord. May sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul!”

 

Those from among you shall build up the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. (Is. 58:12)

In Matthew 6 Jesus lays out for His disciples and all that would follow Him the central importance of a heavenly perspective in our daily lives of prayer, fasting, caring for the poor, relationships to one another, fasting and the cares of our practical existence of providing for ourselves and our families. In every instance He speaks of setting our hopes and our treasures in heaven rather than in the earthly realm. In our prayer, He instructs us to get in harmony with God and heaven first in order to see God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

In our relationships, He turns our attention to the ultimate relationship, our reconciliation to the Father through forgiveness of our sins and the importance of extending this mercy to our fellow man in order to have this mercy extended to us from heaven. In fasting, He reminds His followers that it is not the action that should receive the attention, but the spiritual rewards that we lay hold of as we humble ourselves before our Father in heaven. In our practical existence, He instructs us to seek His Kingdom first. As we keep our focus on the Big Picture from a heavenly, eternal perspective, it will position our hearts and our lives to respond to our temporal circumstances and needs with the grace and wisdom of our heavenly Father who knows our needs before we even ask.

Essentially, Jesus says to His disciples, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in an steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt. 6:19-20). We want to encourage you, as we are fasting and praying for the nation, for our churches and for our families, you are depositing treasure into a bank account that no one can break into. In a time that even on a national level we are seeing irregularities, illegalities and corruption, we are standing in the broken down places and repairing the breaches. This is one of the many promises of God in Isaiah 58, one of the rewards we lay hold of as we fast and pray.

Our national economy is facing a very precarious scenario, and as real as the problems that are facing our nation, what we are witnessing in these days is ultimately the clashing of two spiritual realities: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. The pressure we are experiencing is the manifestation of the advancement of the kingdom of light progressing in violence against the kingdom of darkness. The reality is, that as we press forward, satan and all of his hordes are pressing back, and we will experience the force of that clash when the two opposing kingdoms come together. There is a mystery about adversity that comes through pressing against darkness and evil. It causes the mortal life of man, created in the image of God, to flourish!

Any observer of human history will attest, some of the greatest feats of human heroism and character have been forged in the furnace of adversity. When there is no conflict or challenge facing us, man tends to settle into self-service and lawlessness. The decadence in the West in these days is largely due to the fact that we have had so little adversity and so little material worries or cares for the past few generations. So what does this say about difficulty? Adversity and trials press us into more of the fullness of life that God intends for us (see James 1:2-4). They engender a heart that holds onto the essential and eternal rewards as we press against the storms in our natural world.

We are all affected financially by what happened in the stock market in the past few weeks. But we have instruction from God, “Don’t be anxious.” The devil will try to come in the place of our weakness and push us all the way down, but we are going to stand together in prayer and fasting for our nation and for each other. There are two things we want to share with you in this prayer focus. One is to share with you a prophetic vision the Lord gave Bonnie calling the Church to crisis intervention and revealing keys to restore the breach that has opened our nation to this spiritual and economic storm. The second is to give you specific Scriptures that reveal God’s government—His answer to our current circumstances so that we can join together in praying for the reality of heaven to come down and intervene in our earthly circumstances.

Crisis Intervention:

During our Revival Fire Conference we were engaged in a time of worship where the presence of the Lord for breakthrough was with us. I (Bonnie) began to see images of the various candidates running for office and for several of our leaders at every level of government in our nation. As their faces came before me it was as if their names were before the Lord, and I began to pray for them. The atmosphere around me at that time was one of joy and the power of the River of God in our midst. I began to release God’s will in heaven for these individuals. The Lord spoke to me, “crisis intervention.” Interestingly, James Goll had just spoken on crisis intervention in a previous session of our conference. Every Friday we engage in crisis intervention in the Watch of the Lord™. Fasting is crisis intervention. However, in the context of these faces going before me, I saw that the Lord was also going to present specific answers and anointing to specific persons for crisis intervention in America. He said, “Not past nor present, but coming.” Then I saw three generations of Americans stretching from the 1700s to 1900. There was a deep foundation that was like a solid rock, that was grounded deep down under the earth.

Next I saw a dark storm, much like the sandstorms we see in Iraq, but this one was of tremendous magnitude, and it was made up of all the winds, breaths and forces from different places all over the earth. Spiritual sources and natural vehicles of those sources were all beginning to synergize together against this house called America. In the wind it was very clear that the force was that of the spirit of anti-christ blowing against us. It wasn’t isolated to just one source, but it was many entities harmonizing together and sending out this spirit of anti-christ against us.

I saw the raging winds of the storm, and I saw the foundations of our nation, and then, sitting on the foundation I saw a house of cards. Suddenly, the house collapsed and cards went flying in every direction. I heard the Lord say, “The stock market is a house of cards.” I saw that these cards rested on two things: the people’s perceptions of either fear or confidence and greed. The greed was not just at the top, but the spirit of greed, the “love of money” the Bible talks about and an intense pursuit of more, more and more money and riches has saturated our society from the billionaires all the way down to the poor in our welfare system. I will tell you the truth, in that moment I felt like Daniel when the Lord spoke such a distressing word that he was literally overwhelmed. I just sat down and my face went white. That was how real the vision of those cards flying around, as I saw different elements of the stock market become unhinged from one another and torn apart by the breath of anti-christ coming against America to tear her down.

