SEARCHLIGHT
How often do you pray for your nation?
SCRIPTURE
Gather together-yes, gather together, you shameless nation. Gather before judgment begins,
before your time to repent is blown away like chaff. Act now, before the fierce fury of the Lord falls and the terrible day of the Lord’s anger begins. Seek the Lord, all who are humble, and follow his commands. Seek to do what is right and to live humbly. Perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you-protect you from his anger on that day of destruction. Zephaniah 2:1-3 NLT
SPOTLIGHT
In the United States, the first Thursday of every May is A NATIONWIDE CALL TO REPENTANCE. It is called the National Day of Prayer. For 10 years I had the privilege to participate in the leadership of the National Day of Prayer in Springfield, Massachusetts. Each year, the ministers of the city, who were convinced that prayer was needed for our nation, gathered together near city hall to pray. They would invite their congregations to join them for an hour of prayer. It was a solemn, unified assembly of many different Christian denominations gathering as Jesus Christ’s Church. How special this time of prayer was. Hundreds of people assembled. Some people led everyone in united prayer. Sometimes you could see everyone kneeling to pray silently. Other times you could witness small groups of people praying together for our nation. What a beautiful sight! Many different cultures gathered together in unity to call out to God to save our land.
A CALL TO NATIONAL REPENTANCE is the focus of today’s Scripture. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to gather together to pray. In Zephaniah 1, God announced judgment was coming because of the ungodly ways in which people were living. After reading that chapter, you are inclined to think nothing else could be said concerning the matter. God declared judgment. It was just a matter of time.
How important it is to read all of the story. In Zephaniah, 2:1-3, God announced, through the prophet, a way of escaping His judgment. Prayerful repentance was necessary. This was the only way to avoid God’s judgment. Here is just another example of the fact that God is both righteous and merciful. God’s goal is not to bring judgment. God longs to extend mercy to people. Judgment only follows after people have continuously denied God or chosen to ignore Him.
Zephaniah pleaded with the people of his nation to repent before it was too late. Anyone who had a reverential fear of God was called to repent for the way the people of their nation were dishonoring God. The door of repentance would not always be open. The prophet said each day was like chaff blowing away. The time to repent was now.
Why did Zephaniah stress the urgency to repent? He described his nation as being shameless. When a nation has no shame about being ungodly, God’s judgement is imminent. A shameless nation is when the majority of the people live without a Godly conscience. There is no right or wrong. Truth is blurred and relative.
Is your nation shameless? Now is the time to prayerfully repent.
Will you initiate or participate in A NATIONWIDE CALL TO REPENTANCE for your country? There is a great need for Christians to gather together to pray for their nation. The goal of assembling with other believers of like faith for a prayer meeting is to lead the nation into getting right with God. You realize that the majority of your nation is deaf to God. You gather together to cry out to God to convict people of their sinful, ungodly living.
You need to assemble with other believers to pray for your nation. Of course, believers can individually pray, but there is a tremendous need for people to assemble together for the primary purpose of seeking God. Zephaniah underlined this important thought by saying it not once but twice, “Gather together-yes, gather together,..” These words mean to make a crowd, amass yourselves, assemble in a large group to repent. Christians quickly pray for their personal needs but often fail to forget to pray for their national needs. What can you do to make this happen in your part of the world?
Together Christians must recognize the urgent call to pray for revival within the churches and spiritual awakening within the nation. If your homeland is ever going to experience a spiritual renewal, believers are going to have to do the same 3 things Zephaniah pointed out:
- Seek the Lord. When the people of any nation become so morally lax that they do not even recognize what sin really is, there is a great need to seek God. When society, as a whole, expresses no shame for ignoring or denying God’s perspective and principles for living, the judgment of God will be close at hand. Christians need to call for a solemn assembly. The only way to escape God’s judgment is for the meek to seek.
- Seek to do what is right. When the people of a nation define right as wrong and wrong as right, Christians need to do right. Their way of living must honor God regardless of the cost.
- Live humbly. When the people of a nation live without shame, Christians are to humble themselves by admitting that things within society have gone far away from God’s prescribed way of living. The only solution to helplessness is to be humble before God.
Beware! Believers must be aware of yielding to the temptation of thinking that nothing can be done for the present sinful decline of their nation. One of the most deceptive thoughts Satan plants in believers’ minds is that there is no need to pray and no hurry to pray. Jesus Christ warned in Luke 21:36, “Keep alert at all times. And pray that you might be strong enough to escape these coming horrors and stand before the Son of Man.” [NLT]
Society needs to hear God’s call to repentance. The only way they will hear it is if God’s people humble themselves, pray, and seek God. [2 Chronicles 7:14] A society that has moved far from God’s will, ways, and wisdom is denying or ignoring their need to honor their Creator. People who claim to have a personal relationship with God must not sit back and let history unfold. God’s people are on this earth to proclaim that a loving God will someday bring judgment on all those who lived to please themselves and not God. God’s people are on this earth to proclaim that the God who will someday judge, is a God who loves and forgives people.
SOMETHING TO DO
Assemble now! Pray now! Repent now! During our National Day of Prayer, we would begin our time of prayer with repentance, followed by praying first for our federal leaders then followed by praying for state/provincial and local/city leaders. We prayed for all types of leaders including politicians, judges, police, medical personnel and educators. Will you invite other believers to gather with you for 1 hour to pray this way for your nation?
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Almighty God, I know that someday You will have to bring judgment because of the sinful way people are living and ignoring You. I call out to You to send one more revival to Christian people. Stir them to recommit themselves to serve You and share the Good News. I humbly ask You to send a spiritual awakening to my country before You rapture believers. Just one more time would You, Heavenly Father, convict many people of their sin and cause them to trust You as Savior and Lord. AMEN!