We Need to Get Serious About Prayer
14 Oct 2015
 For years I preached that America’s only hope of survival was revival. However, for the past few years, I’ve preached that America has no hope of survival, since it no longer has any hope of revival.
The Bible teaches that those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord will be saved and that those who refuse to do so are lost (Romans 10:9-10). If this is so, then how hopelessly lost is a nation that not only refuses to acknowledge Jesus Christ, but outlaws its acknowledge of Him?
The Bible teaches that the sure sign of spiritual reprobation is the acceptance and advocacy of homosexuality (Romans 1:18-32). If this is so, then how hopelessly reprobate is a nation that has enshrined in its law the redefinition of the divinely ordained institution of matrimony to include same-sex marriage.
As a result of my recent preaching I’ve been roundly condemned by my fellow-evangelicals for being an unpatriotic pessimist whose faith is proven sorely lacking by my denial that all things are possible with God. Furthermore, in refutation of my contention, many of my detractors point to the book of Jonah to prove the possibility of revival in today’s America. By pointing out the revival that took place in ancient Nineveh, my detractors argue for the possibility of revival in modern-day America. However, my detractors fail to point out a couple of critical points.
First, the revival in Nineveh was instigated by a preacher like me, one who preached nothing but certain and imminent judgement—“Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).
Second, the revival in Nineveh was only made possible because “the people of Nineveh” were different from my detractors, as well as today’s American evangelicals, in that they “believed God”; that is, the Ninevites believed that their situation was hopeless and that God’s judgement was imminent (Jonah 3:5).
I once heard a prominent preacher say, “You won’t trust God until you have to!” I initially balked at his startling statement, but after reflecting upon it, came to realize the truth of it. As long as we think we can solve our problems we will look to ourselves to do so. Likewise, as long as we think someone or something else can solve our problems we will look to them or it to do so. However, if we ever get to the place where we realize our situation is hopeless, that no one or nothing can help us but God, then, and then only, will we turn to God in utter desperation.
It is when God sees this, as He did in Nineveh—“God saw their works”—that revival is possible (Jonah 3:10). It is only a nation whose leaders are willing to come down “from” their “thrones” and whose people are willing to “cover themselves with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God” who are fitting recipients of revival (Jonah 3:6-9).
The 15th of last month marked the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack upon our nation. The day after the attack, September 12, 2001, Tom Daschal, the Senate Majority Leader at the time, addressed a joint session of Congress, in which he said: “America will emerge from this tragedy as we have emerged from all adversity—united and strong. Nothing can replace the losses of those who have suffered. I know there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that speaks to all of us at times like this.” He then went on to read Isaiah 9:10: “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”
On the third anniversary of the 9/11/01 attack, Senator John Edwards, who was running for vice president at the time, also invoked Isaiah 9:10 in a campaign speech, promising those in attendance that America was doing exactly what the “Lord’s Word” instructs, namely, “rebuilding with hewn stone and planting cedars.”
In the summer of 2012, while visiting the new World Trade Center building site at Ground Zero in New York City, President Barack Obama scrawled a message on a steel girder that read: “We remember, We rebuild, We come back stronger!”
The problem with these biblically illiterate politicians invoking Isaiah 9:10 as an appropriate response to the 9/11 terrorist attack upon our nation is that this verse is actually the arrogant and defiant response of an unrepentant Israel to God’s warning of impending judgment. To prove Israel’s vulnerability and to warn them of His coming judgment upon them at the hands of their enemies, God allowed an enemy attack upon Israel in hopes of humbling the nation and leading it to repent and return to Him. However, instead of being humbled and repenting, Israel was disdainful and defiant. They insisted upon their invulnerability and dismissed any possibility of impending judgment. Furthermore, they bragged that they could rebuild and recover stronger than ever before from any occurrence of divine retribution suffered over their rebellion against God.
I’ve studied the subject of revival for years, both revival in the Bible and the great revivals of history. Although there is much I still don’t understand about revival, there is one thing I know for sure: ALL REVIVAL IS BORN IN DESPERATION!
As long as we believe we can solve our problems through the political process, there will be no revival in America. As long as we believe our country is only one election away from being turned around, there will be no revival in America. As long America’s preachers refuse to preach sure and certain judgment, there will be no revival in America. As long as the church remains at ease in Zion over its hope of revival in America, instead of covered with sackcloth over the hopelessness of our present situation, there will be no revival in America.
On the other hand, if we ever face up to the helplessness and hopelessness of America’s present situation and turn to God in utter desperation, who knows what God may do? It’s time for us to get serious about prayer and to get desperate on our knees before God in our personal prayer closets and church prayer meetings. After all, these are desperate times!
Don Walton
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