This transcript is taken from the Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on 12/10/19.
Sam Rohrer: Well today, as you all are listening to the news ladies and gentlemen, in my opinion, marks one more step in the very disgraceful display of the abuse of power. And I’m using that word I believe very appropriately. The abuse of power witnessed and being witnessed by those in leadership positions there in Washington DC by the Democrat leaders of the U.S house.
It’s just one more blemish. It’s one more effort to dismantle the greatest system of self-government in the history of this world. And there are a lot of comments about what’s going on. A lot of political comments being thrown around by both sides, but we try to on this program, to back up and take a perspective that has more to do with the fundamentals that are underlying what’s actually taking place and not be driven by the political motivations, which often can be what leads commentary on the news.
Now, if you’re not aware, earlier this morning led by speaker Pelosi, she approached the microphone to say, these were her words, quote, “We’re here to honor those faithful members, faithful house members, who’ve honored their oath to support and to defend the constitution, I am saying in their actions.”
And in her own words, they don’t honor the constitution. I think they dishonor their oath and the constitution. And they certainly tarnish the entire legislative and the constitutional and judicial system by what and how they are doing it. Now verbalized by chairman Jerry Nadler, the charge was leveled against president Trump for twin charges.
These were the accusations in the process leading forward to the actual putting together of impeachment papers, which will lead forward to a vote, which we now know is going to be in the house next week. They are dead set on getting it done before Christmas, which is part of the problem, but these are the two twin charges.
Number one, high crimes and misdemeanors. And within that, the high crime and the misdemeanor charge is the abuse of power. The second is the obstruction of Congress. But the problem is neither charge is defined. Neither are they able to define it. Neither are able to be proven because all the information put forward so far was unproven. They’re truly bogus, this charge is. But it’s very serious because it is an action of Congress against a sitting president.
So in this program today, we’re going to pursue this theme all in the space of a week, a reason to pray, but then there’s a reason to rejoice. We’re going to talk about all of that today on this program. What we should pray about and what we should rejoice about. And we’re going to share some things that actually went on last week. They’re in the Capitol, some of them. Certainly in DC but not anything that was a part of the news, but something’s actually happening right in the same building where this is going on, where the light of truth was shined. And it really is a good reason for rejoicing. We want to share that with you.
Well, I’m Sam Rohrer and I welcome you to stand in the gap today. And I’ll be joined today by the whole team, both of whom were gone last week for the entire week, Gary Dull and Dave Kistler.
Now, before we get into that, this first segment, we want to talk about what happened this morning and where it goes, but last week on this program had a guest, David [New 00:03:36] on our constitutional update. We talked about the impeachment proceedings. I called it the impeachment charade. And we laid out the reasons of what actually was taking place and the problems with it.
I played one short clip from one of the three witnesses called by Jerry Nadler there the only hearing by the judiciary committee on this matter of impeachment with Jonathan Turley, law professor from George Washington School of law. He warned Nadler and the Democrat leadership of what they were indicating and the direction that they were going.
He warned them and I’m going to replay for you that very short clip of what he said because what has happened now is that by this announcement this morning and by the pronouncement of Jerry Nadler supported by the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leadership have gone ahead and overruled what this key witness law professor from George Washington University said and I think, again, puts them on a really very, very bad track. Tim, if you could just play that short clip for us just to remind us.
Speaker 2: I can’t emphasize this enough and I’ll say just one more time. If you impeach a president, if you make a high crime and misdemeanor out of going to the courts, it isn’t abuse of power, it’s your abuse of power. You are doing precisely what you’re criticizing the president for doing. We have a third branch that deals with conflicts of the other two branches. And what comes out of there and what you do with it is the very definition of legitimacy.
Sam Rohrer: So ladies and gentlemen, he warned them, if you proceed and accuse this president of high crimes and misdemeanors on the basis of the obstruction of justice, you are the ones guilty of the abuse of power and yet that is what they’ve done. They’ve only slightly changed it. They changed it to the obstruction of Congress rather than the obstruction of justice. It doesn’t really make any difference. This is what they’ve done.
