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CLOSING THE DOORS TO SATAN, RESTORING THE HEDGE OF PROTECTION
In some of my recent articles I've talked about several prophetic experiences along with words which I've received from the Lord about how he intends to end abortion in America, and how to ultimately restore the hedge of protection to the nation for the safety of our children. The ultimate solution to sin and the wickedness of the human heart that drives someone to take people's lives with assault rifles is not politics or gun laws, it's the blood of Jesus. This is why revival, evangelism, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is still the solution to this world's problems, not what I call "hyper-dominionism" (which is going beyond the biblical mandate to take dominion in the earth through the church). You can reform a system but nothing will ultimately change until the hearts of the people running these systems change. We need God to move in America. We need the third great awakening. In this week's article I want to discuss biblical solutions to seeing the doors to the enemy closed and healing released in a nation, that are in the context of what God does when he moves.
WHEN THE ENEMY TRESPASSES ILLEGALLY
"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
This is a classic scripture used to illustrate what a believer should do when the enemy trespasses and comes against us illegally. We're instructed to resist him and He will flee from us. Why does he have to flee? Because we have authority over him and He has no right to attack us when we're walking in humble submission to God. But when we depart from walking humbly with God, as individuals or as a nation, that's when the doors to the enemy begin to open, and the only way to close them is through the arts of repentance, prayer, and in extreme cases fasting. The only way to close the doors is to once again come into humble submission to God.
(Eph.4:26-27)
26 "Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil."
This was being spoken to the believers at Ephesus. Paul warned them saying, "Do not let the sun go down on your wrath; Do not allow too much time to expire before you repent and get it right with whoever you've had conflict with, because if you do you're giving place to the devil". He would not have said, "nor give place to the devil", if it wasn't possible to give the devil place in your life to oppress you. If he was giving this warning to blood-bought born-again believers, then how much more precarious will it be for a nation that turns from him rejecting his blood covering and giving themselves over to sin and wickedness? How much wider will those doors of sin, lawlessness, and wickedness get? I think we've only just begun to see just how wide those doors can open, as God allows us to reap the wages of our sins to convince us of Jesus being our only hope and our only salvation. And if you think that God is too good to use our own folly to convince us of our great need for him, then you simply don't know God. That's exactly what He'll allow to happen in this nation if it means us returning to him. God has worked tirelessly for decades to warn the church and the American people, but we have not listened. In a season of God's mercy we have gone even more astray and now the judgment is coming. It is already here, but is anyone seeing it yet? Is anyone recognizing it?
CLOSING THE DOORS OF SATAN THROUGH REPENTANCE, PRAYER, & FASTING
In Daniel's ninth chapter, God gives us a very good picture of what is called "identificational repentance" in the scripture. In this account he repents before God on behalf of the nation, and at times in his prayer He asks for forgiveness of his sins, but in full identification with the nation. In other words, it wasn't really his personal sins He was repenting for, but He took on the identity of the nation and from that place repented as if they were his own sins. The scripture says that God responded to Daniel's praying, fasting, and repentance on behalf of the nation. It was then decreed that the nation would come out of the Babylonian captivity to return to their land. The book of Daniel is an incredible book revealing what God can do with one servant fully submitted to him being used as an instrument of deliverance. But note, that deliverance for the nation was not accomplished apart from the prayers, fasting, and repentance of Daniel, and make no mistake about it saints, these are the ways of God and they do not change.
In a day in which God has greatly restored our understanding of the new covenant, the centrality of Christ, and the miracle of the finished work of the cross, we must be careful to not change God and his ways in the zeal of this restoration. Yes, it's true, Jesus is our great High Priest, Jesus is our substitute, Jesus did take our place on the tree, but know this, that it is our privilege and place to go on laboring with him for this world! In Christ the Great Intercessor we are hidden, interceding with him on behalf of the bride and the nations. In Christ our sins are indeed forgiven, blotted out, and remembered no more, yet we continue to appear before his throne of grace in faith to receive of His advocacy before the Father. If we sin, we have an Advocate in Christ Jesus the Righteous One, who stands before the Father and pleads the case of his own blood against our sin (1 Jn.2:1). In this we are justified because of what He's accomplished, not because of our own works.
The confession, the petition, the prayer that facilitates the continual cleansing blood of Jesus is a part of our walk of faith that is essential for "staying right" with God. When we identificationaly repent on behalf of a nation, we're entering into a sacred act that is outlined in scripture, asking God to bring deliverance, to set the nation free from what is holding it captive. These are the supernatural ways of God and of the courts of heaven that do not change. The cross of Christ changes us, it doesn't change God. I still believe that God looks for this kind of priestly ministry to respond to a nation's rapid decline and impending judgment.
WHAT IS PRAYER & FASTING UNDER THE NEW COVENANT?
A lot of people have wrong ideas about praying and fasting today. Praying and fasting is not spiritual currency that must be paid up, tallied by a certain amount of hours in utterance and accumulative suffering. No,
prayer and fasting is participation in the grace of priesthood which comes from heaven.
