
<p>     There are examples in history where nations have fallen to their deepest depravity, then a revival or spiritual awakening was ignited, and they rose to their greatest spiritual heights as a nation. Movements such as The Tea Party Movement is evidence that many are waking up and have considerable resolve to turn the nation back to its roots, its strength, and its very life source. However, there is one element missing—clear, defined, and capable leadership. <br /><br />     Immature or evil leadership are judgments of God upon nations that have fallen into debauchery as we see in Isaiah 5. Good, wise, and capable leadership is likewise a blessing from God. We must pray for our leaders as we are commanded, and we need to pray for the right leadership. For this reason, we should view the incompetence and evil of many who are presently in authority around the world as judgment. Our first priority must be to return to God, not just look for better leaders. We are told in II Chronicles 7:14: <br /><br />      <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“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” (NKJV). </span><br /><br />     We see here that the healing of the land begins with God’s people doing the following: 1) humbling themselves, 2) praying, 3) seeking God’s face, and 4) turning from their wicked ways. Could it be that, as with Jonah, the reason for the great storm that has come upon our ship is not because of the heathen, but because of the rebellious prophet? Just as the heathen had to wake up Jonah and convince him to call on his God, in many ways even the heathen are doing this today. On every front, problems are beyond human remedy, and they are starting to understand this.<br /><br />     As a prophetic voice given to represent God in the nations as salt and light, we have a responsibility to speak out against the wrong that is done by our leaders or the people. We also must always humble ourselves, and look to ourselves, repenting of the evil that we are doing first. This does not mean that we cannot speak out until we are perfect, or we would never speak. However, when we speak out after humbling ourselves, the words will not have that self-righteous air to them, but rather the cry of an anointed appeal from God to save those whom He loves, which includes everyone. For this reason we are told in I Peter 4:17, <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” </span><br /><br />     Many kinds of judgment are in Scripture—one is condemnation and one is destruction, but the rest are discipline from the Lord. As we are told in Hebrews 12, the Lord disciplines those whom He loves. Therefore, the judgments we are suffering are because He loves us, and He is seeking to turn us back from the path of destruction we are on. This judgment has to start with His own people because how can He judge the nations for the things that even His own people are doing?<br /><br />     We must remember that the path to having our land healed begins with God’s people humbling themselves. Our declarations against the evil deeds of our leaders, or the people, will not come with outrage and anger as much as an appeal seasoned with humility. We must always keep in mind that <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 NKJV). </span><br /><br />     The only way to get out of the mess we are in is by God’s grace, so we must keep humility above all things. This does not mean that we are weak or in any way compromising in our declarations and challenges to the times, but we are taking our stand to appeal to God even more than appealing to men. Only then can we hope to be truly victorious because, as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:28:<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold"> “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”</span> If we are going to cast the evil out, we will have to abide in and speak by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is always recognized by the fruit of the Spirit, which is the following: <span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (see Galatians 5:22-23).</span></p>