Gary, I want to go here not to talk so much about the legal specifics, but when I look at what’s happening there, I see the speaker with a straight face standing up there and saying, “We are concerned about our constitution and our constitutional oath. And I commend these honorable folks around me, Nadler and Schiff and the rest of them. When Gary on its face, its hypocrisy. It’s shamelessness. I find it amazing. Go to the heart of this from a biblical perspective. What’s the Bible say about when we get to the point where really you can say, what is wrong to be right, right as to wrong, and what do we see happening before us? Put a biblical spiritual face on this.
Gary Dull: I so much want to give my personal opinion about Nancy and Jerry and Adam and the rest of them. I think they’re playing the fool. They’re leading our nation down the wrong path. But I will answer your question. And you know what they are doing, they are shamed, faceless, and they are telling lies. The Bible teaches us that God detests lying.
In Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 22 it says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.” And in John 8:44 it tells us there that all lying is of the devil himself where it says, “There is no truth in him he is a liar and the father of it.” And I think that what we see taking place in Congress right now, Sam, is the fact that they have said no to God and God’s ways and therefore they are believing a lie.
You see lying takes place when the truth is feared or not desired, when there is no respect or fellowship with God, and when Satan is at work and the parties are yielding to it. And we see that taking place in Congress today, I believe. And I would stand on that for years to come. The devil is at work and there are many yielding to that in Congress even as we speak very.
Sam Rohrer: Gary, I believe that that’s the case as well and I think ladies and gentlemen, that’s also a mark of judgment on a nation when those who are in authority rise up and really defy the whole basis of truth. So we’re going to leave that right there. Those are things that we need to pray about ongoing.
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Well, thanks for being with us today on the stand in the gap today. We’ve chosen as a theme today all in the space of a week, a reason to pray and also a reason to rejoice. We started the program talking about what’s happening on folding relative to the impeachment process, which again will be consuming all of the attention of the media as in these days go forward here as there is a mad rush to avoid what the restraints of the law are, the proper process of what Congress ought to be doing in a mad rush to try and remove or tarnish a president who was lawfully elected. That’s really what’s happening.
So all of that we can’t just ignore and we’re not ignoring it. It is serious because it is a serious abuse of power on the part of certain congressional leaders. That’s a serious matter. And we are going to pray about that when we get to the end of the program, but I want to shift gears now and bring to light some things that were happening last week, not in the media. And there were a lot of things.
We’re going to highlight just a couple, which one of our own team, Dave Kistler was able to be a part. It’s happening right there in the city in Washington, D.C and in some cases right in the same building, in the Capitol building where a lot of this advancement of evil we’re watching is taking place. There was also really significant points of light and truth that were being lifted up.
So we want to share some of that with you right now because it’s good stuff. And Dave, I want to ask you to tell us a little bit about it because in addition to involvement that you have with American Pastors Network, and I’ve had since really the beginning, we look at the focus of the pulpit and what that needs to be done. You’ve been involved in DC with a ministry, Hope Ministries is something you started many, many years ago.
And part of that I think you can clarify, but as it helps bring some encouragement, the truth of God’s word into the lives of those who are in that city involved in perhaps policies or laws and that kind of thing. And if that happened last week, actually a number of things.
One specifically occurred actually right in the US Capitol, there in the rotunda. And I saw a little bit of a video piece that you sent by a little girl was singing. And I thought, “Man, isn’t this pretty amazing thing?” Tell us about it. What was the event there in the Capitol and what was happening and why did it take place?
Dave Kistler: Well, Sam, thank you for the opportunity to do that. Let me just give one quick clarification. Hope Ministries International is the ministry that the Lord allowed me to found years ago. Hope to the Hill is an offshoot of that, a subset of that. It’s a ministry that focuses on elected and appointed officials on Capitol Hill, but the event last week was called Christmas in the Capitol.
And it was a ministry to try to bring about 200 people to Washington DC at the Christmas season and to conduct three concerts over four nights in three different locations. One out in the Mount Vernon area, one actually at the museum of the Bible, they have a large auditorium there. And then another one actually up on Capitol Hill.
And the event you’re referring to occurred kind of impromptu, Sam. We take after-hours tours of the US Capitol when we have large groups in the city. Sometimes we’ll have Congressman Louie Gohmert do the tour. Other times it’ll be another Congressman.
