EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a first-person article by Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee and author of “How to Pray: Developing an Intimate Relationship with God.”
NASHVILLE (BP) – July 4, as the day we set aside to celebrate America’s independence, is but one of 365 days that are crucial for our country’s future.
Each day, we must join in prayer for America. Our nation is in dire need of a new, fresh touch of God. Sin is abounding in a glaring and chilling manner. We need to pray, and we need to pray now.
It starts with us individually. Until we surrender to Jesus fully, we will have little to no prospect of a revival in our hearts, little to no stirring of the Spirit in our churches, and little to no spiritual awakening in our land. True revival is nothing less and nothing more than the manifest presence of God in our lives.
God does not will that our lives and leadership be spiritually powerless, lukewarm, ineffective and purposeless. Rather, he wills this for you and me: To give 100 percent of our lives to Jesus daily.
I often pray these words: “Lord, I give 100 percent of me to 100 percent of You so that 100 percent of You will work through 100 percent of me.”
Spiritual power is not found in holding on to what we have. Spiritual power is discovered and released when we release ourselves to God. We will never choose to let God have His way with us if we continue to hang on to our own desires, our own dreams and our own bondage. Just go ahead and pray it now, “Lord, I surrender.”
A surrendered Christian, a surrendered pastor and a surrendered church will experience spiritual revival.
With this foundation, we can turn to our God for our country. May we join together to talk to Him from every corner of this nation.
Let us pray to our God who is forgiving, loving and powerful.
Our forgiving God.
God, we come to You in major repentance of our many sins in America and ask You for forgiveness, grace and mercy.
Father, we confess abortion as sin.
We confess infanticide as sin.
We confess mistreatment and abuse of others as sin.
We confess hateful speech as sin.
We confess divisiveness as sin.
We confess pride, greed and envy as sin.
We confess failure to witness for Jesus to other people.
We confess our spiritual lukewarmness as sin.
Lord, we turn from these sins and turn us to You with our repentance. Wash us, cleanse us and forgive us.
Jesus, we ask You to call Your church across America to repentance. We are so in need of walking away from our present life and entering into the life You have for us that gives us grace, mercy, the power of the Holy Spirit and victory over sin.
Holy Spirit, revive Your church!
Our loving God
Father, we pray for all ethnicities and people in America to love one another. As the Scripture tells us, “Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:6-8a).
Lord, give us love for one another at all times and in all circumstances. Since your love is built on your truth and we are made in your image, all humans are of one race, and loving one another is not optional.
Lord, bind us together in Your love. We call on You to bring us back to the cross of Jesus Christ, where His unconditional, powerful love has torn down all the walls that divide us and opened a new pathway for us to love one another.
Lord, forgive us where we have not honored one another, accepted one another and loved one another. Give us the power to repent of anything in our past and choose a new future together where love will not just bind up our nation’s wounds, but this transforming love will lead to the day when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Our powerful God
Lord, we pray that we will love You and each other so much that we will agree clearly, unite visibly and pray extraordinarily for the next Great Spiritual Awakening in America.
Lord, we are living in a crucial moment in history, and now is the time for each of us as followers of Christ to wake up in our spiritual lives, knowing our greatest need and hope in America is the next Great Spiritual Awakening.
Holy Spirit, convict the church in America to wake up spiritually, agree clearly, unite visibly and pray extraordinarily for the next Great Spiritual Awakening to occur in our generation.
We call on You, the Sovereign God of heaven, to shape the future of America mightily through the next Great Spiritual Awakening just as You did in history through past Great Spiritual Awakenings.