A Prayer for the Nations

With the current situation we are facing today, the nations need prayers desperately. We could blame COVID-19 for causing this global pandemic, or the wicked for our nations’ lack of moral direction, but the church must bear the responsibility.

Let’s face it, our churches live far beneath the standards of holiness established in the New Testament. The church has become so compromised that they ordain homosexuals, defend abortion and denies the truth of God’s Word. Let us be warned that when a nation abandons God, He abandons that nation.

Today, more than ever, Christians need to get down on their knees and unite in prayer. But where and how do we start?

How to Pray for the Nations

Chapters 78 to 81 of the book of Psalms give us a blueprint on how to pray for the nations with a call for praise, repentance, and restoration and conclude with God’s expectations and promises.

In Psalm 78, Asaph recalls Israel’s history, which was saturated with God’s provision, His leadership, His miracles, and His working power. But despite all that, the people had become stubborn and rebellious, and they suffered because of their disobedience.

One thing we can learn from history is that we don’t learn from history. If we study the Bible and church history, we discover that Israel made that same mistake.

Asaph did not want the people to imitate the “exodus generation” that died in the wilderness, or the third generation in Canaan that turned to idols, or the ten tribes that forsook the Lord and established a new kingdom and a false religion.

Asaph wanted the people to trust God, learn from the past, and obey God’s word. Only then could they be sure of the blessings of the Lord.

A Call to Praise God 

The first blueprint on how to pray for the nations is a call for praise for the wonderful things God has done in the past and still doing at present. Before we even pour our hearts out at the feet of Jesus, we are to give Him all praises. As the Bible points out, God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3).

Going back to Psalm 78, Asaph reminds the nation of Israel of God’s law that each generation of Jewish people must pass on God’s Word to the next generation and not hide from their children the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done (Psalm 78:2-3).

This law still applies to the church today. Sadly, many nations have abandoned God. In America, God has been omitted from public school textbooks to separate church and state even at the expense of truth. Historical revisionists are rewriting America’s history by presenting the founding forefathers as evil and corrupt.

Why? So that the coming generations will ignore what they said and did to make America great. In reality, America’s history is full of God’s grace and power in the establishment of this nation, and there are countless examples of leaders who pursued God’s grace and power in times of trouble.

Remembering the Mayflower Compact

On the Mayflower, the future colonists drew up the first written agreement for self-government ever put in force in America. After sixty-five days at sea, the pilgrims anchored their ship off Plymouth Rock.

Before going ashore, forty-three pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, which begins with the words, “Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith.” Today, that document would be attacked by the ACLU demanding separation of church and state.

At Valley Forge, as the ragged soldiers braced themselves against the bitter winter wind and fought hunger, George Washington knelt in the snow to pray. God answered him. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln pleaded with God to spare the Union. God answered. Lincoln’s speeches were full of scripture. Today, he would be ridiculed for his faith.

In World War I, America’s doughboys knelt in the trenches, hiding from mustard gas and praying to God for victory. He answered. During World War II, there were numerous times when the war could have been lost – Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Dunkirk – but the hand of God spared us.

Some of you perhaps still remember D-Day or The Battle of Normandy, when General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was raised by praying parents, sculpted the D-Day invasion on the Normandy Beaches.

The day was not going well as the US troops were pinned down by gunfire. But believers started praying. Hundreds of people gathered and knelt on a gymnasium floor to pray for American troops. Nobody knew what was happening on the front, but they knew they needed to pray and they did, all day and all night. And God heard their prayers.

What does this story tell us today? For us to claim God’s blessings on our nation’s future, we must praise Him for all the blessings He has bestowed in the past. Every nation must acknowledge the work that God has done for them and humbly plead for His help.

Let every nation put God back into their lives, into their government, and into their society. May we always remember to give God all the praises and adoration for all His mighty deeds, grace, and mercy.

