Oh Church Arise!

I love election season....the whole process thrills me! It always has, from the conventions, to the voting, to the irritatingly biased commentary.....I watch it all. Often I end up throwing things at my TV in disgust over a comment that is way off base, and this year was not different in many aspects.
But in one very huge aspect.....it was very, very different. I have prayed like I have never prayed over an election before! Today before I left for Bible Study I kneeled in my living room begging God to intervene once again on the behalf of my beloved America! I struggled to find words that would express a prayer that has been circling inside of me....and then the prayer came, Father, make your church ready. We are not ready, God we are stale and stagnant! Barely there, barely in the fight. God make us ready for battle.....because the time is near.
After Bible Study I rushed home and turned on my TV to see the familiar shape of my country big and bold on the screen, some states in red and some in blue. I settled in with a glass of O.J. and prepared myself for the long evening ahead. I didn't expect it to end so soon.
As I sat on the sofa and watched the color blue become more and more prominent, tears began to fill my eyes, at first slowly, and then like a rush! I could not believe what I was seeing. I fell on my face as the last states were called and the winner declared....I sobbed and I sobbed hard! My country had fallen. On my face in the middle of my living room I cried out to God. The verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14 kept ringing through my head....to which I replied, I know God...but America won't listen....they won't hear.
Then I pulled out my Bible and read the words to a verse I memorized as a child-"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." The words MY PEOPLE....CALLED BY MY NAME...they kept rolling over and over again in my head and then it hit me.
The fault lies with me....with the church of God....we are the ones who have turned from God to wickedness, we are the ones who tolerate a mediocre existence and those little "white" sins within the body. We are the ones that the call to repentance needs to generate with first. So I began to sing it...in the song that I'd learned...as tears continued to flow. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, shall humble themselves and pray....then will I hear from heaven.....
The early leaders of the church lived unmistakably with the focus of the kingdom ever before them. They were on this earth for one reason and one reason alone. They were scattered abroad..preaching, Acts 11:19. They did not struggle with their purpose, their careers, and futures….they knew that they were there to make disciple for Christ….”baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you!” Matt 28:19-22. Preach, and teach and remember the Lord until He comes.
As the nest we have made for ourselves begins to rattle and shake, as the fibers we have so carefully woven become undone….let us look to the author and finisher of our faith. We need to begin to run once again like those who have gone before us, and run with patience the race that is set before us. Heb 12:1.
Make us ready Oh God for battle once again.....make us ready to fight, and worthy to stand. Take us once and for all out of the lull of sleep and the complacency of “Doubting Castle” and like the church fathers from Christ’s day, make us bold, able soldiers, ready and worthy to fight for the sake of the Gospel.
I am broken, but resting in the mighty arm of my Savior. Praying for deliverance, repentance, and strength for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ....the time has come, no, the time it well past due!
"Oh church arise and put your armor on hear the call of Christ our Captain. For now the weak can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given. With shield of faith and belt of truth we stand against the devils lies an army bold who’s battle cry is love reaching out to those in darkness. Our call to war to love the captive soul but to rage against the captor and with the sword that makes the wounded whole we will fight with faith and valor. When faced with trials on every side we know the outcome is secure and Christ will have the prize for which He died and inheritance of nations!!"

Looking for that blessed hope! Titus 2:13
Jaime