Welcome to my blog. It is my sincere prayer that these entries will encourage you and enable you to see how valuable you are to Jesus who is the ultimate Jewel. As children of the One True King we have been given riches that supersede our wildest imaginations! Every truth revealed to us through God's Word is more precious than the most fine and rare of gemstones. Blessings to each of you...
Much love,
Julie

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Standing In The Gap For Our Nation



"Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from Your commands and laws."
                                                        Daniel 9:4-5




It seems like these last two weeks have been an opportunity for many of us to take a "timeout" to really evaluate the true state of our nation as we wait helplessly for the Covid-19 plague to abate. For two days during this time our cable and internet were out, so I really had time to pray and meditate on the things that were currently taking place. Even with this extra time on hand, I still realized about myself that I was not nearly as faithful in my prayers as this time warrants for believers in Christ to be. I found that it is still very easy in my life to get distracted from the truly important things. However, I press on.

 There are, however, true heroes in our faith that show us examples for how to stand in the gap for our nation and for what is happening inside of it. These are people who fasted, prayed, and repented on behalf of their nations when they saw that their people had wandered far from God. These are people who stood up and took leadership roles in interceding on behalf of those they so dearly loved. Some of these include: Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, and Ezra. These are the people who inspire me in my faith.

Now, in case you happen to be one of the naysayers that doubts our country's departure from the commandments of God, let me simply give you two examples that are occurring today. The first example is that despite social distancing regulations and regulations to stop all elective surgeries because of the shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment) and ventilators, abortion clinics around the nation are still operating on a full-steam basis. From my knowledge, there is only one U.S. Governor (Greg Abbott) who is enforcing these regulations in his state with abortion clinics, even though it had to go through both a federal court that blocked his ban and then the Fifth Circuit court that upheld his ban.

In simpler terms, this means that while, on the one hand, we say we are advocating for every life against Covid-19; on the other hand, we continue to slay the unborn, utilizing essential products to keep our healthcare workers safe during this pandemic in which we find ourselves. At the time of this writing, the daily death toll from abortion in terms of babies killed still exceeds the daily death toll from COVID-19. How far we have fallen as a nation! How skewed are these priorities?

The second example I would give right now is the example of Samaritan's Purse setting up Medical tents and services in New York to assist with the harrowing crisis there. They have now set up a sixty-bed emergency field hospital to treat severely ill people with the Covid-19 virus. Despite decades of exceptional work that Samaritan's Purse has done around the world without a single scandal, some people in New York appealed to Governor Cuomo to make them leave because of perceived bigotry.

This perceived bigotry is based on statements that Franklin Graham has made about marriage only being between a man and a woman and his statements that Islam is a religion that seeks to destroy Christianity and its tenets. Opponents to Franklin Graham and Samaritan's Purse also fear that they will try to proselytize patients, instead of merely treating their illness. Andrew Walker, a professor at Southern Baptist Seminary tweeted about this harassment. He said, "Cultural decadence is allowing intersectionality to determine acceptability of emergency response." Much of our nation has lost sight of the fact that God is the One who has protected us and blessed us in so many ways.

These truths are beyond comprehension. Therefore, I would submit, that is is well past the time for followers of Christ to stand up and be counted. This is an intense spiritual battle and we need to fight it on our knees like never before. And, God has even allowed many of our distractions to be removed like school, sports, shopping, entertainment, and restaurants to assist us in this pursuit.

God is good, and He is just, and He will honor our prayers. If we put Him first during this time, it is my belief that Covid-19 will be defeated and He will be glorified. In many ways, President Trump is trying to honor God by praying, seeking spiritual counsel, and calling for a national day to pray for our country. These are all honorable things, but our president also needs to be supported by the prayers of the people during this crucial period of time. It is my prayer that God will raise up the Elijah's, Jeremiah's, Daniel's, Esther's, Nehemiah's, and Ezra's in our land to stand in the gap, too.

When Daniel prayed the prayer that is mentioned above, He did not pray for a few hours or even for a day. No, he persisted and persisted for three weeks until the Lord responded to his prayers. He repented on behalf of himself and on behalf of his people. He touched God's heart and God even sent Michael, the archangel, to appear to Daniel and respond to what he had prayed. Michael showed Daniel what was to come for both Israel and the Israelites, not just in their generation but through the end of time on earth.

In other words, what God was accomplishing through Daniel was bigger than Daniel probably understood at that time. Daniel went on to prophesy what Michael had shown him for what will happen prophetically for Israel in the last days. That means that every generation subsequent to Daniel has been blessed by the revelation God gave to him.

It is my opinion that we, too, are at a critically important juncture of time. We must not only repent on behalf of the sins in our nation, but we must also confess then things we know to be true according to God's word. Confession literally means that we come into agreement with the things that God is saying. And, we can kn ow what He is speaking to us by reading the Bible and spending time in prayer and in His presence.

As a people and as a nation, we have been abundantly blessed. That is one thing I realize in greater measure today because of Covid-19. We have daily freedoms that many nations will never comprehend and they are given to us so that we can use them to advance God's kingdom on earth. It is my prayer that we will allow our current circumstances to change us for the better and to draw us closer to the heart of God.

This week, I want to encourage you to read the prayer in Daniel, Chapter Nine, and pray that prayer over your family and our nation. Also, read Nehemiah's prayer in Chapter Nine and do the same. we desperately need a revival in this land, and it must first start with the followers of Christ. If we step up right now in this season, it is my belief that we will see God do amazing things!

            Blessings To Each of You, and to your families, and to America!!!!


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