The Lord said, “This wind is not the breath of the Lord, but it is able to blow against America because our spiritual defenses are down.” I then saw the word, “trust.” There is a great breach of trust, there is a great breach of ethics, there is a great breach of morality. And then I saw that the responsibility was coming home to us – In this time of prayer and fasting, God is not going to allow us to point our finger and say, “All those big boys up there need to clean up their act.” The Lord is allowing us to take responsibility for it because we have the blood that can stand against this storm. We can plead the blood in repentance for this breach of trust and run to the mercy seat. Because of the blood, the Church can stand in the gap. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

I saw the storm. I saw the foundation was firm, but the cards were flying. I saw that the outcome could go either way, but the church has the opportunity and the advantage in this situation. I wrote down, “Church, pray now. Church pray now!” in big letters. I saw that a great crisis was coming to our stock market (this was the weekend before the current financial crisis began to unfold with the failure of Lehman Brothers and then snowballed when the troubles with AIG emerged). Then I saw Gehazi, Elisha’s servant and right hand man, the one he was training to follow after him until his career abruptly ended with his trick with Naamon. The next time we see him, Gehazi is missing a nose and a few fingers and is hanging out with an idolatrous king. His name, by the way, means “Valley of Avarice.” Avarice, the excessive desire for wealth or grain, describes the principality that has to be uprooted in the Church. We are seeing signs of this root even in recent months where the personal kingdom building, mass marketing and media have looked a lot more like Gehazi than Elisha. It is time for us to repent and come to the Lord saying, “God cleanse me, cleanse us, cleanse Your church so that You can cleanse our nation.” I saw the root of Avarice, the Gehazi spirit embodied in the church and then I saw the root as it wound through Wall Street and our troubled economy all the way to our enemies who are raging against us. I then wrote, “This crisis can be averted by the Church if we repent, cleanse ourselves and intercede.” This is crisis intervention! This is encouraging for us today as we fast and pray.

Reverse Samson Anointing:

I saw a final picture, that was very unusual, but I knew was a clear word from the Lord in terms of dealing with the root of avarice and releasing powerful intercession for the nation. It saw a reverse Samson anointing. Samson had been called as a Nazirite from birth, but we see that he had a root of avarice that caused him to have a mixed agenda and a divided heart. His uncontrolled desires to go after the things of this life mixed with his destiny and calling. In the picture I saw Samson, but instead of blind Samson pulling down the pillars on himself, I saw the pure stream of the Lord’s power strengthening His people as intercessors with vision. We had vision and were literally lifting the pillars of the Lord’s house up and setting them on their foundation. God is giving us opportunity to rid ourselves of the double-mindedness and divided heart agendas in the Church for a restoration of His power and vision.

We have an opportunity, as in the book of Joel, to lay between porch and altar in fasting and prayer for the Lord’s intervention. I am encouraged that He is revealing to us the source and root of the storm and inviting us to respond, revealing the roots that have weakened our defenses against the enemy’s attack and calling us to stand in the gap and pray for crisis intervention for America. I believe that He wants to restore vision where avarice has blinded us. I believe that we can pray in cleansing for the church that will bring healing to our land. This is not a time to despair, but to turn to the Lord in repentance, prayer and fasting to restore the breach in America’s defense. God is restoring His Church, and we are arising and shining in this hour.

 Jesus’ Administration

Isaiah 33 gives us a clear picture of the King and Kingdom to which we belong. The whole chapter speaks powerfully to our personal and national situation, but I want to start at the end with Verse 22 which states, “For the Lord is our Judge…” God is the Judge who presides over the court of heavenly and earthly affairs. He has the First word, and the Last word, declaring the end even from the beginning. This is our hope, this is why we plead the blood over our sins and the sins of our nation. He is the One who says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” because of the shed blood of our Savior, Jesus. The accuser has no word to say against us, the blood speaks a better word that silences every accusation. Isaiah goes on, “The Lord is our Lawgiver…” He is the one who writes and makes the laws. His law is the highest law of the land, and is the reality by which we live. “The Lord is our King…” He has the executive power, the veto power over unjust laws and the power to decree today, “I restore double” because of the blood of Jesus (see Zech. 9:11-12). This is the Kingdom in which we reside, and this is the spirit in which we are going to live our lives – full of faith and rejoicing because of our King.

Chapter 33 opens by speaking to the destroyer, then it speaks to the betrayer who has broken trust: “Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.” How does this happen? Because the three branches of perfect government in One stands up and settles things in His Kingdom.

Verse two reveals our stance in prayer. It is a prayer of expectation and faith that our God will answer, “O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.” We are right now waiting on the Lord in a season of prayer and fasting. God doesn’t dwell in time like we do, but as we wait on Him, He is making us like Him. So we wait, knowing that, “those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” As we wait, as we humble ourselves in prayer and fasting, we step out of our own strength and are lifted up by His. We enter the Lord’s strength. Adversity brings us to the place of transformation!

“Be our arm every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.” We have seen a little trouble in these last few weeks in our nation’s economy. Just when we thought the last shoe had dropped, four, five, six shoes are falling! “At the tumultuous noise people flee…” People are responding in fear and anxiety, but the people of God have an assurance and peace that flows from the Throne of God’s government.

“The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.” Everywhere the enemy has tried to come, He will fill with justice. Every place the tyrant, the oppressor, thief and robber has come, He is arising with justice and righteousness. Righteousness is moral, right thinking. The whole world is experiencing a famine of this virtue right now. One of the main driving forces of lawlessness in the world is the absence of moral righteousness. Humans were created to reflect the moral righteousness of God. What we are suffering is not simply the result of policy or law, it is ultimately a reflection of the lawlessness that pervades a people and a culture when they have thrown off the law and righteousness of God. We have embraced instead a law that is determined by our preferences, passions, lusts, desire, needs and opinions, but that is devoid of a foundation built on godly, moral conviction.

“He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom and knowledge…” Presently, America is facing an economic crisis unlike any this generation has faced before. There is no consensus and much opposition as people argue as to the best way to resolve the situation. It is not necessarily the worst crisis to face America, but the scenario is one that we do not have a formula to fix. The waters we are traversing are uncharted, and many are unsure of the future implications of actions that will set us on a course for many years to come. What do we need? Wisdom from on high and stability in our times of trouble. This is good news! This is our prayer and heritage, true wisdom that is not dependent on one opinion poll or another, that does not shift from day to day, but is steady, unchanging and true.

