Quiet Corner: God save America

Published 4:00 am Thursday, July 2, 2015

George Washington said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favors.”

    Billy Graham once asked a university professor what he thought America’s greatest need was. The professor said, “I may surprise you, because I’m not a religious man, but I believe that the greatest need that we have at this hour is a spiritual awakening that will restore individual and collective morals and integrity throughout the nation.”

    In his devotional book, Hope For each Day, Dr. Graham tells us how we can achieve such a renewal:

    First, there must be prayer—the kind that springs from a deep-seated, heart-yearning for revival—earnest, fervent prayer.

    Second, we Christians must forsake our sins, both individually and corporately. We must forsake our pettiness, our peevishness, our littleness, and our conflicts, as well as our evil ways.

    Third, God must become real to us. Dr. Graham explains that this happens when we let the Bible’s truth soak deeply into our heart and mind every day. Then we will discover that God is holy, righteous, absolute, personal, loving and merciful. This reality will be transferred into action, and revival can come.

    Dr. Charles Stanley says, “Our nation is always in need of prayer, in good times and bad, whether at war or at peace, during seasons of overflowing abundance or great need, it’s always important for us to intercede for our country. We need the Father’s protection against threats such as terrorist attacks, natural disasters, epidemics, and economic downturns. If we wish for our country to remain safe, productive, and strong, we will need God’s divine provision.”

    In the Scottish Islands, in 1949, there were two elderly women who prayed earnest, heartfelt, prayers for their community. Miss Peggy was 84 and blind. Her sister Christine, at 82, was suffering from painful arthritis. They could not attend church services, but they were extremely grieved about the spiritual condition of their neighbors. They decided to pray each night from 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Eventually, a revival swept through their community that literally emptied the bars and filled the churches. Historians credit these two homebound prayer warriors for laying the foundation for the Scottish Islands Revival of 1949.

    I don’t know how long these women continued to pray, whether weeks, months, or years. I doubt that the revival came quickly, but I believe they did not stop until they saw victory.

    I don’t know how many prayers it will take, how many people must pray, or how long it will take, but if America is to be saved, we must acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, obey His will, and humbly implore His protection and favors.

    America, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” was first God’s idea. God’s people are responsible for its future. We have no time to waste. We must flood heaven with our earnest, heartfelt, continued prayers.

    “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (James 5:16).

    “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).