For Zion’s sake, I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake, I will not rest until her righteousness and her salvation goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentiles shall see your righteousness and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name. Which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no longer be termed desolate, but you shall be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. I have set watchmen on your wall, O Jerusalem, they shall never hold their peace, day, or night. You who make mention of the Lord do not keep silent and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise. Isaiah 63:1-7 Two years ago, the largest day of prayer and repentance our nation has ever experienced was held, Jonathan Cahn’s The Return and Franklin Graham’s Prayer March, were both held in Washington DC. Two powerful men of God called the church to pray for our nation on this historical day that changed the course of our nation. (We hosted Prayer on the Square here in Levelland for those who could not go to Washington DC but wanted to join in on the national call to repentance for our nation.)
The church understood the seriousness of the season we are in, and millions watched and prayed. The Prayer March had 3.8 million Christians watching and participating from 57 Countries and the Return had 42 million Believers from 180 nations standing in the gap and praying for our beloved nation. As we stood together and “called those things which do not exist as they did” Romans 4:17.
Many believed that God told them that Donald Trump would win the election. On Election night, Donald Trump was indeed winning until they shut down the counting and the boxes of ballots showed up in many states’ election facilities. J.D. and I watched the news and we saw where the votes for Donald Trump decrease after a commercial break. Christians held on to the promise of God, that Donald Trump would remain in office despite what the fact the news stations called the election for Biden. Then when the day for Congress to convene and certify the election, people expected Vice President Mike Pence to stop the certification and require the states to investigate the allegations before the election was certified. When the Vice President did not do what people thought he should, many Christians lost hope in the promises that God had made for our country.
It has taken me along time to realize God never works things out the way I think he will, and His timing is always much later than my expectations. Take Abraham for example, at the age of 75 God told him he would be a father of many nations. Abraham and Sarah got frustrated with the timing of God and took matters into their own hands to help God fulfill His promise. Abraham went into Sarah’s handmaid and had a child with her. That son born out of the plan of God became the father of many of the Arab nations that are still fighting with Israel. It was 25 long years after God made a promise to Abraham, Sarah’s womb had dried up and he was 100 years old when God fulfilled His promise to Abraham.
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Just because God does not work the way we think He should or in the time we want it done, does not mean He is not faithful to fulfil His promises. It is our job to stay in agreement with what God says no matter what things look like all around us. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7. Are you still walking out the promise of God or have you wrongfully judged Him deciding He is not faithful?
One of the biggest lies from the pit of hell is that God is in control and if He wants something to happen, it will just happen, and we do not have to do anything. Yes, God is most definitely in control, but He gave man a free will and we are given the responsibility to participate in God’s plan. In Genesis 1:26 “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Sadly, the devil tempted Adam and Eve and they lost their dominion when they sinned. Jesus laid aside His deity and came to earth to redeem us. Jesus told the disciples in Luke 10:19 “Behold I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” We have the God given right and responsibility to have dominion over the enemy and subdue the powers of darkness.
The greatest thing we can do is to pray and come into agreement with God. Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10.
We are called to come into agreement with His will and pray it into existence. Do not buy into the lies of the devil, believing that God will have His way no matter what, and that you are a helpless victim in the hands of God Almighty. To believe the lie that God is in control, and He wants Biden to be President, you must believe that it is God’s will for millions of babies to be killed by abortion and that God wants this gender confusion mess that his administration is pushing. Neither are in the will of God, and we must do our part by praying and obeying what He tells us to do. As American citizens it is our right and responsibility to vote in every election. I heard a story about a man who felt led to run for school board, so he ran. He voted for himself on the day of the election. He was the only one to vote and that day and one the schoolboard seat by his vote. Satan wants us to believe his lies and do nothing because “God is in control.”
Another lie the devil wants us to believe is that we prayed one time and that is all it takes. Paul told the church at Thessalonica, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Jesus told the parable about the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-6 “Then He spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart saying: There was a certain judge in a city who did not fear God nor regard man.
Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, “Get justice for me for my advisory.” And he would not for a while; yet afterward he said withing himself, “though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because of this widow troubles me I will avenge her lest by her continuous coming she weary me.” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said, and shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Is your faith based on what you see and hear or is it based on the promises of God? Do you pray once or twice and then believe the lies of the enemy and believe that it was not God’s will for you? Another way the devil keeps us from taking authority, is to make everything about us. When you pray, do you just pray for your family and your needs, or do you pray for other people who are facing the same issues? Do you just pray for the United States of America, or are you also praying for freedom around the world? I believe that when the United States of America becomes free, we will see the nations around the world get their freedoms as well.
God is calling us to be watchmen for our cities, our nations, and our world. A watchman is like a sentinel, one who look out or about, spy, keep watch properly, to peer into the distance, to observe, await, behold, look up, watch. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant, because your advisary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” A watchman is sober and vigilant, he is also concerned about the people around him.
In Isaiah 62, God called people to be watchmen and told them to continually pray to God. “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord do not keep silent and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise.” The NLT “O, Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls, they will pray day and night continually. Take no rest all you who pray to the Lord. Give the Lord no rest until He completes His work, until He makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth.”
God is inviting you to bombard Him with prayers night and day! God promised in Isaiah 62 that He will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. God has been at work delivering the United States of America and other nations around the world for over 2 years. We are to continue to watch and pray, expecting to see His salvation. Psalms 121 “I will lift up my eyes to the hills- from whence my help comes from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved, He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.” God is on the move, and He will deliver us from the oppression.
As we go into Rosh Hashanah and it ends in Yom Kippur, be vigilant in prayer. 2 Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Expect God to do great things! “So, Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you whoever says to this mountain, be removed, and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray, believe and you will receive them.” Mark 11:22-24 Cathy Nesmith