“The fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.” The Perfect Government of King, Judge and Lawgiver has a treasury! The fear of the Lord is what fills the coffers. The fear of the Lord is our gateway to the treasures of God, giving us deposits for stability in our times. Regardless of the present situation, we hold onto the fear of the Lord rather than the fear of the value of our stocks, not the fear of what may happen in the elections, not the fear of our future. Jesus, speaking of tribulations and trials to come, instructed His disciples – Don’t be afraid of anything. Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body, your life is more than that (see Matt. 10:26-33). This is a stretch for many in this present age where life is judged by quality of our physical body, but we have a higher reality.

“Covenants are broken…there is no regard for man.” When moral righteousness is missing from our foundation, inhumanity takes over humanity. It is one of the great deceptions of the humanist secular movement. When there is a vacuum of righteousness, it will be filled by something. Isaiah describes America in 2008 thousands of years ago: Trust is broken, contracts are broken, covenants are broken, and in verse 9, we see that the result is that the land goes into great difficulties. We are praying for restoration of godly, moral convictions, those foundations that were laid by our forefathers and that sunk deep into the ground to the Rock that is Jesus Christ.

“’Now I will arise,’ says the Lord, ‘now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted…Hear, you who are afar off, what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless.” When God reveals Himself, people repent. They turn so they can be restored to the righteous government coming from the Throne – stability in unstable times. We are praying for God to arise, that His name may be known across the earth (see Is. 64).

“‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil.” This is the judgment that has come because of treachery and betrayal and broken covenants in the land, but there is an answer of return. We pray for a return to the fear of the Lord, where there is no room for bribery or unrighteous gain and corruption, where bloodshed and evil are given no place within our jurisdiction. We are contending for the restoration of these things in our nation, the foundation stones at the core of the Fathers of this nation and our heritage.

“He will dwell on the heights; his place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king in His beauty; they will see a land that stretches afar.” This speaks of temporal provision and protection as well as a revelation of the King and His kingdom that stretches into time and eternity. Our fasting and prayer is touching eternity and affecting history, not just for this crisis, nor just for these elections, but for future generations. We are praying for the peaceful life that Paul admonished the Church to pray for when they interceded “for kings and all those in authority…that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (See 1 Tim. 2:1-4). Our prayers are securing the original destiny of America to be “a City Set on a Hill” that the gospel might go forth.

“Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed tribute? Where is he who counted the towers? You will see no more the insolent people…” God, the King will deal with corruption. We don’t need to read the newspaper headlines about Wall Street, we can read Isaiah 33 and see what God has to say about the events even of this day and week. “You will see no more!” We are praying and contending for the removal of these covenant breakers, of the “insolent people of obscure speech that you cannot comprehend.” How many of us feel like the reports, numbers and figures going by, the smokescreen of accounting practices and books and even our tax code are “obscure speech”? We are fasting and praying and praying for a cleansing that touches every player and sector that has contributed to the instability and integrity of our economy.

“Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent, whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship pass. For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our Lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us…no inhabitant will say, ‘I am sick’; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.” Zechariah 9:11 says, “Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” The “waterless pit” is a well that has gone dry--a place that was supposed to be a source of refreshing, security and life that is no longer bubbling with water because the springs have run dry. But the new covenant cut with the precious blood of Jesus has opened up a perpetual well, a spring that never runs dry, a fountain that makes glad the city of God. You may be thirsty. Your circumstances may be in need of water, and your natural resources may have run dry, but we want to say to you today, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Start watering your circumstances with your praise and thanksgiving. Start walking in the reality of your personal revival and release your faith toward the word of God that dwells so richly in you. The wilderness will begin to flourish.

Verse 12 of Zechariah continues, “Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.” The Lord Jesus is our stronghold. This is the real anchor of everything in our lives day to day. Jesus’ blood is our peace, not only reconciling us to God, but ultimately setting everything else in order. We have this anchor and this hope which is not limited to our mortal span or temporal circumstances, but connects us to the perfect peace, authority and power emanating from the Throne of God where we see that glassy sea that flows from beneath the throne to bring His life and healing to the nations. So even in the midst of turmoil, we lay hold of our stronghold, our covenant promises in God, and release the river and the anointing of the Holy Spirit for miracles, signs, wonders, breakthroughs, deliverance, healing, cleansing and restoration of our natural springs. We receive the double blessings of the Father.

The answer to our disease – whether moral corruption, economic turmoil, family breakdown or sickness in our physical bodies—is the blood of the Lamb. By His stripes we are healed! We appropriate this blood through repentance – turning to the only One who can save us and pleading His blood over our sins and iniquity. This is the position we are taking in this corporate fast. The first items on our fasting agenda were humility and repentance. As we enter the final weeks of 40 Days 4 America, let us pray in repentance and for cleansing for our nation and for our house that will bring crisis intervention from the Throne of our King.

 

In a conversation with a young man this week, he told me of a discussion he was in with a group of 18 to 30 year olds who consider themselves born again and actively interested in serving the Lord. At one point someone blurted out, “I can’t stand Sarah Palin!” Since it was not necessarily something he expected from this particular group, he said, “Really? Why not?”

“What she represents about a woman’s right to choose!” was the immediate reply—apparently with the understanding that this was the accepted view of the present company.

Inevitably the conversation turned to the issue of abortion and dissolved into speculation as to when life in the womb is actually considered a life. The consensus of the group was in favor of the current abortion laws, to which this young man asked, “My brother was born two weeks before that arbitrary date. Does that mean he isn’t a life?” Later that same evening, this young man found himself in another conversation where the same girl, this time tearful, lamented the exploitation and murder of polar bears.

Vote your conscience seems to be the general exhortation people give to one another in America. Particularly if the conversation turns to specifics on which people disagree. But what happens when our so-called “moral conscience” has not been properly formed? Then “vote your conscience” can no longer apply.