Well, this particular night it was Congressman Mark Walker from my State of North Carolina. And we get an after hours tour of the Capitol, history of the building and of the city of DC, the history really of our country. And then we conclude by gathering in the Capitol rotunda and if we have any musicians in the group, they’re generally invited to sing. Well, of course we had the almost 70 member Wilmington celebration choir, who literally lit up the Capitol rotunda with a beautiful song called I go to the rock.
And then the little girl you referred to is actually not a little girl. She’s 24 years old. Her name is Marlana Vanhoose. She was the young lady that sang at the president’s 2016 inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral and moved the first lady to tears as she sang how great thou art.
She was invited to come and be a part of this event. And I leaned over to her and just said, “Marlana, when the choir is done, can you sing something?” And she just broke into silent night. And then the choir, the 70 member Wilmington celebration choir, unrehearsed, began to join in beautiful harmony with her. And it was one of the most beautiful renditions of silent night I’ve ever heard. And it just echoed through the Capitol rotunda. There were people that were moved, I mean, phenomenally moved. US congressmen and congresswomen were in that group who were stirred by what they heard. Sam in every way, it was a God moment.
Gary Dull: Dave, I had the opportunity of hearing that particular clip that you sent with her singing and it was absolutely tremendous. Of course, anything being done there, and there were termed to has quite the acoustics, but she did a fine, fine job. What kind of a specific response did you get by any of them who might have been there observing?
Dave Kistler: Well, Gary, the people that were observing were overwhelmed. In fact, I will say this, there was an individual from the White House who was at one of the concerts and heard the beautiful music and said, “If anybody in the White House that’s responsible for making the decision heard this, you guys would be invited immediately to the White House to do a concert there.”
We’re praying that that does materialize. There’s more going on, I’ll not be able to go into, but the bottom line fellows is this. The people that were there were highly impacted. And then folks that attended the event began to share videos, pictures. One lady that was part of the choir just shared a collage of pictures that has since gone viral and the video of Marlana singing in the rotunda has been seen almost 150,000 times by people all over the world.
It’s been shared thousands of times. And so the impact not only on those, on the Hill members of Congress that were stirred about what they saw, what they heard, but now people around the nation are beginning to hear of what took place. And it’s bringing, Sam and Gary, what we really wanted to see happen. And that is encouragement to people around the world that have no clue because all they’re doing is watching the news. They think DC is a godforsaken city when it is not.
It is the exact opposite. God is moving in ways unlike I’ve seen in 20 years of involvement on the Hill amid all the controversy that we’re watching with this impeachment fiasco, the charade, as you’d call it, Sam. Great term. But in the midst of all of that, God is more alive and well and moving than I’ve ever seen in all of our years of involvement on Capitol Hill.
Sam Rohrer: And Dave, I think that’s a wonderful thing. And I think for all of our listeners right now, as you folks are listening to us right now all over the country, be aware of this where you are, that just as Dave and what they were doing, we’re trying to intentionally be an encouragement in a setting that appears to be falling off the edge.
In many regards it is because there’s been a turning away from the truth on the part of many, but on the other hand, for all of us who know the truth, think about being an encouragement. Just share something positive. Talk about the Lord. Talk about what God’s done for you. Wherever you are in whatever setting, you can be an encouragement. Just like what’s happening down there. And I think God takes those kinds of examples when we allow ourself to be a conduit for truth and encouragement. He can take and do enormous things with it.
Dave, one other thing that happened there. I know that you did, you were a part of a live nativity, which I thought was most interesting that was set up outside the U.S Supreme Court. Tell me a little bit about that. Why that location? What happened there?
Dave Kistler: Well, Sam, for a number of years, our friends at a ministry called Faith and Liberty there on Capitol Hill have conducted a live nativity. And this year was no exception. The Ministry Center for Faith and Liberty is actually the location where we have office space that we have. It’s well, it’s in the same complex.
