“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).

In this season of uncertainty and unrest, discerning the voice of God is critical. What is He saying to us about peace, justice, mercy, forgiveness, freedom, repentance, sin, relationships, and more? If we are only listening to anger and fear, which are speaking VERY loudly right now, the Christ in us cannot be demonstrated in the midst of the clamor.

In my book, With One Cry: A Renewed Challenge to Pray for America, I share a powerful blog written by Dutch Sheets, June 16, 2015. It seems an appropriate time to hear the hope from his heart about our nation:

“Some Christian leaders teach, usually from theological influences, that America will not awaken, turn back to God and recapture her spiritual destiny. Their eschatology doesn’t allow for a “comeback;” for them, the apostasy must continue to worsen.

Many secular leaders also contend, often with an ideological fervor fueled by their personal desires, that this rebirth will never occur. “America has ‘progressed’ too far,” they assert with smug satisfaction, “having left behind its antiquated, Puritanistic ideals and outdated beliefs.” These naysayers are, indeed, correct when they euphorically and gloatingly bloviate about how far we as a nation have drifted from our original beliefs. Secularists and humanists are accurate when they condescendingly point out our moral shifts toward relativism and unbiblical values. With satisfied arrogance, these modernists gleefully vociferate that our government no longer sees itself under and accountable to an “imaginary” Creator, or even to an “outdated” Constitution He supposedly inspired.

With such a dire diagnosis, why, then, am I not hopeless? To the contrary, I have great hope for America because the depth of a fall never determines God’s ability to restore. I’m not afraid of the powerful strongholds because size and strength are completely irrelevant when measuring His ability to deliver. And I’m not intimidated because statistical odds, whether of success or failure, cease to be relevant when God is involved. His limitless ability negates the very concept of “odds” and trumps all other winning hands.”

Don’t embrace any theology or creed that allows God to lose!

I have hope, and I’m dreaming. I dream of a reborn America that is once again a shining light to the rest of the world. I believe this dream was born in God’s heart, embedded in a small group of emigrant pilgrims, and is one I am confident He still maintains. Join me as I dream. Partner with the “superintending providence” that was active in our founding, is involved with our present, and has great plans for our future.

Let it be said of our generation that when a nation teetered on the edge of destruction, having lost the ancient path of truth, we answered the divine call to war for its restoration. Let it be said of us, as it was of our forefathers, that in the face of overwhelming odds, we took our stand in the celestial courtroom, appealing to the Judge of all the earth for His saving grace, mercy, and sustaining power.”

Again, this blog was written in 2015 but it is still very relevant to us in this hour. Let’s press into the knowledge that God is looking for His people to bow in humility and repentance before Him so that He will hear our prayers, forgive our sins and bring healing to our hurting land. It is the people of God who need to respond in this time. May the Church awaken! Let’s pray together:

God of Hope, our past, present and future has always rested in Your capable hands. Open the eyes of our hearts to see and to know the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in Your people, and the surpassing greatness of Your power toward those who believe! We repent for our arrogance, pride and lack of humility in this hour. We seek You for the restoration of our nation to its utter dependence upon Jesus Christ! Give us the strength and determination to step into the future with great hope and faith in Your ability to overcome the seemingly insurmountable odds against those who call upon Your Name. Restore us again so that we might honor You and become known once again as a nation that stands upon Your Word! We ask this with humble hearts in the Name Above All Names!

–adapted from With One Cry: A Renewed Challenge to Pray for America by David Butts.

© Harvest Prayer Ministries

Some of Dave's Books

Scheduling Contact:

Email: dave@harvestprayer.com

Phone: (812) 230-3130

During these days of division, anger, and uncertainty, most of us aren’t quite sure how to respond. What we must not forget is that we are not powerless. Our voices are heard in heaven! We can and need to ask God to intervene and to give us insight for ways we can respond with the love of Christ.

Here are some simple prayer points that we can pray together on behalf of our hurting neighbors and our nation.                                                      

1. Protection 

“Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance” (Ps. 32:6-7).

It seems that the waters across our land are rising quickly and threatening to consume our cities.

Father, we ask for Your hand of protection to be upon our nation during these days of unrest and anger. Protect the lives of the angry as well as the officers and military personnel who are trying to restore order. Calm hearts and minds and bring restoration through justice and acts of repentance, humility and extraordinary love. Sing Your song of deliverance over our hurting nation, Lord.

2. Presence.

“I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people” (Lev. 26:11-12).

The Presence of God changes lives and meets the deepest needs—not just those of individuals, but also the needs of a culture. Welcoming the Presence of the Lord into our nation should be an essential part of our prayers.

Make Your Presence known Lord! In the midst of darkness, confusion and despair, may the light of Your glory shine. We welcome You and ask You to walk among us. Change lives, bring unity and stir Your people to be the image bearers of Jesus in this troubling hour! We long for Your presence to permeate our culture and transform our nation.

3. Peace.

 ^“Peace, peace to them, both near and far, for I will heal them all” (Isaiah 57:19).

In the midst of a badly divided nation from top to bottom, we desperately need God’s peace. He has placed His Church in a position of godly authority to stand for righteousness and justice…and to be instruments of His healing in our world.