Jesus forever lives to make intercession for the whole world (Heb.7:25). Because Jesus is still interceding, does it mean that He's retracted His statement on the cross, "It is finished"? God forbid, no. His eternal priesthood facilitates the finished work of the cross through the eternal heavenly ministry of intercession.
True spirit-led prayer and fasting isn't done in striving or through religious duty, but by the awesome power and grace of God animating individuals to function in a priestly role so that heaven can move on our behalf. Does God need us to pray in order for things to happen? The answer is both yes and no. It's no, because God has need of nothing. He is sovereign, and He can accomplish anything in his own strength a part from you and I. But the answer is yes also, because God never violates his word, and it's clear through revealed divine truth in scripture that God has put a priestly system in place for administering the relationship between heaven and earth. We must fulfill our role in this priesthood as co-laborers with Christ if we're to see nations turn to God. Every revival in human history in which nations were shaken by the power of God was preceded by a faithful priesthood praying and fasting for what Heaven was birthing. We must return to these supernatural ways of royalty and throw off the humanistic tendencies that have become overdeveloped in the charismatic church over the last few decades. How many charismatics seek solutions of reform before dealing with the real spiritual obstacles that stand in the way. Reformation is always preceded by the stirrings of the Spirit in prayer.
There has clearly been a new level of protection removed from our nation, and a new level of attack released which we're seeing the effects of across the board. From natural disasters, to the viciousness seen in the battle over Washington, to the escalation in tragedy among the young, we're seeing it saints, and we must take up the weapons of our warfare in prayer and fasting just as every nation in history has done that has seen God deliver their nation. It is among the saddest things when we see tragedy in our nation like we've seen these last few weeks, and then see Christian leaders come out and take on the same humanistic approach to fixing these problems, and openly mock other believers that still believe prayer and repentance is our most effective means of seeing change. Yes, be active in your school district, be active in the community, be active in the government if God places you there, but never forget what the true weapons of our warfare are. Never forget that the battle must always first be won on our knees before any meaningful victory can take place in the natural.
HUMBLE YOURSELF AND TURN TO BACK TO GOD
14 "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.
15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place."
(Jer.18:7-10)
7 "The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
8 If that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it.
10 If it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it."
These scriptures are quite clear and very profound. The big "if" found in scriptures like these in the bible is the "If of Faith". God has paid our price of sin in full through offering up His own son for the sins of the world. In Christ our sins are forgiven, we're redeemed by the blood, reconciled to the Father through Christ,.... IF.... If we turn to him, if we accept this free gift, if we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways and follow Christ. God is the God of grace if you receive him; if you receive that grace. If you choose not to receive, He's the God of wrath. This is clearly laid out in scripture.
Some might say that this idea is Old Testament, old covenant, or "works-based". Allow me to demonstrate the same requirements of faith using New Testament scripture:
(Matt.6:15)
"But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
(Matt.9:21)
"For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."
(John 10:9)
"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."
(Acts 8:36-37)
36 "Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?"
37 Then Phillip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
(Rom.8:13)
"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
(Rom.10:9)
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
(1 Cor.11:31)
"For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged."
I could go on but I think you get the point. When you inject a conditional "if" into your walk with God you're not expressing unbelief in the finished work of the cross. You're simply recognizing the importance of faith in your walk. Even faith is empowered by the grace of God, but even so, it still must be operating in your life in order for you to walk in the blessings of God including forgiveness, healing, victory over the flesh, and salvation! The contingence of faith is a requirement of God that did not end at the cross, passing away with the Old Testament. It has and always will be necessary in order to please God (Heb.11:6).
As a nation we must humble ourselves and turn back to God, but everything starts with the house of God. As the church we must humble ourselves, pray, fast, and enact this crucial component of our faith to stand in the gap for this nation so God can turn this nation back to him. We are key in this battle and we must recover our role in this fight. God is doing his part and we must do ours.
Yes, I'm praying for the safety and protection of the young. I'm praying that the God of peace would keep us, that the Holy Spirit would comfort those who are suffering, and that God in his mercy would protect us. But I'm also repenting on behalf of a people, not dictating self-righteous claims before our awesome God. I'm repenting, saying, "God have mercy, we have sinned against you and ourselves. We have cursed your name and believed that we no longer need you. We as a people have called abominations good, and that which is righteous evil. We have allowed the enemy to have his way through the sins we've committed, giving place to the devil as a nation. Forgive us Lord and turn us back to you as a nation and as a people." I'm praying that the church would open her eyes and see this truth. I'm praying that true prophets would arise to speak the uncompromising word of the Lord, even if it costs them everything like the prophets of the bible. I'm praying that God validates his word of truth in this hour with power, and that our nation responds accordingly. I'm praying that the blinders which have been fastened to the body, causing here to call prayer and fasting religious and law-based, would be shattered by the raw power of God. And yes, I'm asking for God's righteous judgment so there can be the necessary cleansing needed in this hour.
Stephen Powell
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