Month: March 2015

II Corinthians 5:20 “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

Washington DC is home to over 160 foreign embassies, many of which are clustered around Massachusetts Avenue NW in an area known as Embassy Row. Many of the world’s nations are represented here, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Sightseeing in this portion of DC is wonderful, as these structures are often magnificent. After all, the mere sight of these buildings is a visual depiction of any entire nation. What we see determines what we think about what they represent. Each nation realizes that our quick glance may be their only chance to make an impression upon us. They want that impression to be overwhelmingly favorable.

The people who work in these diplomatic missions have been handpicked. Like their buildings, these individuals represent their nation. They are sent to be a substitute for an entire population. Every interaction is important, and so they pick only the best to be their ambassadors. Our impression of their country hinges upon our impression of a single encounter with a single individual. They are ever mindful of that weighty responsibility.

Christians are Christ’s ambassadors, sent to a foreign land on His behalf. What others see in us determines what they think about what we represent. Every interaction is important. The impression of the world about Christ hinges upon their encounters with us. We should want that impression to be overwhelmingly favorable. Every encounter is important, and we should be ever mindful of that weighty responsibility. After all, we have been placed here in Christ’s stead.

PLEASE PRAY THAT EACH AMERICAN CHRISTIAN WOULD REPRESENT CHRIST WELL. As Christ’s ambassadors, we have a weighty responsibility to attract others to His magnificence.

Jeremiah 24:7 “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.”

The blessings of God are greatly disproportionate to those which we deserve. For simply declaring ourselves His people, we get the Lord Himself as our God. By being one of His, the Lord molds our hearts so that we can draw ever closer to Him. Yet, we should never take the responsibility of being His people lightly.

Being one of God’s people means that we are expected to be faithful; we are expected to have strong testimonies characterized by distinction from the world around us. The Lord has no expectation of the unsaved to act anything other than unsaved. They are not expected to be salt and light to the world around them; however, we are. Absent our salinity and luminosity, the world should be expected to drift away from God. When our nation strays from God’s plan then there is only one population group to blame – those whom God would call “my people.”

PLEASE PRAY FOR GOD’S PEOPLE IN THIS LAND TO ACT AS HIS PEOPLE SHOULD. God offers us a heart to know Him. Instead, our hearts have strayed and the nation has naturally strayed along with us.

Haggai 1:2-6 “Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’s house should be built. Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”

If the responsibility for revival and healing in America falls upon God’s people, then where are those who would rise to the occasion and answer the call?

Sadly, American Christians are missing in action, and have been for several decades as the nation changed all around us. We have been busy seeking our own prosperity. We have been busy seeking our own security. We have been busy seeking our own stability. Yet, we have less prosperity, security and stability than we had in the past. It is as if we have been filling a bag with holes.

This is nothing new. In Haggai, God’s people were too busy to finish God’s work. They claimed that it was not yet time to be faithful. They were busy making themselves comfortable instead of making God’s work complete. Yet, their hard work for themselves lacked results. It was as if they were trying to fill a bag with holes.

God has called us, His people. Whenever we ignore His calling for our own purposes, then our labor will be in vain. PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD’S PEOPLE WILL PRIORITIZE GOD’S CALLING OVER OUR OWN COMFORT. No matter what level of comfort we try to create for ourselves apart from God, it will be lacking. The bag we are trying to fill on our own is riddled with holes.

II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Revival in this nation and the healing of our land is based on God’s contingent promises. Yet, it is important to remember that God places the mantle of responsibility to meet the contingencies upon us, His people.

Revival and healing will not come from government. Revival and healing will not come from entertainment. Revival and healing will not come from the courts. Revival and healing will not come from politics. Revival and healing will not come from the media. Revival and healing will not come from policies and programs.

Instead, revival and healing will only come from God as the result of the obedience of His people. God is calling you. God is calling me. We are His people, and the responsibility for revival and healing is ours alone. If revival and healing never come, it is not the fault of the world. It is our fault.

We must not expect anyone else to carry the load. We must not expect change in our absence. We must not shift responsibility to others. God is calling His people to His plan for His purposes. We must answer.

PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD’S PEOPLE WOULD MOBILIZE IN PRAYERFUL FAITHFULNESS. We must look no further than the mirror to determine the solution to our nation’s problems.