Americans cling to the assumption of our personal “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as “bitterly” as we small-towners “cling to our guns and religion.” But a cursory glance over the lives of the average person who identifies themselves as a Christian in America suggests the honored three-fold list from the Declaration of Independence has become a mantra devoid of its original intent. The three have been inverted. Life is no longer the first right to be enjoyed; the “pursuit of happiness” has superseded it. After that, freedom is exalted. This is not the liberty the founders of this great nation prescribed. It is not the liberty that cost them their lives and fortunes that they might retain their sacred honor. Freedom seems to infer a right to freedom from want; freedom from hardship and difficulty; freedom from needs or obligations toward the rights of others; freedom from humility.

Liberty and freedom are not one and the same. The first bears responsibility while the second is dangerously autonomous unless it chooses otherwise. We observe that even truth becomes relative and open to interpretation when individual freedoms take precedence over the liberty afforded the human spirit as a creation in God’s likeness and image.

If America is to retain her freedom, we must regain our liberty: liberty to restrain ourselves; liberty to serve something larger than our pure personal interest; liberty to think beyond the next meal or movie date; liberty to think intelligently; liberty to recall our history and make it honorable once again.

If Christians in America are to retain their rights we must regain our responsibility: responsibility to do the right thing even when it costs us prestige or convenience; responsibility toward the next generation that delights to make a sacrifice for their sake; responsibility to speak out, stand up, stretch out and serve when we have for far too long tended toward silence, cowardice, self-interest and self-satisfaction; responsibility to offend evil.

Moral Responsibility

On August 3rd, Alexander Solzhenitsyn died this year at the age of 89. He was a clear and ardent prophetic voice warning against the dangers of post-modernist humanism and evil, morally and ideologically, which looms as a specter against the destiny and opportunity of this great nation. He said: “One cannot think only in the low level of political calculations. It’s necessary to think also of what is noble, and what is honorable—not only what is profitable.” He decried the fact that law was replacing moral responsibility of individuals and nations.

Mr. Solzhenitsyn had his moral conscience formed as a political prisoner in the Gulag of the Soviet Union for 11 years after which he was exiled to the West. It was there in the Gulag, lying on a filthy sodden straw mattress, that he said he learned “the line between good and evil does not run between ideologies or around borders of nations. The line between good and evil runs directly through the center of the human heart.” In the Gulag a man could get a job in the kitchen if he would become an informant on other prisoners. Once there, one could eat the portions allotted to the other prisoners. But since the daily rations were barely life sufficient, easing ones hunger pains with another man’s ration would mean his death. Daily choices became a “matter of sacrificing your life or sacrificing your soul.”

Solzhenitsyn went into the Gulag a dedicated Soviet citizen and a nominal Christian; He came out a man dedicated to the reclamation of his nation and an ardent disciple of Christ. He devoted the rest of his life to proclaiming the message of the principle doctrines of the faith: that mankind was created by God in His image; that by choosing evil over good, man fell out of that fellowship; that through Jesus Christ man could be redeemed – from himself, from sin, from death.

In a famous speech at Harvard in 1978, Solzhenitsyn observed that America was losing itself to a value system of social ill-restraint that was unbecoming of the purpose for which this nation had come into being. He said:

If (rationalist) humanism were right in declaring that man is born to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot be unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most out of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one’s life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President’s performance be reduced to the question of how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline.

The tendency to lose our ideals, he said, would cause us to lose our place among the nations. Among the trends Sozhenitzen observed in his Harvard speech were:

• A decline in moral courage
• The lull of material excess
• The exaltation of the written law over a responsibility toward higher moral values
• The misuse of liberty
• The incredible abuse and manipulation of fact in so-called journalism
• The power of fashion to form human outlook
• The dramatic shift to embrace socialism, and with it, communism

As one who had lived and been shaped by a society that had a poverty of soul before his conscience was awakened in the Gulag, Solzhenitsyn had a clear understanding of the high cost and value of a well-formed conscience and soul. Solzhenitsyn received the Nobel Peace Prize in a day when the honor was truly meaningful and valuable. He stressed his firm Christian worldview and disdain for such demonstrations as the anti-war movement during Vietnam on the basis of a grander principle than immediate politics. He came to be ignored, if not altogether avoided, by the Western secular press.

The Choices We Make:

Opinion polls are just that. And yet we find that more weight and attention and ultimately more power in our present society is given to opinion polls than perhaps any other force---except perhaps the media. And it is interesting that the media and opinions form one another as they form us. This week we did a comprehensive review of American voter opinion polls done by a cross section of the major media outlets. Number one on the list of what voters are most concerned about is the economy. In a common list of issues ranging from personal economics, to energy crisis, to war, education, taxes and what most polls listed as “so-called” moral values, money matters topped the list with a four times greater percentage values of concern than any “so-called moral values.” This in a nation where 84% of its citizens still call themselves “Christian” when asked about religion. The polls do show a deep divide along political party ideology on nearly every question but energy. The two polls that actually named abortion specifically as an issue found it had a 1-3% importance in relation to economics which ranged between 70-90% of importance. In terms of moral choices the only other issue besides abortion on the list was the concern about the war which was in the middle of the scale of importance and gay marriage which rated lower than concern over abortion. In other words, America no longer recognizes true moral importance in general.

Vote your conscience doesn’t apply as long as polar bears are more important than human lives. Personal freedom and the pursuit of happiness is in vain if it only leads to death. Our national conscience has not been properly formed. What can break this vicious cycle? The answer is Who can break it. Someone outside the circle with more authority given Him. His moral handbook is the written word of God and for Christians there is no option but choice between good and evil as God defines them.

Isaiah said of Him, “For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King; it is He who will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). There we have it–the three arms of perfect government: legislative, judicial and executive ruled by One – an infallible and eternal administration. Human government is intended to be a reflection of the divine. In our quest for “freedom,” man has thrown off the liberty that comes from our Perfect Father, God. By elevating our personal opinion and “conscience” as autonomous from the rulership of God, we have, over the centuries, descended on a downward slope that has lost the value and moral compass that ensures Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness in its fullness. The worship of man and his material needs has become the standard by which our society has judged “good and evil.”

