“Hope is basic, like bread and water—one cannot live without it, at least not for long. Hope sees what is invisible, feels what is intangible, and achieves what most consider impossible.”

Andy Andrews, “The Final Summit”

In 1987, Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Two years later the Berlin Wall crumbled, bringing peace to Germany. This victory began with a prayer meeting. Six people in a prayer group met each night at St Nicholas Church, in Leipzig, Germany praying for peace. People interceded in homes, churches, and the streets. Those prayers brought the Berlin Wall down.

In the late 1970s, America’s economy was failing, with inflation, unemployment, and long gas lines. American embassies around the world were under attack, and Iranians were shouting, “Death to America!” American’s were being held hostage in Iran, and the attempt to rescue them failed. A prayer meeting was organized, called Washington for Jesus.

Taking as their theme 2 Chronicles 7:14, people from all over the country met in Washington. They lifted their hands toward the steps of the capitol and prayed that God would bring men and women into the government who would do God’s will. They prayed that the hostages in Iran would be released. In 1981, on Inauguration Day, as Ronald Reagan was being sworn in, word came that the American hostages had been released.

In 2020, a strange disease has invaded our land, causing death and fear, and it has changed our lives in many ways. Eventually, this plague will be conquered, but our streets are filled with violence, death, and destruction.

Cities are ransacked, businesses are destroyed, and innocent people are injured and killed. Hatred and furies have been unleashed against our free America. Shouts of anger have divided our country. The enemy is within our own borders now, shouting, “Death to America!” Can there be any hope?

Our true history shows that Americans have overcome enormous obstacles in the past and our country remained a beacon of hope for the world. The healing of our wounds always comes when we turn away from our sins and turn to God.

On March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation appointing a national day of fasting and prayer saying:

“We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.”

On Sept. 26, 2020, thousands of people gathered on the Washington Mall to pray. It was a day of prayer and repentance. Christians stood and confessed the many sins of America, both personal and national sins. Slavery and racial prejudice were denounced. The sorrow of having had sixty-one million lives lost to abortion was mourned.

Compliancy and lack of prayer and faith were acknowledged. Prayers of repentance were spoken, and pleas for the healing of America rang out, while others in homes and churches fasted and prayed. These people prayed not to get their will done but to get God’s will done on earth. In this, there is great hope!

Dr. Robert Jeffress, in his book, “Prayers for America,” has written this prayer:

“Heavenly Father, Psalm 33:12 declares, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.’ Any country that reverences you will be blessed. And any nation that rejects You and Your Word will be rejected by You. I pray for spiritual and emotional healing for America. I ask that you give our national leaders the wisdom and courage that they need. Remind them that one day they will answer to You. For You are the ultimate Ruler and Judge.”

Virginia Dawkins is the author of two books. “Stepping Stones” and “Please God, Help!” Both are available at Amazon.