Cry Out, America!

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1        Sing for joy to God our strength;

Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

2        Raise a song, strike the timbrel,

The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.

3        Blow the trumpet at the new moon,

At the full moon, on our feast day.

4        For it is a statute for Israel,

An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

5        He established it for a testimony in Joseph

When he went throughout the land of Egypt.

I heard a language that I did not know: 

6        “I relieved his shoulder of the burden,

His hands were freed from the basket.

7        “You called in trouble and I rescued you;

I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;

I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

8        “Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you;

O Israel, if you would listen to Me!

9        “Let there be no strange god among you;

Nor shall you worship any foreign god.

10      “I, the Lord, am your God,

Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;

Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 

11      “But My people did not listen to My voice,

And Israel did not obey Me.

12      “So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,

To walk in their own devices.

13      “Oh that My people would listen to Me,

That Israel would walk in My ways!

14      “I would quickly subdue their enemies

And turn My hand against their adversaries.

15      “Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him,

And their time of punishment would be forever.

16      “But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,

And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

(Psalm 81, NASB)

 

REFLECTIONS:
Israel did it again… cried out, were rescued, relieved, relaxed, prospered, then turned away from God to pursue their own carnal desires (idols), habitually sinned, became captive to enemies… the cycle:  over and over again.  Countless times the cycle goes on and on.  Countless times the Lord always answered the crying out and was always merciful to the cries of His people.  It just goes to show you the human race doesn’t learn from history, much to our detriment. 

We are living in a day where we are being slowly but surely captivated by our enemies.  America has lost her moral footing in many ways.  I am not especially political and have problems with both sides of the governmental isle.  Unlike some of the evangelical establishment, I do not believe we have a government problem (although there are serious problems there), we have a spiritual problem. 

I love America and all she stands for.  No nation on earth has received the magnitude of blessings that this country has.  We were founded on the principles of God and were DEDICATED TO GOD.  Slowly but surely our wealth and prosperity have deceived us.  It has made us “invincible,” proud and arrogant.   But I fear that we are coming to an end of this kind of existence here.  While there are some great voices speaking out and many praying for revival to come, America has exported to the world all kinds of evil.  The kind we have created for ourselves in a prosperous, anything goes atmosphere, and where there is no reverence for God or any acknowledgement that he even exists.  Essentially we have turned away from God.  Even our Enemies are incensed by the magnitude of this evil.

As this passage points out, it is the repentance of our evil ways and crying out to God that will change this course… nothing else.  The Kingdom of God rising up in this country is the only hope for us.  You and me.  We are at critical mass for our enemies to overtake us, unless there is some radical intervention.  The Scriptures say that you reap what you sow.  God will not be mocked.  America, and in turn you and I are about to reap what has been sown.  Unless… we cry out.


POINT OF ACTION:
I know this devotional sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, but it need not be.  Our God is Merciful.  And in verses 13-14 is the Remedy to all of this.  I highlight it again… 

“Oh that My people would listen to Me,

That Israel would walk in My ways!

“I would quickly subdue their enemies

And turn My hand against their adversaries.”

That is pretty straight forward and plain.  It starts with ME.  I need to take inventory and cry out in repentance.  We have many promises that Israel didn’t have.  We have a NOW Messiah that hears the instant we repent.  He loves us beyond measure.  He is a Father that is pricking our conscience that all is “not well” and that we need to CRY OUT to Him.  I don’t see this taking generations to change, not since Jesus paid it in FULL already, but History waits for a NOW generation to rise up and call righteousness and redemption to the table in full measure: nothing less than Revival… One that can change a nation in a Day.  It is possible… IF...

 

 

PRAYER:

Lord Jesus, I cry out today for myself, my family, my church and my country.  We have sinned against You and have taken You out of our heart, thinking and culture.  We are gravely in danger of being taken over by our enemies.  Lord, we cry out today for You to forgive us and change our ways.  Lord, give Your church the courage to stand in public and private places and proclaim that only YOU are the Way, the Truth and the Life and that those things  do not come from a government, from the productivity of their people, or from their wealth and military strength.  Lord, You have given us warning after warning that we have strayed from Your morality, Your love and Your Lordship.   Lord we cry out for Revival on a scale never before seen in our land or in our world.  We need You more than anything else.   

 

 

WHO AM I?

I am June Criner, and I am a Grandmother.  I think Grandmothers have a special perception.  They are more unconditional and free to just LOVE.  They have pondered their mistakes and learned what is really important… FAMILY.   All the clutter of life has been cleared away and a new level of clarity comes into view.   I hope that as you read this devotional you see it written in the spirit of a Grandmother.  My hope, my family’s hope and your hope rests on God.  The future and prosperity of this country and my grandbaby’s depend on what we do with the Lord.  I have been fortunate to see the Lord restore many with just a word or prayer, but I have also seen many who would not receive from God and it meant destruction in their lives.  I pray this would not be the case for our next generation.