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God’s Foundational Purpose for America

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12274474_1059837174079389_2259098459216603194_n“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14

God is very purposeful. He has foundational purposes for America. Our forefathers stepped onto these shores with a Godly purpose.

We can pray for their fulfillment in these days. We have God’s authority to pray His purposes over America. May we pray in unity for God’s plan for this nation to come to pass. It is time to enlarge our vision and see His heart to touch the nations with His light and His glory. It is time to see with the eyes of our heart the reality that the earth will be filled with His knowledge and His glory as the waters cover the sea.

I lived on a missionary ship for years and when we were at sea, we saw how vast and endless the ocean was. God’s light and truth and power will reach the world to that extent. May God give us revelation of this truth so that we may pray it into fulfillment. It will happen as the intercessors arise in holy determination and fiery intercession until the breakthrough comes.

The Foundations of America

The following are the foundational purposes of America as expressed through the U.S. presidents and the godly leaders of this nation.

George Washington (Founder of our country) – “Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ.”

Patrick Henry – “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Abraham Lincoln (16th president) – “It is the duty of nations as well as of men to won their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”

56 men signed the Declaration of Independence and each one knew, when they signed their name, that they were risking everything, including their lives. Will we not stand for truth that it might prevail and that God may become King and Ruler of America?

Bill Bright says, “From the days of Columbus on, God used great care in forming the United States of America, creating us to be a worldwide influence.” The New England Confederation proclaimed in 1643 said:

“We all came to these parts of America with the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When the Jamestown settlers stepped ashore, they immediately planted a cross and claimed the land for Christ. Governor William Bradfore in referring to the pilgrims’ mission in the new world said this:

“They cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good founda-tions, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.”

The Mayflower Compact of 1620 declares that the Pilgrims came to advance the Christian faith for the glory of God. They believed they were part of God’s plan to raise up a nation from which they and their descendants would not only enjoy the blessings of a new land with religious and political freedom, but also touch the world with the Gospel.

The Puritans had made a covenant with God and understood the powerful significance of this. Winthrop said, “Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission . . . But if we neglect to observe those articles, and dissembling with our God shall embrace the present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our prosperity, then the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be avenged of a perjured people, and He will make us know the price of such a breach of such a covenant.”

God’s blessing comes with a purpose. “We as a nation seem to have forgotten that life is more than a series of causes and effects. Just as there is a goal, a destination to which God is ultimately leading each individual, God also has a specific and definite goal for each nation. Throughout American history, we see dramatic evidence of God’s hand molding and shaping this nation into a vessel He can use.”

Like our forefathers, we must fight for our nation and claim it for God. We can no longer let the devil take our country. It is time for intercessors to arise in believing prayer and take back this nation for God. We need to cry out that His destiny for America will come to pass. We need to pray that we will be a blessing to the nations of the world.

A Prayer for National Revival

“Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for the great sleeping giant, the church, who even now has begun to shake herself from her sleep. We pray she would awake to righteousness and holiness in every denomination, in every body of believers, and slumber no longer. We pray we would begin to unify under the blood-stained banner of the Cross and preach the gospel of the kingdom clearly and boldly in every highway and byway of our nation. We pray that we will not only stand up and speak up but that we will begin to reap a great harvest in our nation, bringing multitudes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. May the revival of the saints be so all-encompassing that it affects the spiritual complexion of our entire nation and influences our politics, our economy, our media and our entire society.”  Acts 3:9, Eph. 1:15-23, 3:14-21.  From Pray For Our Nation

“From its beginning America was a nation of vision and destiny. We were created with a mission grounded in a specific covenant between God and the people of this nation – a sacred contract that would form the core of what we were to become. The history of America is the story of God’s preparation of a people to touch the world with the love of Christ. In a drama that began many years ago, we have been carefully molded, disciplined, and guided by God as a nation set apart for a special mission. Although America has changed in many ways and though we often struggle against great darkness, our mission has not changed.” Bill Bright

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Biblical Principles For A Lighthouse Lifestyle

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“A Lighthouse is a family, an individual, business, or private group who commit to pray regularly by name for their neighbors and to care for them by developing genuine friendship that can lead to sharing the Gospel.”


