When I ran for Congress in 2009-10, I gave many speeches before all types of groups over the course of 14 months. My speeches included talking points on economics, political reform, terrorism, and other important topics. But no matter whether it was a three minute speech or a thirty minute speech, I almost always stated the need that we have as a nation to “turn back to God.”
God has blessed America in tremendous ways, making it the richest and most powerful nation on earth, and yet we have driven God from our public institutions and rejected God’s moral law. We have need to humble ourselves and pray, and seek God’s face (and not just His hand of blessing), and turn away from our sinful ways.
I believe in civic and political involvement, but as Christians, we are deluded if we think those efforts alone are sufficient to reverse the spiritual and moral decay that is plaguing our nation. Those efforts are important and even essential, but unless they are accompanied by God’s blessing and spiritual power they will come to naught.
It is for that reason that I am beginning a concerted effort to call Christians to fast and pray for the church and the nation on the THIRD WEDNESDAY OF EACH MONTH, beginning February 16, 2011. I believe widespread fasting and prayer is essential for spiritual awakening in America, and spiritual awakening is the key to the future of America.
Any student of the Bible knows that fasting with prayer is a primary means of humbling oneself and seeking God’s face, both individually and corporately. Fasting signifies a willingness to focus in and seek God in seriousness about spiritual matters, by temporarily setting aside physical desires.
The best example of this is found in the book of Jonah. Jonah, the reluctant prophet of fish-belly fame, eventually reached his destination of Nineveh and proclaimed throughout the city, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Immediately, the very next verse records, “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.” (Jonah 3:4-5) When the king of Nineveh heard what was going on, he issued a proclamation in favor of the fast, saying, “Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?”
In fact, God did relent concerning the judgment of Nineveh, because they turned from their wicked ways. Their fasting and calling upon God in earnestness did in fact change the course of history in Nineveh.
America is in a freefall morally and spiritually. We have the blood of over 50 million aborted babies on our hands, and we have homosexuals demanding that their sinfulness be legitimized through the sacred institution of marriage. The future of faith, family, and freedom hangs in the balance in America.
Now is the time for Christians across America to join together in fasting with prayer. If you are willing to join me on the third Wednesday of each month, please let me know. If you do not have the willingness, well, I understand that too, fasting is difficult. If that is the case, would you be willing to be willing, to pray and ask God to grant you the desire to undertake a day of fasting each month? I have prayed that prayer myself and I promise you, it is a prayer that God is likely to answer.
