Recently, Jonathan Cahn has announced a call to national and global prayer called The Return derived from the passage in I Chronicles:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” — I Chron. 7:14 (emphasis added)
The key point here is the actions of God are predicated on the actions of his people. What is difficult for the American Church isn’t the humbling or the praying, but the seeking and the turning. One survey in 2014 found a strong majority (79% and 80% respectively) of Evangelical and Historically Black Protestants prayed daily; however, another survey in 2019 found only a third (32%) of church-going Protestants surveyed read their Bibles daily.
Humbling and turning is something that’s internally determined and is less likely to be accurately reported on, but it could be inferred from the other actions. If one is praying, he’s acknowledging there is someone higher than himself. He’s demonstrating humility by praying to him. In the same sense, seeking after God (i.e. finding out his will and ways) can be done by regular Bible reading.
There has been many a “solemn assembly” over the years for the American Church. Yet, it’s progressively worse with each passing generation. I think it’s because little to no emphasis is placed on seeking God and turning from wickedness. To that end, there are many examples of how to turn to God throughout his Word. The one I’ve recently read that has most poignantly affected me is found in the book of Ezra. The notable thing about Ezra is the pattern of repentance for leaders and individuals under spiritual leadership. It appears to play out in a few distinct steps.
Mourning and Confession
In the ninth chapter of Ezra, he reports he received news that priests and the Levites had transgressed in taking wives of the surrounding heathen tribes (9:1–2). Ezra launches into bitter anguish, goes through a state of shock, and finally offers confession to God on the people’s behalf. (v. 3, 5–15)
I don’t know if it was the culture then, a change in how the body processes grief now, or simply closeness to the laws of God over all the years, but I’ve rarely seen anything close to the anguish displayed by Ezra in the leaders (popular or local) in the American Church.
It appears the Church in America has lost sight of the great sin we have done before God.
With the high rates of divorce, pornography intake, and adultery that is common in the Church, almost every leader could cry out, “God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve!” (9:13)
I think this is the first step. We need to fully acknowledge and confess the sins that have taken hold of ourselves and the Church as leaders and as individuals.
Confession and Action
After Ezra’s long confession, mixed also with praises to God for his faithfulness despite their trespass, the people who were guilty come forward to confess (10:2). They shared their plan to follow existing law (Deut. 24:1–2) in order to divorce or separate themselves from their wives and children (10:3). Later, it’s detailed that the guilty parties offered sacrifice for atonement as well (10:19).
These actions are probably the most straightforward for any believer. The issues is in order to come to this course of action, one needs to know the law.
This is where the desperately needed Biblical literacy comes into play.
These people knew the law, so they knew what they needed to do to be made right with God after their sin. I’m not convinced many Christians know how to identify their trespasses and act to correct them.
I think the approach to resolving this will differ depending on the individual, but I think a universal prescription is daily Bible reading, regular application, and careful notation. Continuous exposure to the Word does change people. The more time spent with it, the more it will be thought about, the more it’s thought about, the more it must be applied in everyday situations. All this can be recorded by the individual to make it relevant to him given the situation. Ultimately, the more clearly the Word is understood, the more clearly sin is understood, and the more quickly the individual can act against the sin.
Purification of Relationships
After the people made a promise to follow through on their plan of action, a proclamation was released that sought to communicate three things:
- All the people needed to gather in Jerusalem.
- Those who would come had three days to comply.
- Those who did not come would have to forfeit his possessions and be separated from the people. (10:7–8)
This is probably the most difficult part of the book to read and likely just as difficult to do during that time. Even though all those who transgressed did gather within the time allotted, they had to do so knowing they would lose their wives and children. This is the mindset we must have:
God’s law is above all. Nothing else matters.
The desire for God must be stronger, or better yet, replace the desire for relationships that are hurtful to the relationship with God and with our Church family.This may play out in abandoning personal relationships as individuals or organizational relationships (e.g. separating from denominations, business partnerships, etc.). Nothing should get in the way of of building a Godly relationship.
Patience
Finally, it was realized that this mass confession, repentance, and separation wasn’t going to be something quick. It would take the space of several weeks (from the 20th of the ninth month until the 1st day of the first month). (10:9, 13–14, 17)
This is probably the most relevant to the American Church. It’s been in sin so long that it will take time to work through and prune away what has been hurting it. This will be difficult because it requires continual exposure to God’s Word, continual exposure to the sin in the lives in the individual, and the continual practice of doing away with it.
It’s relevant to reflect on the accounts of Pyongyang Revival in Korea during the 1910s. The progression was straightforward: the leaders confessed and turned from their sin privately with one another, they confessed their sin and their subsequent repentance to the congregation, the congregation then confessed their sins and repented of them. They took the consequences of these actions. Some were good, like healing relationships with other church members, some were unpleasant, one individual turned himself into authorities to be jailed for his crimes i.e. his sins.
The whole account appears to point toward a people hungry for a closer relationship with God and were willing to spend time, substance, and freedom to get it. To see an American Church with that sort of resolve appears impossible. Yet, where is it written “with God all things are possible?”