Characteristics of a Lighthouse Lifestyle

  1. It focuses on those who exhibit a Christ-less life – This is opposed to the unconscious but obvious obsession Christians have of associating with only other Christians.
  2. It manifests the “local” church in a community – It does this by diminishing all denominational divisions except for the clear basics of knowing God through Christ. When believers in a geographic locality join together to pray and love, God’s Spirit works (Psalm 133).
  3. It is evangelism through the power of prayer – Answers to prayer stimulate faith. John Bunyan said, “You can do more than pray only after you have prayed.”
  4. It transforms entire communities – It even looks beyond filling the pews of one local church to the reaching of an entire city by a strategic, faith-filled, united witness.
  5. It listens to God for people’s needs and then becomes the instrument to meet those needs – Prayer is communion with God. We speak and listen, and then do. God uses us to be the answers to our prayers for others in our communities.

Biblical Principles for a Lighthouse Lifestyle

  1. Your community is your “mission field” – If God is great enough to put innumerable stars in the heavens and call them each by name, is He not also capable of determining the exact places where each man should live?
    “From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out to Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).
  2. Every Christian is a “missionary” – The perception that only full-time, paid professionals are ministers is unbiblical. A missionary is a special messenger from God. That is what we all are. Each believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit to transmit the message (Matthew 28:18-19, I Peter 2:5).
    “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
  3. The “greater works” Jesus talked about were meant to bring people to faith (John 14:6-14) – Prayer in Jesus name and reaping miracles results in birthing faith. Ed Silvoso says, “Acts of love and power bring people to faith” (See Matthew 5:16, John 13; 14:6-14, James 2). Each year millions of people encounter our churches, television and radio programs, and Christmas events, and still ask “Show us God.” Jesus’ response to Phillip’s similar request was:
    “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves”
    (John 14:11).
  4. Love for the lost produces revival – When we share our faith, it becomes more real to us. Carlos Annacondia, a minister of the Argentine revival, confirms this by saying: “Love for the lost produces revival. When love ceases, revival does too. He who has a passion for souls lives in an ongoing revival.”
    “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ”     (Philemon 6).

The Power of God

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”
 (1 Corinthians 1:17-18).

The noun “dunamis” means “ability, might, of that which manifests God’s power, of mighty works, mighty deeds, and miracles”. Everything you do in demonstrating God’s light that touches the life of another is powerful and it comes from God. It’s his power flowing through you. It’s His ability reaching out to the unsaved and not your own. God wants to use you as a fragrance of his power in every act you do towards the lost. The noun also is “exousia” which denotes “freedom of action, right to act, unrestricted, authority delegated”. The body of Christ has been restricted too long. We have a right to act and share Christ with others. God has endowed upon us delegated authority and unrestricted freedom to speak his words of life about Jesus freely. We must now realize that we are ambassadors of Christ (II Cor. 5:18-20).

The verb “exousiazo” means “to exercise authority, have authority, of the power of rulers, to be brought under the power of a thing”. We as believers must learn to exercise this authority. It is ours to use fully for God’s glory. The vines expository dictionary says that it is “committed to those who on becoming believers, were empowered by the spirit of God, are indwelt by Him, and will exercise it hereafter for God’s glory”. We are empowered by the spirit of God for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. The word evangelism or evangelist is “evangelizo” and means “a messenger of good, to proclaim glad tidings and good news, gospel”. It denotes a preacher of the Gospel. (Definitions from Vines Expository Dictionary)

Assignment

Get to know the names of five unchurched people and begin to pray for them.

“When every lost sheep has a shepherd, you will have reached your city for Christ.” Ed Silvoso