Perhaps this is no clearer than in the winning platform of the 1992 presidential elections. As an advisor to the Bill Clinton presidential campaign, James Carrville coined the phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid!” It originated with a sign he made for the Little Rock Campaign headquarters that listed the three point message that would give their party control of the White House:

1. Change vs. more of the same
2. The economy, stupid
3. Don’t forget health care.

The strategy worked – twice.

But we see that there is a Lawgiver who encompasses all that we need for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, including our provision and health. Isaiah 33:15-16, 24 says, “He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil—this is the man who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water will not fail him….No one living in Zion will say, ‘I am ill’; and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.” As we vote in these elections, there is a higher law that must form our conscience as we make our choice.

In closing, I am reminded of a story that many of us were once familiar with–Pinocchio, the little wooden puppet crafted by the old clock-maker Geppetto as a companion to fill his desire for a son. In answer to Geppetto’s desires, the wooden puppet comes to life. But he is not yet a real boy. Pinocchio has to face some challenges and make some choices before he passes the test and is deemed worthy to keep the life given him. We find in the final scenes, after making many foolish decisions, that Pinocchio discovers the value of life and lays down his own existence in order to save Geppetto. Pinocchio demonstrates that he has developed a true conscience, and in return he is transformed from an animated puppet into a real boy.

As we cross the halfway point of these 40 days of Prayer and Fasting 4 America, we are praying for a spiritual awakening and transformation of America’s moral conscience that we might fulfill our destiny before God.

“The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.” Isaiah 33:5-6

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Isaiah describes revival in chapter 60. “Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory shall be seen upon you. Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.” The verses go on to describe harvest and abundance with blessing, peace and joy. The prophet Habakkuk prayed, “O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years.” The short work he records is a plea for revival in the midst of a time that the fruit of men’s hands has produced nothing but judgment, leanness of spirit and oppression. The famous end of Habakkuk’s words, shigionoth, is a musical notation indicating they be sung as a song with emotion and a sense of victory! “Though the fig tree does not blossom and there be no fruit on the vine; though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no fruit; though the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength!”

Bible revivalists such as Habakkuk were typically those who found themselves in the midst of a time of dark oppression, the sharp terror of impending judgment and doom from invasion by marauders. Their personal lives were not necessarily filled with ease or temporal happiness. Jeremiah was told not to marry because of the trouble to come in his generation. He had few friends, and he witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem during her surrender to Babylon. Ezekiel was a contemporary of Jeremiah. Ezekiel’s wife died simultaneously with the destruction of Jerusalem. A priest who carefully kept himself according to the law, one of his most significant encounters with God was in a graveyard. The surrounding of the dead was an anathema to such as he, but like apostle Peter’s vision on the rooftop, it took a visitation to adjust the man’s view and ministry. Ezekiel languishes in Babylon while the second siege takes place in Jerusalem. He can only witness it by revelation and is helpless except to become a supernatural bridge between the will of God in heaven and the works of men on the earth. Joel came to his prophetic pinnacle immediately following a great natural plague that completely devastated Israel’s economy. John the Baptist arose while Israel was under the boot of pagan occupiers and corrupt religious leaders. The thing they all had in common was a connection into the supernatural river coming from the throne of God. Their message, their perspective, and their power came from Him. Life and circumstance were such that the prophets’ revelations were just that, revelation. They were suddenly plugged in to a realm that enabled them to see clearly and proclaim the work God was doing in the circumstance of their day.

The perfect manifestation of revival comes, however, not from earth but from heaven. Before the throne, and from there to the corners of the earth, Isaiah and Ezekiel describe the four living creatures. Mysterious, yet as powerful as the wind and something like it in nature, they wheel to and fro while lightening flashes and great joyous tumult surrounds them. Holiness effuses from every bit of their beings. Shekinah fills the air around them and the incense of heaven’s temple is thick. They are in revival. America has experienced several periods of revival. Four specific periods of intense religious revival were: the Great Awakening (c. 1720), in which Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield played major roles; the Second Great Awakening with Charles Finney and its aftermath (c. 1787 - 1860); the period of Dwight L. Moody, the Holiness Movement and the reaction to liberalism (c. 1870 - 1926) which peaked with Azusa; and the renewal of mass evangelism in the 1950s, characterized by Billy Graham. Since that time the wave of the charismatic renewal has washed ashore; in its wake a revival of the Word and worship cresting in what has been called the refreshing. True revival produces something. Biblical revival causes the turning of a nation and brings about restoration in a society. It has long lasting effects. In the 21st century we are in desperate need of a genuine revival of Biblical proportions.

The common threads of America’s revivals have been to bring about a general sense of harmony, fellowship and energized ardor for justice and social reform. The Great Awakening during the 18th century and the Second Great Awakening in the 19th century were times of mass spiritual revival spawning new interest in religion, the advent of new denominations, large-scale social activism and new modes of religious expression. The Great Awakening was ushered in with a contemporary of England’s Wesley brothers, George Whitfield, and brought nearly seventy-five percent of Americans together in a common understanding and practice of the Christian faith and life. Not unlike the days of the separatist Pilgrims who left England’s hearth, where revival had once burned brightly and brought about the Reformation, religious dissent and dissenters became fashionable. God was doing something new and living. The now dry bones of past century renewal had become tradition and had begun to produce lifeless conformity that resisted new growth. But at the scent of water the tree buds.

