In the year 2000, Linda and I made the journey to Washington D.C. to take part in "the Call." It was an event that was marked by fasting and prayer on the Capitol Mall. It was a time of repentance and brokenness before God on behalf of our nation for walking away from Him. Repentance is the decision to change your mind about how you are living and turning from your sinful ways toward God's ways. That event 15 years ago has led to many other gatherings of Jesus followers doing the same thing.
This practice of having a broken heart before God for the way our people have turned away from him is seen throughout the pages of the Bible and throughout all of history.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV) reads this way...
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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Another "call" has gone out for an organic, simultaneous uprising of prayer for our nation and corresponding repentance. This one is called the Call2fall. It asks you to make the following commitment:
I will answer God's call to fall on my knees in humility and seek His face in repentance so that He might forgive my sins and heal our land.
More information about Call2Fall can be found here. This Sunday, July 3rdmarks the day that we are called to get on our knees for 3-5 minutes as a church and pray for our nation. It is a call to humble ourselves together. Their goal is that 40,000 churches will participate, Neighborhood Church of Chico will be one of those churches.
During the worship services this week we will take the time to answer this call and kneel and pray. Our country needs the Lord to move in a mighty way, and I am privileged to be a part of the larger body of Christ to seek Him together.
While this is a specific opportunity to pray, my hope is that as Jesus followers, we are taking time every day to pray and seek God for our own lives, for our church, city, nation and the nations.
So Sunday we will spend some time on our knees (if your knees are healthy enough)... O Lord, may your Kingdom come and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!
-Andrew Burchett, Lead Pastor