Repentance is the Key

The next part of the blueprint is repentance. What is repentance? When John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, went about preaching that the kingdom of God is at hand, he started out by preaching repentance (Matthew 3:1-2).

In the Bible, the word repentance literally means “the act of changing one’s mind.” But true repentance is more than just feeling remorse, regret, or feeling bad about your sin. Isn’t it turning away from sin? Sure! But it involves more than that.

In its fullest sense, repentance involves a complete change in the heart and mind of a person resulting in a radical and persistent pursuit of holy living and walking with God in obedience to His command.

In praying for the nations, we must first and foremost repent of the way we have failed God over and over again. We must recognize that God is sovereign and that the national welfare is at stake. Without His intervention, the nations would fall.

In Psalm 79, Asaph lamented over the destruction of Jerusalem

“O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps.” (Psalm 79:1)

“For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.” (Psalm 79:7)

Yet, Asaph knew that God isn’t finished with the Jewish nation. He then pleaded for God’s help for the glory of His name but no deliverance came. Then it hit him! He needed to confess his own sins and the sins of his contemporaries and repent (Psalm 79:8).

In the same way, we need to confess and repent of our sins and the sins of our nation. We need to acknowledge that without God’s intervention, we will fall; all nations will fall. Let us ask God to not hold against us our former iniquities.

“Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, for we have been brought very low.” (Psalm 79:8)

Here’s a song called, “Stand in the Gap” (Pray for the Nations) by Tom Inglis.

Stand in the Gap (Pray for the Nations) Lyrics and Chords

A Plea for Restoration

Restoration is the third phase of the blueprint. Three times Psalm 80 carries the prayerful words “Restore us, O God.” (See Psalm 80:3, 7, 19.)

We know that God restored Israel numerous times. And so, this should be our plea as well – for God to restore our nation to the day when “in God we trust” was a way of life and not just a meaningless slogan on a piece of paper or coin.

Psalm 81 proclaims God’s expectations of us. This is the foundation upon which everything rests. As God expected the Israelites to follow His ways, God expects us to do the same.

“But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!” (Psalm 81:11-13)

If they had, God would have subdued their enemies and fed Israel with the “finest of wheat” and with “honey from the rock” (Psalm 81:16).

May we learn from Israel’s history and not repeat their mistake. The only thing God requires from us is to heed His voice and walk in His ways.

The promise of Blessings: God Heals a Nation

God’s expectations for our nations or for any nation are no less.

Israel’s history shows how a nation can find and lose favor with God and what God will do if the people repent and ask to be restored. “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” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

In this well-known text, the Lord promised to answer every request. He was willing to forgive His people when they sinned if only they would humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their sins.

Although some scholars say this is only applicable to the nation of Israel because God has never made a covenant with any other nation but them, Christian believers today can claim this promise because they are God’s people.

Our nation needs to be restored. Our nation needs our prayers. Let us take our country back to God one heart at a time, one home at a time, one city at a time.

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Recommended Resource:

The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations by Anne Graham Lotz

In this book, bestselling author Anne Graham Lotz will teach you how to pray effectively for your nation, for your families, and for yourself.

Many people today find that their prayers don’t “work.” And like a broken cell phone, DVD player, or TV remote, they throw prayer out as unnecessary “clutter” in their busy lives. Anne Graham Lotz has found that while prayer does work, sometimes the “pray-ers” don’t. So, she turned to the prophet Daniel for help.

The Daniel Prayer is born deep within your soul, erupts through your heart, and pours out on your lips, words created by and infused with the Spirit of God quivering with spiritual electricity.

It’s really not an everyday type of prayer. It’s a prayer birthed under pressure. Heartache. Grief. Desperation. It can be triggered by a sudden revelation of hope. An answer to prayer, a promise freshly received, a miracle that lies just over the horizon.

Join Anne in a thrilling discovery of prayer that really works.

For extended study into The Daniel Prayer message, Anne has also created The Daniel Prayer video study and study guide. Available now.