Religious awakening taking place around them impacted America’s founding fathers. It is part of the reason they made such an emphasis on Scripture as they laid the foundation of this nation and fashioned her garments of law. Among those stirred to chart the course of the nation were devout men who breathed in the clean air of return to God and vibrated with the sounds of heaven picked up in revival meetings. The other part was the seed already sown in colonial soil by Columbus’ mission and the Pilgrim’s undertakings. Ben Franklin walked backward from Whitefield’s preaching stand to the edge of the crowd in one meeting in order to calculate the number in attendance. He concluded it was 30,000, but Whitefield drew larger crowds than that. Rain was falling on revival’s seed again. Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, James Madison, Washington, and many others had ears opened to the sound of the rain when it came. The first decisions to support revolution were made in gatherings in church halls where community leaders, and common folk we now call patriots, sought direction for the colonies amidst strange stirrings. Those meetings oft saw the men upon their knees in prayer for guidance and blessing. From that came the present traditions of opening our House and Senate in prayer. For anyone to propose the removal of faith, especially the faith of the Bible, from American government and society, is traitorous to her origin. What historians call "the first Great Awakening" can be described as a revitalization of religious piety sweeping through the American colonies between the 1730’s and the 1770’s, but it produced something. In 1776 a tyrant, an earthly king was rejected in favor of the rule of the King of heaven. America was birthed as the result of spiritual awakening.

Among the social changes of American revivals has been great emphasis on public education. Christians, who realized the need to eradicate ignorance in their society, founded America’s first public schools. It is a travesty that our learning institutions have become bastions of philosophers and their ilk who deny God and seek to ensure that future generations of Americans at their most formative and influential threshold turn their backs on Him by the time they have run the dark gauntlet of college. It’s time for a real revival. Like Ezra and Nehemiah, preaching was only one rudiment of Whitefield’s work. He was proactive among orphans and suppressed minorities. Awakening to the plight of Native Americans and slaves and society’s responsibility came as a result of spiritual revival. George Whitefield was among the first to preach to African Americans in his day. Black, white and brown found common ground, brotherhood and honor for one another at the foot of the cross. In many denominational circles slavery was denounced as sinful, and the First General Conference of Methodism concluded owning and keeping slaves was grounds for immediate expulsion from society. This theme was revived a century later under the preaching of Finney which burned through the Union states just prior to civil war. An abolitionist and promoter of women in ministry, Finney redrew lines of such religious fundamentals as covenant and how one receives salvation. They were revitalized with lasting effect in American theology. The same way Luther spawned Protestantism with a living word that “the just shall live by faith” at a time when God Himself was breathing out those very words in heaven, the prophet simply let his mouth be used to give God voice as he spoke. Church history changed forever. It’s time for another real revival. Far from cultism or heresy, true revival is typified by something “new” to existing tradition be it in emphasis or practice. It’s not spawned in some newly rationalized set of ordinances. Revival is a coal of burning fire bursting from off heaven’s altars, coming right out of the furnace of the belly of God Himself, as seen by Daniel, John and Isaiah. It lands in the heart of the messenger and leaps to flame in his mouth.

The understanding of salvation covenant in the Awakening reversed the emphasis of the Puritans from what God has done for man to turn it around and enflame what man can do in response to God. This affected the understanding of salvation and how to receive it. Suddenly man had power over his destiny enabling him to lay hold of God Himself and become like Him if man so willed. In a way it was the beginning of the democratization of Christianity in America with much more of an emphasis on the individual than had been before. Partly out of evangelical opposition to the deism associated with the French Revolution the Second Great Awakening led by preachers like Charles Finney swept the northern United States. Finney said, “Above all, revival is not a miracle in the sense of a physical change brought on solely by God, but a change of mind which, through influences of the Holy Spirit is ultimately a matter of the individual’s free will.” The "burned-over district" of New York State was the cradle of modern Pentecostalism. Women as well as men led crowded nightly prayer meetings. At “the anxious bench” sinners and backsliders confessed their sins. The preachers used plain language, including humor from the pulpit, in an effort to reach the common man with the uncommon message of the gospel. Armed with Calvinist influences suggesting all men are "moral free agents" who could obtain salvation through their own efforts of faith toward God at any moment, Finney persuaded many to believe, as he did, that time was running out for men to decide about their eternity. He ushered hundreds of thousands into the kingdom. Perhaps prophetically Finney foresaw an approaching apocalypse of a more immediate sort. In the afternoon hours of Finney’s ministry civil war boiled over in America. The Second Great Awakening was known as "shopkeeper's millennium" as influence of the church meetinghouse affected churchgoers’ work ethic and social habits outside the church. The rise of equality for women, respect for “the Sabbath” at the end of six work days, temperance, abolition, public education, and many other social reform influences were spawned by that revival.

America as a nation was birthed out of a revival. Before that the wind of the Holy Spirit set Christopher Columbus sailing to the New World. The Pilgrims, the framers, and a century later the industrialists and educators, from each to each voices began to harmonize with heaven and make that joyful sound in their day and changed the fabric of contemporary culture, returning men to God and awakening Christian faith. You may insist America is not a Christian nation but know this: An apple seed makes an apple tree. “For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:11. This nation may be in temporary custody of surrogate parents who did not birth her and refuse to acknowledge the truth of who she really is for fear that her features fully developed will betray her true heritage and prove she is not the child of futile philosophies and vain attempts at secularism or moral anarchy but that God is in our national genes. Revival will bring us to our true mother: a nation under God.

Like the prodigal son, America may have insisted on the whole fortune of our inheritance to be wasted upon itself in riotous living for a time. But now, nearly face down in the pig’s trough, our sides ache with emptiness. The pods have left our eternal stomach hungry. Rife with division, darkness, disease, destruction, sin and confusion, America is ready to return home. The land and its people are ripe for revival. It’s time for a new awakening. The answer to welfare, stumbling economy, racism and moral decline is a Third Great Awakening, a genuine outpouring of the Spirit in our day to bring about metamorphosis in our land. It’s time for revival in America. Revival is as eternal as God Himself, and as present, if we will but step into it, it’s time for light to shine forth in the darkness. The seed is in the ground, and God, as rain, will come to us. The former rain of revival marked dramatic social, economic and political reform from ancient Israel to the present day. But this revival will not be a passing one. It shall burn brighter and brighter as it ushers in His coming. “For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.” Job 14:7-9.