And the lab nativity replete with Mary Joseph, a live baby Jesus, a Shepherd’s Wiseman, townspeople. There is animals, live animals, donkeys, sheep. For years there was a camel by the name of junior. And get this guys, he had a son that was also a part of the Live Nativity for years, who the son Campbell didn’t have a hump, so his name was Humphrey. You’ll get that here in a minute. But anyway, all of those animals and townspeople and Mary and Joseph start there. They go down the Senate side of Capitol Hill, make a left hand turn, come in front of the United States’ Supreme Court and set up on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court deliberately, strategically to portray the truth of what this season of the year is all about.
And this year, of course, the Wilmington celebration choir welcomed the nativity to the front of the United States Supreme Court by singing beautiful songs. And then our dear friend Gary, you know Kara Knight, she sang beautifully as well. And people from literally all over the area come and take pictures of that. What was so interesting is this, as the choir was singing this year, a strategic court case at the court dismissed and the attorneys, the people that attended the case, came out of the Supreme Court building, heard the beautiful music, came right over. Were drawn to it and stayed and were able to watch the Live Nativity demonstration as well, or the presentation I should say.
And guys, again, that was all unplanned by us, but it was strategically planned by the God of heaven to get the truth of this time of the year and what Christmas is really all about to scores of people. And by the way, a lady took pictures. Those pictures have gone viral as well, been shared over 10,000 times on social media. And so the word is going literally around the globe. We serve an awesome God fellows.
Gary Dull: Well we do and that is a tremendous ministry. I know I’ve had the opportunity, I think twice Dave to be a part of the Live Nativity. In fact, did at one time up at Fox News in New York. But the type of a response that you get from that is the kind of a response I think that should be received during this Christmas season because that’s what Christmas is all about. Is it not? Jesus Christ coming into the world to provide salvation. And the Live Nativity presents that.
Sam Rohrer: It sure does Gary. And there’s no better place to do that in front of the Supreme Court when in fact there are so many groups like the Southern Property Law Center and others who try to, Nativity scenes are unconstitutional to be displayed. Great place to place it, Dave. Good report.
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Welcome back to stand in the gap. I’m Sam Rohrer, accompanied today by our whole original team. I put it that way because on this program stand in the gap today. When we first began this program it was Gary and Dave and myself. And as we’ve moved down the road and the program has grown, you will hear some other hosts on this program, Isaac Crockett, you’ll hear him on this program from time to time. Keith Wiebe he’s been on and you may hear another one from time to time.
We do that because all of us have very busy schedules where God has allowed us to be involved in a number of different ministries. Gary is still involved, leads his church. He has for so long, many ministries and mission board. Dave’s an evangelist. Travels all over the country full schedule and is involved in administering D.C Hope to the Hill. What we’re talking about today, some things that happened last week.
And in the same way for all of us. And the result of it, we tried to bring the same focus, the news of the day, headline news, current news from a biblical and constitutional perspective. All of us are preachers. And so whoever you hear leading the program will be a preacher. Just want to say you will hear different people. But today the original team, the three of us are here and this is where I really want to thank Dave, you and Gary for everything that you’re doing.
And I know our listeners comment regularly on both of you and us. And so I just wanted to acknowledge that publicly and that all your listeners know that what happens and why there’s a change from time to time. But we’ve tried to bring you the same consistent commentary, a little different perspective because of the background difference of all of us, but the same truth.
So for that we are committed, but today we’re looking at this. All in the space of a week. Last week and this week we’re talking about what’s happening in D.C. Distraction after distraction after distraction. Impeachment effort, lying and deceiving. Hypocrisy, so evident. Everybody knows it, but yet it seems to go ahead.
But in the midst of that, which is a reason for prayer and we’re going to pray, Gary and Dave and I will pray at the end of the program. There are also things that are happening there for which are not in the news regularly, but we need to know about because they’re reasons to rejoice. Romans 13, I want to go here in this segment.
In Romans 13 and 1st Peter, the apostles Paul and Peter referenced the dual duty of civil government to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do well. So honoring those who sacrifice for others such as faithful soldiers in battle, our veterans or citizens who manifest exemplary character and who you know, perhaps do great exploits for others. They are to be praised and recognized.
