I want to talk to you today about America on the rise. America finishing the race God planned for her to run. America serving her divine purpose.
We hear it all the time these days—on television and radio, on the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, even in churches and among believers—people everywhere are talking about America in decline.

But I want to talk to you today about America on the rise. America finishing the race God planned for her to run. America serving her divine purpose and standing strong in the glory of God.

I’ll admit, it can be hard right now even to imagine such a thing. We’re so surrounded by negative news that the vision of this country as a truly righteous nation can easily escape us. But we can’t afford to let that happen.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” So if we’re going to pray in faith for our country in this crucial hour, this is what we must see: America standing whole and complete in all the will of God.

I’m not saying we can see it with our natural eyes. (Not yet, anyway.) But we can see it with the eyes of our spirit if we’ll look at the picture God has painted for us in His Word.  

That’s what I’ve been doing lately.

I’ve been focusing on scriptures that show us exactly what it looks like when righteousness reigns in a nation. Isaiah chapter 32 in The Message version of the Bible has been particularly speaking to my heart. It focuses on the astounding effect that godly leadership can have on a country. Just the first two verses are enough to set my heart rejoicing. There, God says:

Look! A king will rule in the right way, and his leaders will carry out justice. Each one will stand as a shelter from high winds, provide safe cover in stormy weather. Each will be cool running water in a parched land, a huge granite outcrop giving shade in the desert. (Isa. 32:1–2 MSG)

This Should Be Our Vision for America
Just imagine how wonderful it would be to have national, state, and local leaders who are so strong in the Lord that when you come into their presence you sense you’re being sheltered from the winds of the world! Think how different this nation would be if our government officials were so full of God’s wisdom that their speeches and policies refreshed us like water and shade in the desert!

According to the Bible, when such men and women stand in places of authority, people’s spiritual eyes and ears are opened. Even sinners become so receptive to the truth that…

Anyone who looks will see, anyone who listens will hear. The impulsive will make sound decisions, the tongue-tied will speak with eloquence. No more will fools become celebrities, nor crooks rewarded with fame. (vv. 3–5).

That would constitute a major change in American culture, wouldn’t it? A change most Christians don’t believe could ever take place. Yet God says it’s possible.

If we will pray for noble leaders who “make noble plans, and stand for what is noble” (v. 8), God says they will bring about a shift in the way the entire nation thinks and acts. “Justice will move into the badlands desert. Right will build a home in the fertile field. And where there’s Right, there’ll be Peace and the progeny of Right: quiet lives and endless trust” (vv. 16–17).
 
In other words, when the people who govern do it God’s way, you won’t hear about the jobless anymore. You won’t hear about the depressed housing market. You won’t see frustrated, angry people stirring up strife and distress in America’s cities.

On the contrary! God says, “My people will live in a peaceful neighborhood—in safe houses, in quiet gardens...You will enjoy a blessed life, planting well-watered fields and gardens, with your farm animals grazing freely” (vv. 18, 20).

That’s a beautiful picture, isn’t it? And it’s the vision we, as pray-ers, should have for America!

Creating a Temporal and Spiritual Revolution
“But, Sister Lynne,” you might say, “can we really ask God to do such great things for us when our nation is so backslidden?”

Absolutely, we can!

In fact, that’s what God wants us to do.

You see, America today is facing much the same situation the nation of Israel was facing in Ezekiel’s day. Back then Israel was so backslidden that she was on the verge of a terrible judgment. The nation was literally being torn apart by lying, stealing, murderous princes. Even the spiritual leadership of the country had been corrupted.

What did God do about it? Did He just give them over to the Devil and let them suffer the judgment they deserved?

No! He started looking for somebody who would pray for mercy. He sought for a man among them that would make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Him for the land so it wouldn’t be destroyed. (See Eze. 22:30.)

God didn’t want Israel to fall into judgment and He doesn’t want America to either! So He’s giving us warnings. He’s calling His people to pray. He’s telling us that if things are going to change, the Church must take her place as a watchman on the wall of this country and stand against the destruction that’s threatening it.

Notice I said the Church must take her place in prayer—not just the people we consider “intercessors.” All Christians have an assignment to pray for this nation. We all need to say, “I’m going to do my part. The Devil is not going to take America because I am going to stand in his way!” Then we need to get busy praying for leaders who will govern this nation in righteousness.

Such leaders are not only key to our country’s temporal peace and prosperity, they’re also a link to spiritual revival. You can see that when you study the life and times of Samuel in the Old Testament. Before he took office as a judge, a priest, and a prophet, Israel was spiraling downward into more and more darkness and corruption. The Ark of the Covenant (which represents the Word and the Spirit of God) had been stolen by the Philistines. The whole nation was in a natural and spiritual mess!

Then a little lady named Hannah began to pray.

She didn’t start out specifically praying for the nation. She was really just praying for herself. She’d been barren for years and she wanted a son so she kept asking... and asking... and asking God to give her one.

Finally one day she went to the temple in distress of soul, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly. “O lord of hosts,” she said, “if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your handmaid and [earnestly] remember, and not forget Your hand maid but will give me a son, I will give him to the work of the Lord all his life.” (1 Sam. 1:10–11 Amp)

With that prayer, Hannah hit the mark. She opened the door for God to do the work that needed to be done in the nation. Her prayer became a bridge He could use to raise up a righteous leader who would bring Israel back to Him and His ways. So God answered... and Samuel was born.

What an amazing leader he turned out to be!

When he stepped into his God-ordained position of authority, Samuel created a spiritual and temporal revolution in his country. One commentary described his impact this way: “Not since the days of Joshua, a span of 350 years, had the righteousness of an entire nation been expressed so emphatically.”    

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the same could be said about America? Wouldn’t it be thrilling if America became a visible expression of God’s righteousness? Think how many souls could be saved if other nations looked at the virtue, health, and prosperity of the United States, recognized Jesus as the source of it, and decided that they too wanted to drink from His spiritual fountain.

It could happen if we had leaders like Samuel!

(To read Part 2, search by author/speaker for Lynne Hammond, then search under articles for America on the Rise: Part 2)