Faith

by Debbie Wallis

But America was born in the atmosphere of God. In the early colonies the first public building erected was a church and the first public meeting was the worship of Almighty God When hard times came they gathered at the church to pray to God for help When bountiful harvests filled their barns they gathered at the church to thank God These are our spiritual forefathers who came to the shores of America so they could worship and practice their faith without fear of persecution

“If My people, who are called by My Name, will humbly pray and turn back to Me and stop sinning, then I will hear and forgive their sin and heal their land,” 2 Chronicles 7:14

In this verse God lays down what He requires for a nation to experience His blessing, whether that nation is Solomon’s or the United States Those who have been chosen to be His people must cease from their sins, turn from living lives of proud selfcenteredness, pray to the Lord, and yield their desires to His Word and His will. Then, and only then, will He grant heaven-sent revival. Our situation in this nation cannot be solved by human means; we need Divine intervention to bring this country back to being a Godfearing, Christian nation Churches do not agree on what sin is People seeking God are hearing mixed messages

America’s earliest settlers were people who came here primarily looking for religious freedom Other nations, for the most part, came into existence by conquest for selfish & ambitious motives

150 years passed by from the time of the earliest settlers to the beginning of our nation We’re not very proud of some of the things that happened during those years. The original settlers died off, many of their descendants were more concerned with increasing their wallets and having a comfortable living style instead of being faithful to God Wave after wave of immigrants arrived and many came with different motives than the earliest settlers England began a program of emptying its prisons by making it possible for prisoners to come to the New World as “indentured servants ” The King of England granted massive tracts of land in the New World to select people and prisoners were sent to work these plantations That was when slavery was introduced into the colonies

The spiritual atmosphere deteriorated rapidly. Churches were dying and many that had once sought religious freedom were now being intolerant of others. It was during this time that some went off in strange spiritual directions Voodoo for one and it started the horrible witch hunt era By 1730 only about 10% of the people in the Colonies attended church at all

Beginning in 1734, a handful of preachers began to preach in the churches, the streets and in the fields. These soon turned into great crusades and revivals that spread throughout the 13 Colonies. So many people came to Christ that that era came to be known as “The Great Awakening ” Tens of thousands dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ Christians were no longer just 10% of the population; they made up more than 50% The “Great Awakening” was a forerunner to the American Revolution Our Founding Fathers, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, those who wrote our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, those who put their lives on the line, who fought and died that we might be free – grew up and came into leadership while the “Great Awakening” was engulfing the land. The generation that experienced the “Great Awakening” became the leaders of the American Revolution. 94% of the quotes of the founders of our nation were based upon the Bible

The freedom we enjoy was bought by those who went before us: our founding fathers and mothers who had the courage and vision to imagine a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal ” They sacrificed in blood sweat and tears and generations following have made sacrifices claiming and reclaim vision of a nation wi justice for all.

Our spiritual freedom salvation, was bough the generations who before and Jesus pai and for all sacrifice

As we celebrated fre

Independent Day I thought of Paul in Romans when he said that as much as he desired to be good, far too often he falls short of the mark: and wondered what went wrong.

As a church, our ability to proclaim the Gospel is hampered by internal squabbles We debate over doctrine and that affects us pointing hurting people to the one and only true freedom in Jesus Christ We may intend good yet we, as the body of Christ have failed miserable representing Jesus to a fallen world We are a body divided against its own body How can a body be healthy and work to its potential when the hand doesn’t agree with the eye, or the foot disagrees with the head? Over and over our efforts to ensure the freedom of one people seem to lead to the oppression of another. Church, we need each other. A hand cannot survive without connected to the body. Feet cannot walk separated from the legs. This nation is under attack by evil rulers and decision makers. We need to be united as one body and diligently seek God’s face We need a return of the “Great Awakening” Why not in Small Town, USA? Why not Howe, TX? “Let us show you Howe”

“If My people, who are called by My Name, will humbly pray and turn back to Me and stop sinning, then I will hear and forgive their sin and heal their land,” 2 Chronicles 7:14

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