Prince of Peace, come and walk through the streets of our cities. Rest upon the hurting, the angry and those who are bent on destruction. Awaken Your Church! Give us courage and kindness in order to be the peacemakers You designed us to be! Help us to demonstrate justice for all people and the unity of a people who is one in You, because You created us equally. We long for Your peace to come to our nation, Lord!

Some of Dave's Books

Scheduling Contact:

Email: dave@harvestprayer.com

Phone: (812) 230-3130

We are in a season of waiting. In the physical we are waiting to see what develops with the Covid-19 virus as the process of re-opening our country takes place. It is a waiting time filled with hope, but also uncertainty and perhaps even danger for some.

One of the perils for the Church is potential division over the timing and ways in which we again begin to meet together in buildings. Great wisdom is required for leaders, and only deep humility will cause us to lay down our preferences in honor of one another. Physical waiting causes angst, anger and frustration for many; however, to those of us who love Jesus, it is a time to listen, and to pay attention to what the Father wants to teach us in this curious and complex moment in time. It is a time to demonstrate the life of Christ as we offer hope through faith to others and as we intercede for the world.

This is also a season of spiritual waiting. For Jews this was the period following Passover and leading up to Shavuot. Christians also embrace this time of waiting from Easter to Pentecost. After the Resurrection of Jesus, He spent 40 days with the disciples. He ate with them, taught them, and demonstrated His resurrected life. But after 40 days, He ascended to the Father and told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Spirit.

It’s rare to find someone who likes to wait. Perhaps though, that is an attribute for which we should strive. We are certainly commanded often in scripture to wait on and for the Lord. Waiting paid off for those first disciples. Ten days of prayer, worship, and waiting on the Lord led them to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. They would never be the same as they received the promise of the Father.

We are in a season of waiting. Press into that. Make it a time of prayer and anticipation. What is God about to do? Our waiting upon the Lord is an active time that places everything in the hands of the Lord. Though we live post-Pentecost and the Spirit has come to us, we still wait on the Lord and fresh fillings of His Spirit. The timing of the Lord’s work and purposes are still in His hands and we pray with increased passion and anticipation during these days of waiting. Look up, your redemption draws near!

How to Pray in a Time of Waiting

• Lord, in my waiting, help me to be strong and filled with courage.

“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

• Lord Jesus, in my waiting, lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.

“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day” (Psalm 25:5).

• God Almighty, in my waiting, help me to have patience as Your return is near.

“Now as for you, dear brothers who are waiting for the Lord’s return, be patient, like a farmer who waits until the autumn for his precious harvest to ripen” (James 5:7).

• Holy One, in my waiting, may Your integrity and uprightness preserve me.

“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:21).

• Father, Your word says that if I will wait for You I will gain new strength, mount up with wings like eagles, run and not get tired and walk without becoming weary! Help me to trust You for these promises.

“Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31).

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

Some of Dave's Books

Scheduling Contact:

Email: dave@harvestprayer.com

Phone: (812) 230-3130

For many years now, I have found myself daily praying to dwell in God’s house. Based on David’s great prayer in Psalm 27, I regularly ask to be able to gaze on the Father’s beauty and to always seek Him wherever He might be found. It is with some embarrassment that I confess a lack of faith in my own prayers, and even more so, in the power of God’s word to let me know of His will for me.  For a long time it seemed like I was always waiting for something big to happen to answer this powerful prayer. Therein was my lack of faith. I was looking for something I imagined would happen and in the process missed much of what was already happening.

 I was praying based on what was clearly God’s will for me. He desires my presence even more than I desire His Presence. He has opened His house to me as an eternal dwelling place…not just someday in heaven, but right now. I certainly was praying His will based on His word, believing He would answer. My problem was that I wasn’t paying attention to how He was already answering that prayer. When we begin to pray God’s word, we must also remember to begin looking for His answers. 

 With fresh realization today, I see that I have been receiving the answers to my prayers for many years now. Dwelling in God’s house is a mindful awareness to experience His presence moment by moment, day by day. Today, in the midst of the Covid-19 shutdown, I find myself on my back porch, listening to English composer Vaughn Williams’s Fifth Symphony based on Milton’s Pilgrims Progress. I am very happy. But I think back three years when I was in the hospital receiving intense chemo for stage four lymphoma. I was very happy then, too. God was present in that hospital room. 

 God’s house is a place of His Presence and in His presence there is the happiness that the Bible calls “the fullness of joy”. You might be going through tough times. You might be going through times of great abundance. Regardless of your circumstances, what brings joy and peace is the awareness of the presence of God. When you are experiencing His presence you are dwelling in His house.  

 I still pray every day that I might dwell in the Father’s house all the days of my life, gazing on His beauty and seeking Him wherever He might be found. But I also thank Him for opening up His house to His people through Jesus. The last phrase of Ps.27:4 keeps me praying. We are to continually seek Him. We always press in – praying for more of His presence. But I’m now learning to look daily for the answers to my prayers as I bring God’s Word back to His throne.

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

Some of Dave's Books

Scheduling Contact:

Email: dave@harvestprayer.com

Phone: (812) 230-3130