National Day of Prayer

On the National Day of Prayer, time for a revival Posted by Greg Laurie on May 2, 2013 at 8:09 am Pastor Greg Laurie is the Honorary Chairman of the task force for the National Day of Prayer, observed May 2. Everywhere we look in America, we see signs of decline. That’s because we have largely forgotten God, but the good news is God has not forgotten us. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God says, “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.” In other words, America has two options: judgment or revival. Of course, revival is God’s work; it cannot be manufactured by men. But if we want Him to work, then we must pray. So on the National Day of Prayer on May 2, my most fervent prayer will be for a spiritual awakening. With all of the problems in our country — political, economic, moral and social — the only lasting solution is to turn back to God. The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Clearly, the fate of the country we love so much hangs in the balance. So what does the future hold? Is America going to end up on the ash heap of history? Or are our greatest days still ahead? No one can say with certainty. When I study the Scriptures, I can’t find America in the End Times. I can find smaller nations like Iran and, of course, Israel. But there is no passage that clearly speaks of America, the undisputed superpower on the face of the planet today. That doesn’t mean there won’t be an America in the last days, but it will be a different America than it is now. We know this much: America’s days are numbered. No country lasts forever. Rome, once the reigning superpower, collapsed internally before it collapsed externally. Unlike Rome, the United States was built on a Judeo-Christian foundation, but we have strayed dramatically from the vision of our Founding Fathers. Freedom of religion seems to have become freedom from religion. We have removed God from our schools, our sporting events, our public places and our workplaces. But the freedom we enjoy was built on the foundation of absolute truth. And when you remove that foundation, freedom can turn into anarchy. That’s what’s happening in our country today. We don’t like the idea of a family of a man and a woman married for life. We don’t like the idea that there are things that are right and things that are wrong. We prefer moral relativism, where we can all choose our own truths. But Scripture indicates that there is hope for America. The Book of Jonah tells the story of a wicked city that turned to God and escaped his judgment. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, the superpower of its day, was renowned for its wickedness and violence. Archaeologists have discovered monuments built by the Ninevites with inscriptions boasting of their cruelty. But the Lord decided to give Nineveh one last chance, and he summoned the prophet Jonah to go to the Ninevites and preach to them. Despite Jonah’s obvious failings – and a detour in the belly of a whale – the Ninevites turned to the Lord en masse and repented of their sin and he spared them. If God could bring a revival to Nineveh, surely he can do the same for America. Pastor Greg Laurie is the Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the founder of the Harvest Crusades. Harvest America 2013 will be simulcast live from Philadelphia on Sept. 28–29.