When people do things which are selfless and manifest character and virtue. That’s all a part of those who do well. And we need to praise them in government. When they do those and focus on those things, it makes a major difference. But we’ve gotten away from that. And so Dave, you were a part of something in D.C. We want to go back to some of those things that were happening. Because as a part of what happened last week there in D.C you were a part of an event that was structured pretty much I believe for the purpose of recognizing, giving honor, giving praise to a couple of members, at least of Congress for some things that they were doing or have done.
Tell us about that recognition. Where was it done, why was it done and who did you recognize?
Dave Kistler: Well, Sam, one of the aspects of the trip last week, again, it was called Christmas in the Capitol. There were some general things everybody could attend and there were some special events that you had to sign up for. There was a little bit of an extra cost for it, but we did a VIP presidential banquet at the Trump international hotel. It was kind of a dress up thing, black tie event. If you wanted to wear a tux, you could.
Most guys wore a suit and tie, but several of us wore Tuxes. While ladies dressed up in formal attire and it was in a banquet room at the Trump International Hotel. And it was for the purpose, not only of all of us getting together, 76 of our just under 200 people signed up for that. It was a full room, but we did it to honor two members of Congress who have been stellar in living out their faith in a very direct, overt, gracious, godly, but nonetheless overwhelming way before, not only the other members of Congress, but before their constituents as well.
And so we presented to two. One, a Congressman, the other a Congresswoman, a beautiful thing called the Jerusalem stone. Years ago, an evangelist friend of mine by the name of Jamie Parsons was in the Holy land. He’s made almost 60 trips there. And he was able to procure actually some rock from Golgotha and have those made into a beautiful paperweight that is in a box.
It is one most beautiful pieces of, I’m going to call it a furniture. It’s a sizable thing, was one of those beautiful things I’ve ever seen, but it’s literally designed as a paperweight. It tells the story of the gospel as well as something about the city of Jerusalem and that area of the world.
It’s a powerful, powerful witnessing tool, but we gave one of those each to Cathy McMorris Rodgers who is a Congresswoman from Washington State. By the way. She’s a Pensacola Christian college graduate. She is a wonderful lady, godly lady, modern day Esther in many ways. The other one was given to Congressman Robert Aderholt of Alabama who has been a wonderful friend to our ministry and is just a tremendous, tremendous Christian. And so we were able to honor them. They’re in that banquet room and it was an awesome event. By the way, the speaker at the banquet was a gentleman named Matt Micah.
Matt was actually a shooting victim at the ball field where members of the GOP were shot and Steve Scalise was most significantly injured. Matt is a walking miracle. He was shot through the chest, survived and he told his entire story and gave glory to God. By the way, he didn’t know the Lord when the shooting occurred. He has since come to know the Lord as a result of that tragedy.
And by the way fellows, just to let you know, our ministry is about evangelism and discipleship on Capitol Hill. And in just the last several months we have had four staffers come to know Christ as savior and one US congressmen. And for all of that I say praise and glory be to the Lord. And by the way, none of that has been reported on CNN or MSNBC or even Fox News, but it’s been recorded in the courtroom of heaven.
Sam Rohrer: Indeed it is. And Gary got to follow up with that, but I’m going to say it is something that we want to cover on stand in the gap today because that is the kind of good news and why I’m saying this is something for which we should truly rejoice. That’s a great, great thing. Great report.
Gary Dull: Well you just took the words out of my mouth, Sam, because I was going to say we just now covered it here on stand in the gap. So praise the Lord for that. And Dave when you honor Louie Gohmert, let me know. I will make sure that I am there. There’s a guy, I’ll tell you what, I just appreciate that fellow all over again. But nevertheless, from your particular perspective, when you have opportunity to honor somebody like that, how do they respond and what is the positive benefit that you get from others who observe?
Dave Kistler: Well Gary, the response for the part of a Congresswoman or a Congressman that receives an honor like that is overwhelming. Gary you know for years we have presented things Bibles three different times to every single member of Congress. And the response has been, wow, you’re doing this for us. And what we give them is something beautiful. It’s attractive, it’s worthy not only of the Lord we serve and the Lord we love, but it’s worthy of the office that they hold.
