Silas
Beloved of All
Your burden for the nations is heard and it aligns with the heart of God who rules over all the earth. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, and He has determined the appointed times and boundaries of every people. Before Him the nations are as a drop in a bucket, like dust on the scales, yet He cares for them and calls them to Himself.
Scripture shows that when the Bible speaks of God bringing evil upon a people, it is not moral evil as if God were in league with evil, for His eyes are too pure to look upon iniquity. It is the evil of judgment, the calamity and consequence that must fall when evil is not repented of. God is not a man that He should change His mind as men do, yet in His patience He declares His warning plainly and does not diminish it, so that if people will listen and turn every man from his evil way, He may relent concerning the judgment He purposed to bring because of their doings. That is His longsuffering. He must punish evil, but He is slow to anger and desires repentance.
This is why your prayers for leaders and for all in authority are so needed. A nation cannot long continue when those who make its laws hate the good and love the evil, when society begins to boast of its evil and parade it. History shows that great nations often decay not primarily from outside conquest but from corruption within. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, and that hatred of evil is the beginning of wisdom. We live in a time when there is strong pressure to tolerate what God calls evil, and those who hate evil are often called intolerant, but God calls His people to hate evil and love good and to establish justice in the gate. We are not to envy evil men nor desire to be with them, and we are not to return evil for evil, but to commit our cause to God.
God also shows that He will gather the nations for judgment, and one measure of that judgment is how they have treated His people Israel whom He scattered and whose land has been divided. He will plead for His heritage. This reminds us that God is not distant from the affairs of nations, He is actively judging with righteousness, and He turns the heart of the king like channels of water wherever He wills.
Your call to intercede is the calling of the Church itself. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, and we are to imitate Him by interceding with Him. He invites us to ask of Him and He will give the nations as an inheritance, and He has declared that His house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. He does not pray that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept from the evil one. The enemy is a murderer and liar from the beginning, and we are not ignorant of his schemes, but greater is the authority Christ has given. We have authority to tread on the power of the enemy, yet our greater joy is that our names are written in heaven and that salvation belongs to the Lord.
Continue to bring these unruly and troubled places before Him. Pray that He restrains the evil one, frustrates evil plans as He has done when He revealed the counsel of kings to His prophets, and that He guides leaders to govern justly and to be delivered from temptation. Pray for their salvation, for God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth through Jesus Christ alone, who is the visible image of the invisible God and who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Use praise as part of your warfare, for from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. Confess your own sins and the sins of your nation, as Daniel did, and ask the Lord to ride forth victoriously for the sake of truth, humility and justice. He reigns, and as you ask, He hears.
Scripture shows that when the Bible speaks of God bringing evil upon a people, it is not moral evil as if God were in league with evil, for His eyes are too pure to look upon iniquity. It is the evil of judgment, the calamity and consequence that must fall when evil is not repented of. God is not a man that He should change His mind as men do, yet in His patience He declares His warning plainly and does not diminish it, so that if people will listen and turn every man from his evil way, He may relent concerning the judgment He purposed to bring because of their doings. That is His longsuffering. He must punish evil, but He is slow to anger and desires repentance.
This is why your prayers for leaders and for all in authority are so needed. A nation cannot long continue when those who make its laws hate the good and love the evil, when society begins to boast of its evil and parade it. History shows that great nations often decay not primarily from outside conquest but from corruption within. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, and that hatred of evil is the beginning of wisdom. We live in a time when there is strong pressure to tolerate what God calls evil, and those who hate evil are often called intolerant, but God calls His people to hate evil and love good and to establish justice in the gate. We are not to envy evil men nor desire to be with them, and we are not to return evil for evil, but to commit our cause to God.
God also shows that He will gather the nations for judgment, and one measure of that judgment is how they have treated His people Israel whom He scattered and whose land has been divided. He will plead for His heritage. This reminds us that God is not distant from the affairs of nations, He is actively judging with righteousness, and He turns the heart of the king like channels of water wherever He wills.
Your call to intercede is the calling of the Church itself. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, and we are to imitate Him by interceding with Him. He invites us to ask of Him and He will give the nations as an inheritance, and He has declared that His house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. He does not pray that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept from the evil one. The enemy is a murderer and liar from the beginning, and we are not ignorant of his schemes, but greater is the authority Christ has given. We have authority to tread on the power of the enemy, yet our greater joy is that our names are written in heaven and that salvation belongs to the Lord.
Continue to bring these unruly and troubled places before Him. Pray that He restrains the evil one, frustrates evil plans as He has done when He revealed the counsel of kings to His prophets, and that He guides leaders to govern justly and to be delivered from temptation. Pray for their salvation, for God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth through Jesus Christ alone, who is the visible image of the invisible God and who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Use praise as part of your warfare, for from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. Confess your own sins and the sins of your nation, as Daniel did, and ask the Lord to ride forth victoriously for the sake of truth, humility and justice. He reigns, and as you ask, He hears.
