Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge

Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

Hosea 6:3
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear.

God of all Knowledge and Truth,
I cry out to You on behalf of our nation and the complacent Church. We do not know the Truth – Jesus Christ, Your Living Word, the Way to real Life. Failing to exercise discretion, our steady diet of secular humanism has caused us to cash in our conscience for comfort. Instead of seeking Your wise counsel, we’ve consulted a paper idol and have been answered back by the blank stare of a dead dignitary! Have mercy on us, O God, and do not destroy us for our ignorance!

Sure as the sun rises, Your Word clearly warns, You will appear to judge the land with righteousness and truth. Yet, the Church has abandoned both for the sake of relativism. Truth is whatever works and gets good results. Popularity has replaced morality. Prosperity has made us so proud that we’ve forgotten the principles on which our country was founded. Instead of boasting in the Giver of Gifts, we brag about our inflated financial statements. Pleased with our puffed-up performances we no longer seek direction from You. We’ve deliberately walked away from the Hand that paid our debt, set us free and faithfully fed us, to an unknown hand holding out perishable promises of a quick fix for short-term relief. Have mercy on us, O God, and do not annihilate us for rejecting You!

O merciful Lord, I cry out to You to come like a roaring lion – like the mighty Lion of Judah – and arouse the indifferent, impotent Church. Cause us to come trembling back to You, and stand up for what is right: the sanctity of life, the purity of marriage, and the unity of family. Heal our perverted hearts and bind up our warped minds. In these dark days, that are likely to get darker, give us courage to cash in our comfort for compassion. Impassion us with holy justice, and open our minds to the Truth: Sure as the sun rises You will appear, and if we aren’t careful we will be destroyed for our lack of knowledge. Spare us O Lord, in Jesus name. Amen.

Will you join me in crying out for a great awakening in the Church? God makes it clear that He will heal our land when we humble ourselves before Him, pray, seek His face with all our heart, and turn from our wicked ways.

A.W. Tozer defines revival as a move of God that “changes the moral climate of the community.” History shows that a true awakening leaps beyond the walls of any church and radically transforms society. If we want to be a church that really makes a difference in our community, we first need to submit to the painful revival fires – heartfelt humility, persistent prayer, wholeheartedly seek God’s face, and deliberately trust and obey.

Bill Bright writes in his book, The Coming Revival: America’s Call to Fast, Pray, and Seek God’s Face, “By nature every one of us is inclined to take the path of least resistance. But we Americans are especially notorious for avoiding pain at all cost. When it comes right down to it, most of us do not like hard work.”

Evangelist James Burns writes: Revival comes to scorch before it heals; it comes to condemn ministers and people for their unfaithful witness, for their selfish living, for their neglect of the cross, and to call them to daily renunciation, to an evangelical poverty and to a deep and daily consecration. That is why a revival has ever been unpopular with large numbers of churches. Because it says nothing to them of power (worldly ways) such as they have learned to love, or of ease, or of success; it accuses them of sin, it tells them they are dead, it calls them to awake, to renounce the world and to follow Christ. –Winkie Pratney, Revival: Its Principles and Personalities

Once again, Dr. Henry Blackaby asks, “What kind of praying have we been doing to lead our nation to the mess we’re in?”

The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. James 5:16