New Beginning of Obedience

As we get rolling into the new year, like you, I have many things I’d love to accomplish this year. Things that need to move from the “good intentions” list to actual sweat, blood and tears get-it-done stuff. Some people call those resolutions. I call it revival.

Well-known evangelist Charles Finney has been quoted as saying, “Revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” In the year 2010 I want to renew my level of obedience to the Word of God and the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Renewed obedience is the stuff of revivals. Last week I wrote in this column that I want to grow in faith. Faith and obedience go together like Batman and Robin – you can’t have one without the other.

Certainly some resolutions we make are not a matter of obedience or disobedience, but they do speak about priorities and what matters most to us. Often those things which we resolve to do are the very things that we’re not doing now that we ought to have already been doing. Some of those things are called sin.

Let me give you an example. Confession time, I guess. I know that I ought to be praying regularly and more fervently for the leaders of our nation. The Bible addresses this in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 where Paul writes: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

I’ll just be honest and tell you that I’ve sinned in this area of prayer, by neglecting the Spirit’s urging to lift up others – especially those in leadership positions over us – before God’s throne of grace. I’ll admit that I’ve taken our good government for granted. Not that it’s a perfect system with perfect people, but when we can enjoy such wonderful freedoms as we have, living in relative peace and prosperity, it’s easy to forget that we need to keep praying for our nation and her leaders.

If we lived under cruel and oppressive conditions, as many throughout the world do today, then we’d be much more mindful of how urgently we need to seek the Lord on behalf of our leaders. And yet it’s becoming increasingly clear that apart from God’s grace and blessings on this nation, we’d be doomed. Sometimes I wonder how much grace God has left for America before His judgment against us reaches a destructive climax.

Judgment against America, you say? Oh, yes. America has long since dismissed God from the public arena. There is no fear, or reverence, of God. We have mocked His holy Word. We have rebelled against His ways. We have trampled on His truth. There’s no acknowledgement of His authority and power over us. We’re living out the words of Judges 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

And we are experiencing His wrath against our ungodliness. Read Romans 1:18-32 and see for yourself if that doesn’t directly speak to our generation in these United States of America! The Bible declares in Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” God is judging us already, but unless we repent as a nation, the intensity of God’s righteous judgment against us will continue to escalate.

Now more than ever we need to heed the urging of the Spirit’s call to pray for all people, especially those whom God has appointed as our governing authorities. That’s one of my resolutions – a new beginning of obedience in prayer that might just bring national revival.

“Almighty God, turn the hearts of our national, state and local leaders to Your ways. Give them wisdom to seek Your counsel in every decision they make. Make them instruments of righteousness in this land, guided by Your hand, to accomplish Your will among us. And may the result be that we might lead peaceful and godly lives which please You, and in turn, draws all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth. Amen.”