“Prodigal America” Is Running Back to Father’s House
I mentioned in earlier posts that I was in Washington, D.C., this week for some prayer assignments. I also spoke for a prayer banquet regarding the Supreme Court. All of the events were successful. I am a bit weary but persevering.
When in D.C., I always find myself reminiscing over the past 35-40 years. Though the journey has been long, it seems to have flown by, as the years have a way of doing so.
I admit that when it comes to patriotism, I am incorrigible. This hasn’t always been the case. I usually tried to sit in the back of my American history and civics classes so I could catnap—or at least doodle—without being caught. My patriotism did not develop until God began to grip my heart with His purposes for America.
It wasn’t that I ever bought into the anti-American movement of the ‘60s or ‘70s; I always saw through that and had a general respect for my country, as we all should. But there was no passionate love of America. Actually, when Ceci and I graduated from Bible college, our plan and desire were to go to another country to do missionary work. It came as a complete shock to us when the Lord began showing us that He wanted us to stay right here and minister in America.
For the first several years of our ministry, I continued to struggle somewhat with this. The charismatic and Jesus people movements had waned, and the church was on a subtle and relatively unperceived slippery slope toward apathy, complacency, compromise, personal aggrandizement and success, rather than purity and a passion for Christ’s cause. I gradually became somewhat disillusioned with the American church, and watched as some fruit of those two revivals began to wither.
It was in the last half of the 1980s that I began to feel this could change, that America could experience another revival and awakening, first in the church, then in the nation as a whole. God had awakened my heart to the power of prayer, and began showing me His unfolding plan to transform the church through prayer and worship. These two forces would release transformative revelation and restoration, and I watched as this began to unfold.
Then Holy Spirit began to impart His heart for America to me. It wasn’t a delusional belief that America was loved by God more so than other nations, or that we were somehow superior. He loves all people in every nation. To the contrary, the love He began placing in my heart was linked to His passionate love for ALL people everywhere. He began showing me the destiny, the purpose for which He had raised up America: to take the gospel of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth. This culminated in an encounter with God in 2000, when I wept–I believe along with Him– for 3 1/2 hours over “Prodigal America.”
The word “prodigal,” by the way, doesn’t mean what most people normally think of when using the term–rebellious, running away, or backsliden. The word actually means to waste or squander. The young man in Scripture was wasting and squandering his inheritance, as well as his destiny, identity, and purpose in life. The riches were only part of his losses. Restoration meant not only having his needs met once again, but having his signet ring of sonship and authority restored.
America’s rebellion against God has cost us many things. But the greatest tragedy has been squandering our partnership with Him, the unspeakable privilege of partnering with God in the recapturing of His dream, His family on earth. On that occasion in 2000, I wept with the Father over our prodigal nation for 3 1/2 hours; at one point, He said, “I MUST have America for what I am going to do throughout the world in this hour.” This was the sealing of His call on my life: helping bring our prodigal nation home to Father.
As I reflect on all of this, I realize that the entire decade of the 1990s for me was God’s preparation for this calling. Slowly, methodically, and incrementally, He was giving me the understanding of prayer that I needed, as well as a revelation of His heart that I would also need. When He finished, I knew what He wanted for America, why it mattered so much, and how He would eventually accomplish this.
And after that night, I knew I would never be the same.
I always reminisce about these things when I go to D.C., and can feel afresh God’s heart for America. I’m not enamored with the fancy buildings, the political figures, and the seats of power. None of these means anything to me. Nothing. I’ve never once asked to meet a government official. I care about one thing and one thing only: a Third Great Awakening that will save millions of people and turn this prodigal nation back to the Father…and back to its calling and destiny. This calling will then contribute to the greatest worldwide harvest of souls in earth’s history.
We are approaching this harvest; we’re actually in the initial stage. This is a hinge year of history, and the door of worldwide harvest is swinging open wide. Revival is coming to America and the world, and will not be stopped. That’s what I was focused on while in D.C., earlier this week, and it’s what I’ll be focused on when I return for Communion America later this week. [Although it begins Thursday night, I won’t be there until Saturday.] Join us as we celebrate the Cross and Resurrection of Christ, His victory over death, hell, and the grave. Join us in calling forth the return of prodigal America through the Third Great Awakening. And join us in calling forth the great worldwide harvest in which the Lord Jesus will receive the reward of His suffering.
Pray with me:
Father, we humans sure made a mess of Your plans for us. We defiled not only ourselves, but brought curses upon the earth You gave us. But in Your foreknowledge, You had a plan for our redemption and restoration before our fall ever occurred: Your Son, the “Lamb” that would be slain for the sins of the world. Our new creation in Christ was declared in heaven before our first creation in Adam even occurred. You determined to have a family, whatever the cost.
This week, we will celebrate the victory of the Cross and Resurrection. We’ll celebrate the inevitability of everything You promised being fulfilled. We will celebrate Your greatness and Your love. And we will celebrate our calling, our commission to help grow Your family.
We declare that our once prodigal nation, which You said You must have, is now running back to Father. We declare that this weekend, the power of the blood of Jesus on the mercy seat of heaven will be released once again over America and throughout the earth. We declare that we will go through the door You have opened, moving into this opportune time for revival and restoration. We will go through it and reap this great harvest, releasing Your Kingdom authority throughout the earth. In Christ’s name we will do so. Amen.
Our decree:
We decree that what was once “prodigal America,” is on a sprint back to Father’s house.
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