You read repeatedly throughout the Bible about “if/then” statements. If a nation is obedient, then it was blessed and shown favor. If it was disobedient, then it was discipline or punished. When pride takes over and God is forgotten and not glorified, He humbles and tests us. See the following scriptures for God’s prescription for blessing or cursings.
Read Deuteronomy 8:14–18; 11:13–14, 27–28; 28:1-48;
1 Chronicles 21:7; 28:6–9; Psalm 5:12; 33:10–12; Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 1:16;
Zephanaiah 1:12; and Jude 6–7
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Sometimes He even uses evil nations to punish the nations that are not following him (Amos 6:14 and Habbakuk 1:6). We must not forget God as a nation; once again we must blush at our sins (Psalm 106, Jeremiah 8:12, and Hosea 13:6).
God is looking for a change of heart, for obedience. A call to repentance is clear in Joel 2:12–15: “Turn to Me with all your heart . . . fasting, mourning, weeping. . . .” He is looking for humbled hearts, not proud hearts. There is hope. He is slow to anger (Psa. 145:8). According to Buddy Smith, American Family Association Vice President, there is a history of hope when God’s people pray. “The moral impact of the First Great Awakening (1734–1760) is often credited with laying the foundation for our system of government after the American Revolution. As power fell from heaven in the Second Great Awakening (1790–1840), believers lay prostrate before God in repentance.”
The Prescription for Avoiding Judgment
Read Psalm 32:5; 51; 78:34; Jeremiah 18:7–10; 24:7; 26:3, 13, 19;
Hosea 14:1–2; 5:15; Joel 2:12–15; Malachi 3:7.
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God can do it again. However, he is waiting on us. Prayer can change our world, and it starts with one home at a time (2 Chron. 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 will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sins, and heal their land” (emphasis added). It starts with you and with me.
Many tools to help you are available in A Lasting Legacy.
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