This post may be a multiple-day affair. The Holy Spirit started working on me with a message about leadership in perilous times. We are definitely in that time. In his book Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting (1973/2023), Derek Prince relates a story of a vision for Kenya in the 1960s. A young man in Derek’s ministry was given a vision of the danger for Kenya and what needed to happen. The final line given to this young man was, “Only the supernatural power of the prayer of My people can turn away the troubles that are coming upon Kenya” (pg. 91)[i]. I agree with Derek that those words can apply just as much to the United States today as to a 1960s Kenya.
Since the founding of this nation, we can trace satan’s attempts to destroy the covenantal bond we have with God. This bond was evidenced by the dedication prayer at Cape Henry in 1607 and the Mayflower Compact penned 13 years later in 1620. This land was conceived by God to carry His plan and mission to the world, and He used these common people, seeking freedom of worship, to accomplish His work. Just a little over 500 years later, judgment and persecution are upon us, and the Ekklesia—God’s church body—must react with humble prayers of intercession and fasting for our nation.
The author of Chronicles told us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 just how we accomplish this task. As a nation, we must humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and then turn from our wicked ways. If we do these four actions, then God promises to hear us in His throne room, forgive us our sins, and He will then heal our land. Easy peeze, right? Well, hold on, cowboy. As a nation, we seem to be struggling with the humble thing. After all, we are acting like we are a god by choosing that 62 million babies were not worthy of life. Then we have some states becoming sanctuary states for the continued murdering of the innocent. Then, we can take the rights of the parents away and permanently mutilate their children, all in the name of gender-affirming care. Then our governments and courts are trying to tell God His message is not worthy of the public square, schools, or businesses. And the list does not stop there.
Ok, so we are not good at being humble, but what about praying? Well, it’s not so good there, either. After all, back in 1964, we started telling public schools that public, corporate prayer led by adults in the school is not allowed. Then, we tried to stop any prayer, including personal prayer. And our students are harassed if, in their valedictory speech, they pray or mention Jesus Christ. Ok, so how about seeking His face? Surely, we are ok there. I submit that it is hard, if not impossible, to seek God’s face if we are not humble and if we cannot pray. So, strike three; we are out. I won’t even try to justify the turning from our wicked ways comment. As a nation, except for a remnant, we have not tried to escape our wicked ways. In fact, we seem to be doubling down on abortion, gender ideology lies, teaching non-science as fact, and now, persecuting the remaining Christians while attempting to vilify Christ and the Bible.
Have we, as a nation, arrived at our Romans 1:18-32 time in our history? Has God already turned us over? Is Paul describing our societies in 2 Timothy 3:1-9? My answer is yes, we have arrived at a desperate place in history. What now? Do we retreat, lick our wounds, and focus on the eastern sky awaiting Christ? Under no circumstances! Lead from your knees, Ekklesia. If you count yourself among the chosen remnant, get out of your easy chair and move. The harvest field is no less ripe. In fact, it is a bumper crop awaiting our attention. In Luke 19:11-27, Christ is telling us to occupy until He comes. Part of occupation is to continue conducting His business while we await His arrival. Let’s not get lazy on Him.
Further, your leadership in these times requires that you be a great follower. There is a concept in leadership theory called followership (Northouse, 2019)[ii]. We will review this more in a following post. For this post, suffice it to say that we have to be GREAT followers of Christ. Embracing Bonhoeffer’s concept of expensive grace, which is the cost of being a disciple[iii].
As leaders in these difficult times, we must be followers of Christ to help lift and guide the church. Granted, it won’t be a walk in the park, a tiptoe through the tulips, or a slide down “easy street”—pick your own metaphor. In fact, Christ told us we would be persecuted for His name (Matthew 24:9), and Paul continued in 2 Timothy 3:10-13 telling us to be ready for persecution because “evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse” (vs. 13). Sound like fun yet? But leaders do not give up, and they never abandon their troops or the mission. Christ never left us, and He has promised He will never forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). That is a leader and the measure we are called to uphold.
More on followership and persecution versus judgment in the next post. Be blessed.
[i] Prince, D. (1973/2023). Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting. Whitaker House.
[ii] Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership; Theory and Practice, 8th Ed. Sage.
[iii] Bonhoeffer, D. (1937/1995). The Cost of Discipleship. Simon & Schuster.