As we approached Lent this year and I considered how to “celebrate” it, I found myself grieving the anger and hatred dividing our country and the overwhelming suffering and despair throughout our world. Wars, famines, disease outbreaks around the world: all hurting people God loves. Deportations, abrupt firings, outrage, ridicule and derision, all being done in the name of America. What I see does not line up with my beliefs as a Christian or my identity as an American. Surely this must grieve the heart of God.
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Lent is meant to be a time of repentance. There is much for us, as individuals and as a nation, to repent. Daniel, a captive in Babylon, engaged in “identification repentance” on behalf of his people. [Daniel 9:1-19] Nehemiah, also a Babylonian captive, wept, mourned and fasted as he prayed for the city of Jerusalem. [Nehemiah 1] Their prayers were answered. It seems as though God was just waiting to be asked. What might happen, I wonder, if we ask now?
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Jesus told His disciples,
“I also tell you this:
If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask,
my Father in heaven will do it for you.
Matthew 18:19 NLT
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Since we have Biblical examples and Jesus’ promise, shall we join together in prayer for our nation and our world these 40 days of repentance? (Note: the 40 days don’t include Sundays: Sunday is always a feast day, never a fast day.) Who knows? Perhaps God is raising up an army of prayer warriors for such a time as this.
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The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power
and produces wonderful results.
James 5:16b NLT
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“The world was made partly that there may be prayer;
partly that our prayers might be answered.”
C.S. Lewis