If my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
The Need for Spiritual Awakening
– A Little History Lesson
America was settled by people
looking for religious freedom. Our founders had a strong desire to be pleasing
to god and to do his will. They
proclaimed that they had come to the new world for "the glory of God and
the advancement of the Christian faith." Other nations, for the most part,
came into existence by conquest for selfish and ambitious motives. But it was
primarily in the atmosphere of God, not gold, that America was born.
One Hundred and Fifty years passed
by from the time of the earliest settlers to the beginning of our nation and
we're not very proud of some of the things that happened during those years.
After the original settlers died off, many of their descendants were more
concerned with increasing their wealth and comfort than being faithful to God
and His Word.
Wave after wave of immigrants
arrived; many of them came for other reasons and with entirely different
motives than those earliest settlers.
England dumped "undesirables" out of its prisons and sent them
as "indentured servants".
Slavery was introduced and men began to exercise their power.
The Salem witch trials began in
Massachusetts. The spiritual atmosphere deteriorated rapidly. Churches were dying and many who had sought
religious freedom for themselves became intolerant of others. In 1730, only 10%
of the people in the colonies attended church.
That which had begun "for the glories of God and the advancement of
the Christian faith" had almost disappeared from our land.
But then something amazing
happened! In the 1730's and 40's,
America experienced "The Great Awakening." Great crusades and revivals spread throughout
the 13 Colonies bringing so many people to Christ. A handful of preachers -
Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John Wesley, and others - began to preach
in the churches and in the streets and in the fields. Tens of thousands
dedicated their lives to Jesus Christ and were baptized. By the end of the
1740's openly-devout Christians made up 50% or more of Americans.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because this spiritual revival was a precursor to the American Revolution. Our
Founding Fathers, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, those who
wrote our Constitution and the Bill of Rights, those who put their lives on the
line, who fought and died that we might be free - all these grew up and came
into leadership while this "Great Awakening" was engulfing the land. The
generation that experienced the "Great Awakening" became the leaders
of the American Revolution!
Today the only hope we have as a
nation is just such an act of God across America. We need to turn back to Him
and the principles and morals our country was founded on. We have turned away from the standards of
long ago and too many live recklessly and selfishly. For many Americans, God is not even a part of
their life. As a country we desperately
need to put God in His right place before we have to experience the wrath of
His judgement.
Scripture to Claim:
Things that we have heard and known, that
our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell
to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the
wonders that he has done. Psalm 78:3-4
