By: Pastor Mike Sanders
America is blessed. I pray for revival in America! I pray that God will renew the church and he’ll awaken His people. Who knows what God might do in us and through us as we pursue Him and His righteousness.
Many are frustrated with our culture because they are disappointed with the direction of our country. Earlier this year, we had several football players who wouldn’t stand up during the national anthem. First of all, I love America and I’m very patriotic, but we have such knee-jerk reactions. Our first reaction is to start tearing down the person, as if that could help the cause of Jesus Christ. Second, social media explodes with all kinds of accusations. One thing about America, we have the freedom to be dumb. You have the freedom to be stupid. You have the freedom to make bad decisions. Trust me, life will take care of itself. You live in a country like America where so many people are patriotic, and you get up, and you act like that. There’s going to come a time when people are not going to support you. You won’t have that one million-dollar contract. The point is don’t react towards other people’s issues. Who knows what’s going on, so don’t get caught up in all that. Be repentant and pray for revival.
The truth is we need to learn that God is confronting our sin. He is saying to the church, “why don’t you deal with your sin.” The Apostale Peter says, judgement begins first in the house of the Lord…” We think that a lack of patriotism is destroying America. America is in the condition that she is because of the church’s status. The church is more worldly than it has ever been. The church is departing from the word of God.
The Bible says in Romans chapter two verse four “…do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.” It is the goodness of God that should lead us to repentance. It is the goodness of God that should lead us to repentance. If there is any nation that should be repentant it is America, because of how good God has been to us. America has let the goodness of God and the grace of God and the mercy of God cause them to become arrogant, defiant and unwilling to rely upon the strength of God and the wisdom of God; therefore we have made a mess of ourselves.
God’s people are responsible and accountable to each other. The mistake of Americanism is that we are individualists, and we take great pride in our individualism. We don’t need anybody else. We can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but God calls us to learn to support and to encourage one another.
The point is that we must humble ourselves and submit to God. We must line up under him, and follow his will no matter what obstacles we face. We willingly offer ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.