And so, to do something like this is overwhelmingly received and appreciated by those that are the recipients of it. But what it says to those that are observing, and many people that were in our group had never been to DC before. This was their first experience. And all they’ve seen is the negative that the media portrays. And maybe they’ve heard it said, they’ve maybe said it themselves, negative comments about members of Congress.
You know, the approval rating of members of Congress is incredibly low, about 9% the last time I saw a poll of that. But a lot of them have a negative attitude toward members of Congress. Yet we know the Bible teaches in Romans 13 these folks are ministers of God were supposed to be for good. And so when those are doing a, not just a good job but a stellar job, are honored, it screams something to those that have maybe had a negative attitude and that’s exactly what we wanted to happen.
People who come away saying, you know what, there are Christians on this hill, there are people that love God, people of integrity that are serving in Congress and I need to pray for them. I need to encourage others to pray for them. I need to go back and tell my pastor, “Hey, D.C is not a God abandoned city,” because it’s not. There are people up there that are doing stellar work not only for the country but for the Lord Jesus Christ as well.
Sam Rohrer: Dave, that is absolutely perfect and I can say to you gentlemen and to those who are listening, as someone having been in office, when someone honors a person in office, and I’m going to say here and this is why I think the connection is so strong. Ladies and gentlemen, we talk about, Dave mentioned ministers together or ministers in government together and we have said for a long time that when pastors in the pulpit actually reach out and touch those who are in office, who are also ministers of God, different jurisdiction in government, those in the pulpit or ministers of God in the pulpit in that perspective.
When they touch and those who are in the pulpit recognize and come alongside those in office, I can tell you there is nothing more encouraging than to know that there are men of God in the pulpit and God’s people who are praying for and coming alongside those who are in office who know the Lord because that’s God’s plan. There’s nothing, nothing stronger than that.
So Dave, what you’re doing there is exactly what ought to be done and I know that those individuals that you recognize, I know what was in their heart, so thank you for doing that. So very, very, very, very important.
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Well, as we enter our final segment here now today we’re going to go into some time of prayer, which is our focus. If you perhaps just joined us today, maybe for the first time, a few weeks ago we introduced a concept called 52 Tuesday’s prayer initiative. And we did that at a point which was a year before the November 3rd, 2020 election.
We on this program are not driven by elections. We are driven by God’s word. We are driven by the necessity of being obedient biblically and the emphasis is on the pulpit. And all of us who know the Lord, all of you who are God-fearing, the fact that our instruction comes from God’s word that needs to dictate what we do and how we live.
Well, part that is also how we perform and uphold our civic duty which, is in part, elections and the freedom to be able to elect those who rule over us. And most countries in years past they weren’t able to elect their people. They were still to pray for those in authority, which is what we’re going to do, but they weren’t able to participate.
The fact that we can participate is an extraordinary blessing that I believe we are squandering in this country. And because of it, we have now many in positions of authority who don’t fear God, don’t care who God is and are in fact choosing, as we start to program work, to actually embrace deception and lies rather than truth. A lot of that is our fault. I’m going to put it right out. A lot of it is our fault. And I think a lot of it is because it’s not been taught from the pulpit. We don’t have a right understanding of where we ought to be.
So part of the 52 Tuesday prayer initiative is a goal to over the space of three weeks ago or so, up through November, 2020 to seek to develop a group of 10,000 plus prayer warriors who are participating in prayer every week thinking about when Tuesdays come to pray for our nation, to pray for their own selves and their condition before the Lord, to pray for those who are in authority, not just in office, but those who, wherever they may be.
But certainly those who are in office. And joining with other groups that are praying and bringing this effort together in this fashion led by the American Pastors Network and Stand in the Gap Today. And so, I encourage you become a part of that if you’ve not gone to our website as many have already, go to americanpastorsnetwork.net, Americanpastorsnetwork.net and you’ll find there on the front page this prayer initiative, join up.
Go ahead and sign up to be a part of those prayer warriors so we can communicate to you about things to pray for when they come up and other things that are happening. We want you to be aware of how God is answering prayer and they help guide in how we can and should pray. So do that. Americanpastorsnetwork.net go and sign up. Be a part of this growing army, 10,000 strong prayer warriors across the country.
