Prayers that change nations

As Winston Churchill famously said during the Second World War ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ 

I believe that when the books of heaven are opened at the end of time when Jesus returns, these words will be aptly applied to praying Christians. These are vital days in our nations and the people need our prayers. Our friends and relatives need to be saved. People need to be healed, lifted out of debt, marriages restored, families become places of love and nurture. 

But over all these we need to raise our eyes to the bigger picture. Our nations need God. In these uncertain times we must lift our eyes from our personal preference to what does God desire for our nation. And what God desires is that his Kingdom come and his will be done because he has great plans for them.That is what our nations need. The Kingdom of God and it is the prayers of faith filled Christians that will accomplish this.

Your immediate response may be that this is too big, too hard but if we as a faith filled church and praying Christians don’t do this, what is the alternative? One that is too awful to contemplate. 

The prophet Isaiah said, ‘Here am I Lord, Send me.’ It starts with a willing heart and time carved out of our busy schedules. It begins with a life of devotion to our amazing, loving God, worshipping, reading the Word and praying. 

If 120 praying Christians on the Day of Pentecost could shake a city and 3000 were saved, think what a praying church could do. 

Simple, earnest faith filled prayers will change a nation. 

Yet not my will but yours be done

Yet not what I will but what you will Mark 14: 38

King Hezekiah was one of the best kings that Judah had because he 'trusted in, leaned on and was confident in the Lord, the God of Israel' (II Kings 18: 5 KJV).  The most wonderful thing he witnessed was when the king of Assyria threatened Judah just as he had threatened and invaded all the surrounding nations including Israel. The Assyrians were ruthless and brutal soldiers and Hezekiah spurred on by Isaiah prayed to God who wonderfully delivered Judah by killing 185,000 Assyrian soldiers overnight. The king and remaining soldiers fled home in disgrace.

Soon however Isaiah came to tell Hezekiah that God was going to take him home (II Kings 20: 1). But Hezekiah had no son so he pleaded with God not to die yet. God graciously gave him 15 more years but if Hezekiah had known what would happen after his death, he may have preferred to die at God’s timing.

During those 15 years Hezekiah had a son, Manasseh, who after his father’s death became the most wicked, idolatrous king that Judah ever had, leading the nation into all kinds of evil. Hezekiah just could not imagine what would happen if he died without an heir but never imagined what might happen to the nation at the hands of his heir.

Philip however knew the right time to go. He had been in Samaria (Acts 8) and they had been experiencing revival with salvations and wonderful signs and wonders. God told him to leave this revival and go to the desert road. This must have been very hard as he would have known there was not much going on there! However God had a divine appointment for Philip with an Ethiopian eunuch that we are still reading about today 2000 years later.

Doing God’s will is not always easy but God’s way is best and sometimes we have to just trust him even when we do not understand why he is asking us to do something. We may desperately want something believing it is the best thing but we need to take our lead from Jesus, ‘Yet not what I will but what you will.’ If God wants us to do or even not do something, leave a flourishing work, turn down a promotion, not have our heart’s desire, whatever it may be, God is doing it because he has the bigger plan in mind and he is doing it because it is best for you and everyone else.