Lord, we ask for rain in the time of the latter rain. Pour out Your Spirit on America, renewing the face of our families, our churches, our schools, our cities, our economy, our courts and our government. Let the rains of Your Spirit water the seeds sown in revivals past, and revive the roots of our nation's godly heritage. May America be a city set on a hill, proclaiming the glory of Christ to the nations with signs, wonders and miracles confirming the word. We pray for a Third Great Awakening of genuine outpouring to fall upon America in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

 

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 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

The announcement of Sarah Palin as candidate for vice president on the McCain ticket came as a great surprise to everyone. Who is this woman, governor of Alaska, loved by her home constituency, devoted to her family and a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian? The spiritual battle that is being waged for the hearts and minds of this nation was clearly evident when, the moment a woman with traditional values and a vibrant relationship with Christ came to the national forefront, the major media outlets began to assault her and her family as being unfit to lead on the basis of the very values that Christians hold dear.

The spirit of antichrist is vying for the hearts and minds of Americans. These voices are enraged because Mrs. Palin represents life, honor of God, sanctity of traditional family, and Judeo-Christian values. As we fast together for these next forty days we want to especially pray for the upcoming elections in November. We pray for Senator Barak Obama and Senator Biden and Senator McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. In view of the ungodly, vicious and unfair attacks of the media on Sarah Palin and her family, we especially request that intercessors cover her in this season with our prayers. We are praying Is. 49:25 for Sarah and her family, “I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.”

Our spiritual targets are spirits of antichrist and witchcraft. While many people automatically associate antichrist with the visions of John recorded in Revelation, antichrist literally means “in place of Christ” or “in opposition to Christ.” Antichrist is a spiritual force that opposes God, denies His power and authority, and seeks to gain control over the places of power in a person’s life, in a family, a church or a nation. It seeks to uproot godly moral values in the culture. This spirit will tolerate any philosophy but truth and righteousness. The forces of antichrist seek to strip our nation of biblical values in order to have America bow at the altars of secular humanism and moral confusion. The goal is to weaken and ultimately destroy America’s destiny as a city set on a hill and a leader for righteousness among the nations of the world. Revival came to ancient Israel as God raised up anointed champions to tear down idols and cleanse the land of the ungodly values they promoted.

The forerunner of the spirit of antichrist is witchcraft. The classic examples of witchcraft in the Bible are Saul when he sought to kill David, the one anointed to replace him as king; Jezebel who sought to wipe out the prophets of God; and the Pharisees who collaborated with Judas to arrest Jesus and put him on trial that He might be killed. Witchcraft works through manipulation, domination and control. By seduction, intimidation and oppression it draws people away from the true God. A hallmark of this spirit is enchantment, using cunning words which make evil look good and good seem evil.

The infamous account of Jezebel’s control of Israel is marked by witchcraft. Her religion was Baal and Astoreh worship. Baal demanded the sacrifice of children and Astoreh promoted sexual perversion and licentiousness. Abortion and lawless sexual perversion have become hallmarks of our culture, fanned by the flames of the media and Hollywood. These two spirits together, antichrist and witchcraft, have been working to undermine the fabric of our nation for decades. God is banned from our children’s schools. Bigger and bigger government has emasculated and created an ever-growing class of underprivileged people in our society. In the days of Israel’s spiritual battle with these forces, God raised up anointed ones who would not bow to these powers. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. His weapons were prayer, fasting, refusal to compromise, and deliberate defense of the truth of God. His faithfulness ushered in the great revivals of Hezekiah and Josiah which cleansed the land, restored worship and established a godly government.

This spirit of control and manipulation coming through our media outlets and an eroded educational system is trying to define our culture. Jesus speaks to the church at Thyratira, “I know your love, faith, service and patient endurance...your latter works are greater than the first. But I have this against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel and her seducing teachings” (Rev. 2:19). As we fast and pray in these 40 Days 4 America, may God anoint us with the mantle and spirit of Elijah.

Together we bind the spirits of antichrist and witchcraft influencing the media and controlling and attempting to deceive the minds of Americans. We pray a hedge of protection around those persons who are instruments of Your Holy Spirit. We ask You give them the Spirit of Christ in the face of this battle. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, for the future of our great land, we bind the spiritual forces arrayed against us and against America’s godly destiny.

Let God arise and His enemies be scattered! Let true revival come! Release Your double portion of the Holy Spirit! We take up the spiritual arms You have supplied according to Your word and wield them in prayer. We remember Jesus’ words “from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”(Matthew 11:12). Anoint us and Your servants, O Lord, and give us leaders such that it would be to your glory to give us the victory through them!” We pray in the name above every name, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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On November 4th, 2008 Americans will elect our new president and members of congress. These are crucial elections—our nation stands at a crossroads that will determine the course of America and shape the world we live in for many years to come. After eight years in leadership, President Bush and Vice President Cheney will pass their duties on to a new administration led by the man America chooses. Whether that be Senator John McCain or Senator Barak Obama, we know that we will not only be electing the leader who will determine the future of the United States, but that our choice will affect the history of many other nations as well. Electing the right people to serve in the congress is also of critical importance. Therefore we are sounding the call for serious prayer, fasting and seeking God’s face on behalf of ourselves, our children and the destiny of our nation.

From the intercessory headquarters of the Watch of the Lord™ we are calling believers across America to join us for 40 Days 4 America, a corporate forty day fast, from September 2 to October 11, 2008. Whether you can fast with us for one day or several, we invite you to turn a page in history as you join us and many watchmen across America over the next several weeks in this corporate time of fasting. Be assured that history changes when God’s people take the call to prayer and fasting seriously.

