Make America Godly Again (Part I)

If America is going to return to greatness, she must first return to godliness. When the Bible was the most-read book in the land, when the people of the nation had respect for God and His Word, we formed this country by defeating the most prominent and best-trained military in the world with a bunch of farmers. One hundred years later, most Americans studied their Bibles, prayed, and attended church every Sunday. America went through an industrial revolution like the world had never seen. When the church in America practices the godly principles that started America, God blesses her without measure.

If we are ever going to fix America, God’s people need to start thinking spiritually instead of physically. Thinking spiritually is renewing our mind to coincide with God’s Word (Romans 12:1-2). For example – the powers that be are ordained by God (Romans 13:1). This means we have those in office God wants us to have.

Instead of griping and complaining about our people in office, we should look in the mirror and ask a painful question – Why did God give us the leaders He did?

The answers will come from God, and God speaks through His Bible. We must decide what is wrong before determining how to fix the problem. Just choosing what to tackle first is more manageable than it may seem. God tells us “… that judgment must begin at the house of God…” (1 Peter 4:17). God’s people, His church, must look deep down within ourselves, see and acknowledge our sins, and repent. Bible passages that describe today’s Christians’ problems abound, but centering in on two will give Christendom an excellent head start on fixing the issues. Those passages are 2 Chronicles 7:14 and Revelation 3:14-22.

2 Chronicles 7:14, “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.”

This verse gives us four specific things Christians must do to heal the land – humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from sin.

Humble themselves

We must get into the Word of God and admit we are wrong and that God is right. For this to happen, Christians must study the Scriptures. How can we know God’s opinion on matters if we do not at least read the book He gives us that tells us His likes, dislikes, and views?

Humbling ourselves also means putting God in our thought process. Jesus tells us of a man in Luke 12:16-21 who receives blessings in His work. Profits are aplenty. His business does so well that the man decides to retire and live out his days with his accumulated wealth. Jesus calls the man a “fool.” Not because the man decided to retire but because the fellow never consulted God. We do not read of the man asking God what business to start, how to run the thing, or what to do with his accumulated funds. God was not in his thought process.

As Christians, God should be at the forefront of our minds 24/7. What should I do? How shall I do it? What precepts in God’s Word will guide me through the process? These are all questions we should ask every day. By doing this, we place God first in our lives. Christians must put God first, not ourselves, to have Biblical humility. These questions hold for the significant events of life – the choice of a spouse, picking a career, whether to have children, and the small decisions – our diet, our clothing for the day, and recreational activities, to name a few.

Pray

What should Christians do first? The answer is to pray.

James 4:1-3 gives two reasons why God does not answer prayer. First, we don’t pray; second, we pray selfishly.

We all know at least one person who you only hear from when they need something. God knows hundreds of millions of them. For many Christians, prayer is a last resort or an everyday Christmas list.

How can God be our top priority if prayer is a last resort instead of the first thing we do? If we know what God wants in our lives and pray according to His will, not ours, our prayers seek God’s will instead of our pleasures. Proper prayer comes from the attitude (heart) at work in the section on humbling ourselves.

Seeking God’s Face

Seeking God’s face is when a Christian digs into God’s Word to discover who He really is, how God thinks, and what He would do. What God approves of and what makes Him sick to His stomach. It also involves learning how things that seem contradictory to us work in perfect harmony within Him. For instance – It is difficult to understand how God’s love and His justice work hand-in-hand, but they do. When we seek God’s face, we look for His essence.

Turn from sin

When God says, don’t – don’t. When God says do – do. Anything less is sin. One thought here is that sin often occurs in the heart but does not manifest in action. During the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus explains that if you have hatred in your heart, you have done the same as murder. He says the same about adultery – if we have lust in our heart, we “hath committed adultery with her already.” How many Christians have never stood over a dead body with a smoking gun but are guilty of murder? How many Christians have never cheated on their spouse but are still guilty of adultery? The answer is probably all of us.

The point here is that turning from sin is more than simply not doing what God says don’t do. It is having a heart attitude that keeps us from sinning.

Space confinements cause me to stop at this point. It is also good to stop here and reflect on what you have read. Lord willing, next week’s Preacher’s Point will examine Revelation 3:14-22 and go into more detail on how to make America godly again.