God’s Call to America

As I knelt before the Lord at my favorite chair in our living room, I was sobered by the conditions which the Holy Spirit had placed on His
promise to send revival. These conditions seemed to match the spirit of
2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by My name, will 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.

With this Scripture strongly in my mind, I sensed the Holy Spirit was telling me that millions of believers must seek God with all their hearts in fasting and prayer before He will intervene to save America. I was impressed by the Spirit to pray that two million believers will humble themselves by seeking God in forty-day fasts.

While I was seeking His guidance, something extraordinary happened.
I distinctly sensed a sobbing in my spirit and, amazingly, I knew our Lord was weeping. I was startled at first. And although I did not know why He was weeping, I began to sob, too.

Then I sensed Him saying, “My people have forgotten one of the most important disciplines of the Christian life, the major key to revival.” And I knew He meant fasting with prayer.

Now, in answer to my question about how to persuade millions to fast,
I felt the Holy Spirit saying to me that this was His responsibility, not mine. My mind was swirling with the realization that God Himself will move His people to fast. I began to see that this revival will actually be a sovereign move of God. That He is not through with America. That He still has plans for our beloved country. My heart nearly burst with thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. As my eyes filled with tears, I knew I had to do all that I could to relay this message to the Christian world.
Then the Lord showed me how to communicate this message.

Calling a Fast
On the twenty-ninth day of my fast, as I was reading 2 Chronicles 28 through 30, I was reminded of the spiritual decadence of Judah, resulting from the reign of the evil King Ahaz.

When Ahaz died, he was dishonored. He was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the tombs of the kings. His son, Hezekiah, having escaped his father’s human sacrifices, came to the throne at the age of twenty.

In the first month of his reign, King Hezekiah reopened and cleansed the temple. Then he sent letters throughout Judah and Israel, calling all true worshipers of God to come to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration.

The wonderful results of their Passover celebration are also recorded in
2 Chronicles 30:25-27. God’s favor returned that day. He prospered the king and the people. But something special had caught my eye. Hezekiah wrote letters inviting the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.

I felt strongly impressed to write letters to several hundred of the most influential Christians in the country, inviting them to Orlando, Florida, as guests of Campus Crusade to fast and pray. It would be strictly a time for seeking God's direction on how we, His servants, can be channels of revival for our nation and for the world.

I first invited sixty-eight of the most influential Christian leaders in America and Canada to serve with Vonette and me on an invitation committee.2 The number on the committee eventually grew to seventy-three, and their enthusiasm for a united time of fasting and prayer confirmed once again that the Holy Spirit was the author and implementer of this idea. Several indicated that God also had been speaking to them about the importance of fasting.

Next I drafted a letter to other Christian leaders, inviting them to join us in Orlando. The letterhead read, “A Special Call to Prayer and Fasting for America.” I knew that many of them could not come, for various reasons, but I prayed that at least what Adrian called “Gideon's 300” would respond favorably. I was confident that as we met together, the Holy Spirit would visit us as we fasted and prayed; and they would return to their radio and television programs, to their pulpits and to various publications to spread the news of this fresh call of God to revival for America. God moved far beyond my expectations - more than six hundred came to fast and pray.

Our Great Resource
America is a great resource which provides more money, technology and manpower to help fulfill the Great Commission than all other countries put together. If the enemies of the gospel had their way, America would no longer be a great sending nation; Satan would take away all of our religious freedoms.

God does not tolerate sin. The Bible and history make this painfully clear. I believe God has given ancient Israel as an example of what will happen to the United States if we do not experience revival. He will continue to discipline us with all kinds of problems until we repent or until we are destroyed, as was ancient Israel because of her sin of disobedience.

The Lord sent all sorts of calamities upon Israel, trying to get her attention and cause her to repent:

“And still you won't return to me,” says the Lord. “Therefore I will bring upon you all these further evils I have spoken of. Prepare to meet your God in judgment, Israel. For you are dealing with the one who formed the mountains and made the winds, and knows your every thought ... Jehovah, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is his name” (Amos 4:11-13, TLB).
This idea is reinforced with terrible warning in Deuteronomy 28:58-62:

If you refuse to obey …refusing reverence to the glorious and fearful name of Jehovah your God, then Jehovah will send perpetual plagues upon you and upon your children …The Lord will bring upon you every sickness and plague there is, even those not mentioned in this book, until you are destroyed. There will be few of you left, though before you were as numerous as stars. All this if you do not listen to the Lord your God (TLB).

God is calling the Church to rise up and lead the nation to repent and follow Him. Our only hope is a supernatural visit from God.

*******
1 Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King, Experiencing God (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), p.31.

2 The invitation committe included: Joe Aldrich, Neil Anderson, Kay Arthur, George Barna, Henry Blackaby, Richard Bott, Bill and Vonette Bright, David Bryant, Larry Burkett, Luis Bush, Paul Cedar, Charles Colson, Paul Crouch, Evelyn Christenson, W.A. Criswell, Roger Cross, Loren Cunningham, James and Shirley Dobson, Steve Douglass, Dick Eastman, Howard Edington, Ted Engstrom, Paul Eshleman, Tony Evans, Bill Gothard, Brandt Gustavson, Richard Halverson, David Hannah, Jack Hayford, Stephen Hayner, Howard Hendricks, Jim Henry, E.V. Hill, John Holland, John Howe, Marvin Kehler, D. James Kennedy, Jerry Kirk, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Greg Laurie, Max Lucado, James MacKnight, E. Bailey Marks, Peter Marshall, Bill McCartney, Tom Moffit Jr., Alberto Mottesi, Richard Mouw, Lloyd Ogilvie, Luis Palau, Bill Pickett, Pat Robertson, Adrian Rogers, Mark Rutland, Denny Rydberg, Al Sanders, Robert Schuller, Robert Seiple, Dal Shealy, Charles Smith, Neil Snyder, Charles Stanley, Vinson Synan, Thomas Trask, C. Peter Wagner, Thomas Wang, Jerry White, Luder Whitlock, Ralph Winter, and Ed Young.

[Excerpt from Chapter 2, The Coming Revival by Bill Bright]

Continue to “America Under Judgment”

Back to Top