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions…So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21,23

From Ezra to Esther, Jehosaphat and Joel, when the future of their nation was at stake, we see God’s people respond with prayer and fasting. When the Moabites, Ammonites and others rose up against Judah, Jehoshaphat humbled himself, acknowledged God’s greatness and faithfulness and proclaimed a fast for all of Judah (2 Chronicles 20). As the people worship and praised the Lord, He sent ambushes and completely destroyed their enemies. Israel fasted when Haman set about to destroy all the Jews (Esther 4:16). Ezra and several thousand Jews fasted as they embarked on a dangerous journey, and God protected them from assault (Ezra 8:21-23). In recent history, we learn from the journal of John Wesley that the king of Great Britain called for a solemn day of prayer and fasting in response to a possible invasion from France. On February 6, 1756 he wrote, “The fast day was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of our tranquility…Humility was turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted.”

Our spiritual father Derek Prince often related to us that as a newly saved young man serving in the British army in North Africa, he began to regularly fast and pray for the British forces. The British were losing the war in North Africa, and was on the longest retreat in their history, when a series of events transpired that opened the way for Churchill to appoint an as yet unknown commander, General Montgomery. He was a man who feared God and was instrumental to turn the battle back, eventually leading to the Allied defeat of Rommel and the Nazi forces in North Africa. When Derek heard the appointment of Montgomery to the North African front on his field radio, the Lord spoke to him and said, “This is the answer to your prayer.” The prayer the Holy Spirit had given Derek for this momentous point of history was, “Lord give us leaders such that it will be for your glory to give us the victory through them.” This is our prayer for America and our leadership for the elections in November.

We are in one of the most critical times of intercession in our nation’s history. We can prevail in fasting and prayer for God’s hand to shape the course of our nation according to His purpose and destiny. The following are areas we will focus on in this fast:

 40 Days 4 America Prayer Focus:

1. Humility and Repentance: God’s heart is moved when He finds humble hearts. Is. 66:2 says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Humility does not only move the heart of God, but it releases God’s grace into our situation (James 4:6). As we fast and pray together let us humbly repent and seek God’s mercy for our nation, our church, our city, our family and our children. “If My people, called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their ways, I will hear form heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.” 2 Chron. 7:14.

2. Elections:1 Timothy 2:1 "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority..." As we seek God’s face on behalf of our nation pray that He will give us a president of His choosing. We ask for leaders from the White House to the Supreme Court to Congress who stand for Judeo-Christian values, the great heritage of American democracy as a nation under God, and for life which begins in the womb. “Lord give us leaders such that it will be for your glory to give us the victory through them.”

3. Children: "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5. The next generation is this generation's greatest treasure. Pray for salvation, breakthrough and blessing for our children. Pray for restoration of godly principles in our education system. Pray for physical safety. Loose the angels to guard America’s children at home and abroad. Pray for restoration to God’s covenant for children who have strayed from His commands. As we pray for them we are asking for our future.

4. Armed Forces: “NO WEAPON FORMED against you shall prosper” Is. 54:17. Pray for success in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pray Psalm 91 as a shield of protection. Ask for supernatural courage, vision, discernment and strength. Pray that God will give us military leaders from the top down who are worthy to lead our troops in war and in peace. Pray for the families who send and support our troops. Bind the spirits of terrorism, tyranny, and antichrist that pervade the opposing forces of our mission  and our military. Pray MISSION ACCOMPLISHED in every endeavor. Pray that God bring them home in victory and honor. "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation" Ps. 91: 15b,16.

5. Russia:“The scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous..." Pray for Russia as her leaders move to revive communist domination in their region. Pray for Russia’s neighbors as they defend their new democracies against the old “bear” of Marxist communist tyranny. Bind manipulation of the media being used as an agent for evil against freedom.

6. Economy: “Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 'Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.'” Deut. 8:3,6-10. Give thanks for the economic blessing America has enjoyed. Pray for cleansing and healing where greed, avarice, mismanagement and sloth has affected America’s national economy. Pray for closing of the gaps in our economic strength including on Wall Street and in big business. Pray for fresh fire and success on America’s small businesses. Pray for deliverance from dependence on foreign oil for our energy needs.

7. Revival: "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth" Psalm 104:30. Pray for personal, church and national revival. Pray for the restoration of our godly foundations. Pray for restoration in every family, every neighborhood and every city. We are asking the Lord for permanent revival that will sweep across America, sweep across denominational lines and bring in world-wide harvest.

8. Peace of Jerusalem:: Our spiritual heritage and prophetic destiny are joined to Jerusalem. The happenings in Jerusalem give us a prophetic pulse of God’s hand in the nations. Pray for the peace of an undivided Jerusalem. Bless Israel in your prayers. Pray for leaders in Israel whom God appoints for His glory. Pray for Israel to be protected from her enemies inside and outside of her borders. “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 64:6-7

The nuclear weapon of the Church is the blood of Jesus. That spiritual arsenal is loosed in the power of His name when His people fast and pray. Jesus told His disciples, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). This authority is amplified as many join together in one accord. Fast with us. Pray with us. Join with us as the Lord gives us leaders such that it will be to His glory to give us the victory through them.

Our request is that if you can even fast for one day during 40 Days 4 America, please contact us so that we can put you on our list and cover you and your family during this season. You may either sign up online by clicking here to register for 40 Days 4 America, or by calling the MCM office at (800) 730-6264. In addition, if there is a special need that you and your family have for breakthrough in healing, finances, marriages, salvation, jobs, businesses…we invite you to send us your prayer request. We have seen testimony after testimony of breakthroughs in impossible situations when we add the power of many people fasting and praying together.

As you, your church or your prayer group join this call to fast and pray for America, register online, or call us at our office to let us know you are participating in this historic hour.

*If you are unfamiliar with fasting or would like to be further equipped in this powerful spiritual discipline, you may find practical guidelines and spiritual foundations in my classic book, The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting, or our audio series Prayer and Fasting.

“Lord give us leaders such that it will be for your glory to give us the victory through them.”

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