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A Call for National Healing

from the July 10, 2007 eNews issue
http://www.khouse.org (visit our website for a FREE subscription) ...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Tens of thousands of Christians converged on Nashville, Tennessee this weekend to spend a day united in prayer for the United States. Many had prepared in advance by fasting for 21 or 40 days, believing that seeking God together is necessary to turn back America's spiritual and moral decay.

While promoted by charismatic Christians, the gathering was designed to be nondenominational - a call for all Christians of varying denominations to come together in unity in Jesus Christ to repent and worship and pray for the Church and for national healing. This week's gathering - purposefully set on 07-07-07 - is not the first "call to prayer" in recent years. In September, 2000, 400,000 young people met at the Mall in Washington D.C., and in subsequent years prayer warriors have gathered in New York, Boston, San Francisco and other cities. The prayer teams intend to gather once again in Washington D.C. in August of 2008 (08 of '08) in preparation for the US elections.

The heart cries of attendees varied as they worshiped and knelt at Nashville's LP Field on Saturday. They prayed for their families and broken homes. They prayed for forgiveness for sexual impurity and for abortion. They prayed for unity within the Church - that congregations could see past racial and cultural and denominational differences to love each other as fellow members of the body of Christ.

Some church leaders in the Nashville area were not as excited about the gathering as other church leaders. According to the Tennessean:

"They're calling for renewal, or revolution, if you will, if I understand correctly. But I'm just not persuaded that sexual perversion is the nation's greatest sin," said the Rev. Judi Hoffman, pastor of Edgehill United Methodist Church, who named caring for the poor and promoting living wages as other important faith issues. "I think they're overly concerned with purity."

The Bible does focus a great deal on caring for widows and orphans, and for justice for the poor, the Bible emphasizes the great love of God for humanity. God's passion for holiness and purity, however, should never been underestimated. Christ died so that his blood would cover our sins, and the Holy Spirit was sent to sanctify believers. A public gathering of repentance and prayer is biblical:

"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." - 2 Chronicles 7:14

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly." - Joel 2:15

May we all constantly seek God for ourselves and our families, for our churches, and our land.

Related Links:

  •   Thousands Pray for Purer Nation - Tennessean
  •   The Call - Ministry Homepage