Revival Challenge Day 8

I'm posting this after midnight, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so I still consider this to be day 8. :-)

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Our country has a lot of heroes in it. Not the kind you see on TV or in the movie theaters, but the people that serve in the Armed Forces day after day. Especially the ones that happen to be on the battlefield... or the ones that give their lives for our country.

I found out something interesting today... since 1776, not a single generation has gone by without having to defend freedom. I guess it's something the devil likes to attack. Because the freedom that we have had includes the freedom to worship God. The Chinese don't have the type of freedom we do... they have to meet underground. Neither do many people in the Middle East.

Today I read II Chronicles 14-17. I noticed something interesting. King Asa was a pretty good king, and followed the Lord for most of his life. He fought a battle with 580,000 soldiers against armies with more than a million soldiers... and he won, because he followed the Lord and God was on his side. When he got older, he became more prideful and relied on his alliances with other countries more than he relied on God. As a result, Judah was constantly in battle for the rest of his life. Similarly, he had a problem with his foot, and rather than praying and relying on God, he relied on physicians, and was never healed. He died 2 years later.

His son, Jehoshaphat, also loved the Lord, but he continued to rely on God all his days. I noticed something interesting. The fear of the Lord fell on all his enemies. This was only because the country under Jehoshaphat was a good country... if you would use the terminology of today, you would think of it as a "Christian nation".

Our country is quickly losing it's status as a "Christian nation". For the most part, it hasn't been for years. I watched some old speeches that Ronald Reagan made the other day, and it was really sad to see, because he referred to a Christian God in his address, in a way that would be scandalous if a president said today. It would be nice to go back to a day where presidents could talk about the birth of Jesus Christ and of the creator.

The only way we're going to get there is for revival. Don't know if it will ever make a difference, but I'm going to keep on praying.

In church today, our preacher preached about our military heroes, and about Christian heroes. We also sang some patriotic songs. Like a verse that rarely gets sung any more:

Our Father's God! To Thee,
Author Of Liberty,
To Thee We Sing;
Long May Our Land Be Bright
With Freedom's Holy Light;
Protect Us By Thy Might,
Great God, Our King!

Almost a prayer for revival in itself.