God changed His mind

In the Old Testament God changed his mind several times when people prayed.  Father,  You are reminding me in Psalm 32:6:  "Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to You while you may be found".  Do You mean it when you say this in  II Chronicles 7:14?  "If my people who are called by My name (That's us!) will 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."  Are you saying that if I fall on my face in prayer and fight with Your weapons, You will actually hear me from Heaven, and add my prayer to that of others of Your despairing children and heal our land?

You have given us as Americans, every opportunity to live righteously and humbly.  You clearly told us that You guide and give grace to the humble and that you esteem the contrite in spirit ...those who tremble at Your Word. We have become an arrogant, Godless nation. We know what follows pride.

Dear Father,  You know all things, but for the sake of the readers, is it all right with You if I review some of our history?  You chose some of your more courageous children to come and bring the newly printed Word of God to our fledgling nation.  You, dear Father, planted the passion for making the Bible readable for the multitudes into Your servant, Johannes Gutenberg in the 1400's. In the 1500's,  his and Your dream became a reality.  Many European Christians were crying out to You in distress, much as today, as political, religious and social upheaval was bringing them to the edge of despair.  Many of Your children became separatists: apolitical, wholeheartedly embracing Christ, the coming King of Kings.

These brothers and sisters or ours were persecuted bitterly, not only by Rome, but by the "reformers" as well. They were sojourners in a land of dark shadows.  They took up their Cross and followed only Your Son, Jesus. They desired to worship in a church that was entirely free from state control. Independent church gatherings were springing up all over Europe. ...but they were illegal. High churchmen looked down their noses at these non-conformists. ...but the Pilgrim Christians couldn't help themselves; they had often wondered about Jesus Christ, and now as the Word of God was made available to them,  they had found Him! They believed that all efforts to sanctify a nation or any of the kingdoms of this world would have limited success until our Messiah returns.

The Puritans, however, had faith, hope and love for the state. They believed they could turn things around, but the Pilgrims were under no such illusions. There were some sharp disagreements between these groups.  The Puritans saw the Pilgrims as being unpatriotic.  Many Pilgrims, unwilling to work with the "system" were despised, incarcerated,  burned, beheaded, hanged, crucified and worse. One such,  John Bunyan,  wrote "Pilgrim's Progress" while he was imprisoned.

Father, are you fresh out of people who have access to large audiences, like pastors, who will dare to bravely speak up at the risk of losing their non-profit status?  Are they turning up the volume of their "worship teams" so the screams of the Jews hurtling by their windows on their way to the ovens cannot be heard?

 In 1776,  our nation began on its knees, dependent upon the power of God's mighty Word.  We owed nothing to anybody, just as You directed.  Now we are in debt 16 trillion dollars.  You warned that  "The rich will rule over the poor and the borrower would be servant to the lender."

Father, there is nothing I can tell you that You do not already know, but may I quietly weep just a little?  Many of those You bring to me to counsel are people in such tangled relationships that trying to help them reminds me of my rod and reel fishing experiences as a younger woman. When a fish would hit my line and I failed to get him solidly hooked,  I'd instinctively jerk back the line which backlashed and the result was a snarled mess that seemed easier to sever than to untangle.  ...  and that's what hundreds of thousands of couples are doing: simply ending their snarled-up marriages. Their confused children are wandering around looking for a place to plug in their umbilical cord. Many are opting for marrying their own gender, believing they have a better shot at a lasting relationship in a same sex marriage. Our nation has thought we could ignore Your privilege of treating us with justice.  Father, grant us mercy! We have nearly lost our soul!

Meanwhile, here is a hymn from the late 1800's to encourage us all.

 No matter how hard goes the battle of life, God's children need never despair
His conquering grace giveth peace 'mid the strife;
There is wonderful power in prayer.

Through all the swift changes that come to us here
'Till white robes of glory we wear
We'll look up to Jesus for comfort and cheer
There is wonderful power in prayer.

WONDERFUL POWER; WONDERFUL POWER IN PRAYER
FOR IT MOVETH THE ARM THAT MOVETH THE WORLD
THERE'S  WONDERFUL POWER IN PRAYER

Love,

Jo