Gary, let me go to you first. I mean, you have to be very brief because I want most of this to be prayer here, but the Bible says we are to pray for those in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life. Just take a minute quickly and explain what is the nexus, how does the praying of God’s people for those in authority result in peace and justice. And then pray if you could, and pray instructively as we can encourage our listeners to pray in this window, how we are to pray for those that we have peace and that we can in peace and blessing.
Gary Dull: You know, it’s interesting, Sam, that both the Bible and the constitution gives us some direction on this. For instance, as you quoted there in 1st Timothy chapter two, it tells us that we are to pray for those in authority, that in order that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. And I’ll tell you with what we see going on in the country today at many, many levels, this seemingly indicates to me that Christians aren’t praying as we should. If we prayed faith, believing, I believe that we would see this country living out that concept of a quiet and peaceable life.
You go to our constitution, you know the preamble of our constitution has 52 words in it and really describes what we attempt to do as people. But it also relates to our government. And it’s interesting to note, Sam, that one of the things that that preamble tells us is that the government is to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility.
How do we ensure domestic tranquility? Well, number one, by believers praying. And so we must be praying in a consistent basis because God will hear and answer. And with that in mind, we go to prayer.
Father, as we come to you today, we thank you for the privilege that you’ve given to us to pray and truly you work through prayer.
Your word tells us to call unto you and you will answer and show us great and mighty things which we do not know. Your word says that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Those are two of many promises in your word about praying.
And so father, it is my prayer that as we’ve set aside these 52 weeks of prayer until the elections of 2020, November of 2020, I pray not only will many, many people sign up to pray across this nation for our nation, but father, I pray that we will all be genuine, sincere, and pray in faith because we know that if we do, if we really do that, we will see you work. It’s your promise. You’ve told us that you will work through prayer.
And so through your spirit, work in our hearts as your children to be praying for this nation and we know in advance then that we’ll watch you work and we’ll give you the praise for what you’ll do, in Jesus name.
Sam Rohrer: Amen. Dave, let me go to you now from an instructive perspective and praying. Old Testament, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, all of them. Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, Daniel 9, each of them prayed very similar prayers as they prayed for the repentance of their nation. I like to think of Daniel as the political leader because he was. He was also a prophet, but Ezra was a priest, he was really a preacher.
Nehemiah really came up as an individual cup bearer. He was just an average citizen really in a position there and all of them yielded themselves to God’s will. God raised them up and they prayed for their nation, but they started with naming the sins of the people. A very important part Dave, speak just a few seconds to that and then lead instructively in prayer with how we should do it.
Dave Kistler: Sam, I’d be delighted to. By the way, confession, which is what they’re doing by naming the specific sins of the people. The word confess carries the idea of agreement or to agree with or to say the same thing as. So when they’re confessing the sin of the people, they are agreeing with God. Here’s what we’ve done, God, against you.
And for God’s blessing to fall on a nation, be it fully in the situation with Nehemiah, with Ezra, or even in the book of Jonah where the King of Nineveh repented and begin to mention the specific sins that they had transgressed against the God of heaven with respect to. These things are agreeing with God and we’ve got to agree with him, for him to bestow his mercy and forgiveness on us.
Let’s do that now and go to the place of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for giving us the avenue of prayer that we can come before your throne room and present petitions. But Lord, for those petitions to be heard, Lord we need to confess, not on our own individual sin, but the sins of our nation. And Lord both are many.
And we call out to you for forgiveness, Lord, for the murder of the unborn, for spending ourselves into oblivion, Lord, for rejecting you and trying to push aside your word, your will, your ways and thinking we could do this, governmentally on our own. Lord, these sins and a host of others we are sorry for Lord and we ask you to forgive us for them and pray, oh God, that you would have mercy on the United States of America. And Lord, would you bestow upon us what the greatest gift that we could experience? And that’s another revival in our land.
We ask these things, Lord Jesus, in your name and for your glory alone, amen.
Sam Rohrer: Amen and amen. Gary and Dave, ladies and gentlemen, again, pray with us. Continue. Go to our website, Americanpastorsnetwork.net sign up, become one of the 10,000 prayer warriors, be a part of a solution here in our nation.
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