#16

God is inviting us to draw near to Him; where we have strayed from His path in thought or action, He wants to restore us. Hosea 6 says:
1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

We serve a God who desires to bring healing and restoration in our lives.  There may be those areas where we suffer brokenness - and sometimes brokenness is necessary in order to bring renewal - but, we can depend on Him to do His work in our hearts, to build us back up, to reconstruct our lives stronger and more satisfying than ever before.  As we surrender to the hand of God, as we humble ourselves, we recognize that put ourselves in a position to experience a deep work of the Holy Spirit.

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Today's Scripture from the Decision America prayer guide is from Psalm 51:
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

The request is: "Pray for revival in our cities, our states, our nation, and all nations."

Today, it was the 16th scheduled Decision America prayer rally in Montgomery, Alabama.  Yesterday, in anticipation of our coverage of today's events, we spent some time watching the Mississippi rally - after which, Franklin Graham posted this on Facebook:

It was great to pray with the people of Mississippi today on their Capitol steps in Jackson! God held off the rain and over 6,500 people who care about this country came out to stand together at our Decision America Tour prayer rally.

I thank God for courageous governors like Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and legislators who are willing stand strong for what is right, even when it means coming under fire. Gov. Bryant is right, the media for the most part, is feeding the frenzy of misunderstanding, anger, and negativity about his state’s new bill that protects people of faith. Similar battles are going on in lots of states, including North Carolina, so pray for our governors and our legislators to have the boldness and wisdom they need. Pray for our nation as secularism and progressivism tries to push America farther and farther away from God and morality. There’s no question, our country needs God’s favor and His blessing.

And, there you get a glimpse of the heart of the Decision America tour.  The tour website posts statistics about each state, and includes some Barna data regarding the spiritual condition.  In Alabama, 70% of the people would be described as "Casual Christian," 23% as "Captive Christian."

I had posted earlier a description of those terms, as related by the Barna website, reported by Yellowhammer News.

The lives of Captive Christians are defined by their faith; their worldview is built around their core spiritual beliefs and resultant values. Casual Christians are defined by the desire to please God, family, and other people while extracting as much enjoyment and comfort from the world as possible.

The big difference between these two tribes is how they define a successful life. For Captives, success is obedience to God, as demonstrated by consistently serving Christ and carrying out His commands and principles. For Casuals, success is balancing everything just right so that they are able to maximize their opportunities and joys in life without undermining their perceived relationship with God and others.

Stated differently, Casuals are about moderation in all things while Captives are about extreme devotion to their God regardless of the worldly consequences.

The group states, "Captive Christians consider Casuals to not be genuine followers of Christ."

The profile of Alabama also relates that 1 in 5 people in the state live below the poverty level, and it includes the names of our Governor and 2 U.S. Senators.

There has been a 30-day prayer guide leading up to today on the Decision America website.  Some of the requests, going back to last week, include:  Praying for Christians to be salt and light to Alabama through humble hearts, acts of service, and the sharing of the Gospel, praying for wisdom for individuals in leadership as they make decisions for communities and the nation, praying for strength for God’s people to uphold justice and stand against sin in the world, and praying for peace and calmness in the streets and neighborhoods of Alabama.

I thought it was interesting that one social statistic - about poverty - is included.  And, I contend that the church has the means and the responsibility to help to address that issus.  I came across a Probe Ministries piece on wealth and poverty.  It cites 4 reasons for poverty: oppression and fraud; misfortune, persecution, or judgment; laziness, neglect, or gluttony; and a the culture of poverty.

Regarding that last item, the article says that, "Poverty breeds poverty, and the cycle is not easily broken. People who grow up in an impoverished culture usually lack the nutrition and the education that would enable them to be successful in the future."

But, there are solutions: it points out that in the Old Testament, there were two means to help the poor: through the gleaning laws, where unharvested crops were left for the poor, and through the tithe, which provided funds for the church and the poor. The piece also says that in the New Testament, the church had a role in helping meet the needs of the poor.

The article states:

These verses concerning the gleaning laws and the tithe seem to indicate that both the government and the church should be involved in helping the poor. Ideally, the church should be in the vanguard of this endeavor. Unfortunately, the church has neglected its responsibility, and government is now heavily involved in poverty relief.

And, it says:

Poverty is as much a psychological and spiritual problem as it is an economic problem, and it is in this realm that the church can be most effective. Although salvation is not the sole answer, the church is better equipped than the government to meet the psychological and spiritual needs of poverty-stricken people. Most secular social programs do not place much emphasis on these needs and thus miss an important element in the solution to poverty.

I believe one of the benefits of spiritual revival is the addressing of social wrongs.  And, an overarching product of revival is to address spiritual poverty.  Looking at those Barna statistics, there is noted evidence of spiritual poverty - 93% claim to be Christian in Alabama, but 7-in-10 are not living a Christian life that lines up with the Scriptures.   So, there is work to do, but the Holy Spirit is willing and capable.

So, we start with our own hearts - we can identify those attitudes and actions that do not line up with God's standards.  We can depend on the Holy Spirit to convict us where our lives need improvements.  And, then, we can be confident that through the instruction of the Word and the power of the Spirit released in our lives, He will institute course correction.   Where we are Casual in our Christian walk, we can move to Captive.  Jesus wants to capture our hearts and move in and through us to reflect His nature.