Several years ago I had the privilege of preaching a Parenting Conference in Washington DC. I was also able to preach three services on Sunday morning at a great church in the Navy Yard. In all, it was a wonderful trip and my wife and I, along with our Youth Pastor and his wife got to visit a number of the Monuments as well as great museums. (I highly recommend the new Museum of the Bible) Well one thing stood out to me on our trip: Our nation is under a Spiritual Attack from the Enemy. This is likely no surprise to any Christian, but I truly feel Satan is attacking our nation through families.
So many of our social ills today can be traced to broken homes, and specifically fatherless households. Most children born in the US are out of wedlock now.
• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. It’s been said, “A family can survive without a nation but a nation cannot survive without the family.” So what do we do?
Well, God lays out His prescription in 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 I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Notice God says, “If My people who are called by My name . . .” He doesn’t say anything about secular culture. He talks to His own people. That is you. That is me. I think one of the problems in our nation today is there are a lot of people running around who think they are Christians, but they are not.
In fact the Bible says; “ Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Then there are those who are living a double life. They put on a good performance at church. They say all the right things. But they’re living a life completely contradictory to what the Bible says about how a Christian ought to live.
So let me challenge you right now to examine yourself and your home and pray for our Nation. A spiritual awakening starts with God’s people. It starts with you and me.
We in America need to turn to God in prayer and turn back to His Word.
Also, our Church will be having a very special Prayer Service for our Nation on Sunday, November 3rd, 2024 at 10:45am. This will be an extremely important event as we prepare for election day that following Tuesday. All are welcome to attend!
Love You All, Pastor Tanner
(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)