714 Precedes 316

On October 9^th, 2008, the day prior to our annual prophetic conference, I awoke at 7:14 AM before my alarm sounded. This chapter and verse reference from the second book of Chronicles has always been very special to me, as it represents what I believe to be a consistent and crystal clear, clarion call from God to our nation. The very next night, October 10^th, I awoke abruptly in the middle of the night. I looked over at my digital clock and it was 3:16 AM. I was immediately reminded of possibly the most popular Scripture reference in the New Testament.

II Chronicles 7:14 “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.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

I felt that the Lord might be delivering to me a message for the church through this unusual sequence of events, but was not absolutely sure. All doubt vanished when the exact same sequence occurred almost 2 weeks later. On October 28^th, I awoke at 7:14 AM, and the next night, October 29^th, I awoke abruptly at 3:16 AM.

Healing Precedes Harvest

As I pondered these scriptures, the words “heal their land” stood out to me. The Lord then spoke to me these words, “The healing of your land is the key to reaping a harvest from your land.”

Any harvest is contingent upon three main factors, namely, the soil, the seed, and the sky. In a spiritual harvest, these components translate into our heart condition, the implanted word, and the spiritual atmosphere. Of these three components, the only one that remains invariable for a spiritual harvest is the incorruptible seed of God’s word that lives and abides forever. Notice in Jesus’ parable of the sower in Matthew 13 that the condition of the soil chiefly determined whether a harvest would be reaped. Therefore, since the healing of the land is the key to reaping a harvest from the land, heart issues must be addressed first (I Peter 1:23).

In the natural, abused farm land must be given time to rest, so that the nutrients that produce a bountiful harvest may be replenished. For this reason, the Old Testament laws of shmitta (the sabbatical of the land) mandated that the land be left to rest every seventh year. Land requires a time of rest and reparation in order to produce a harvest (Leviticus 25:2-6).

Although it has been said, “time heals all wounds”, other ingredients are also necessary to heal unproductive soil. Land that has been defiled by the shedding of innocent blood requires healing before it can produce a harvest. Notice the Lord’s response to Abel, after he murdered his brother Cain.

Genesis 4:10 “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”

The voices of those that have been unjustly sacrificed over the years cry out to God for redemption. Redemption does not come through revenge, but reconciliation. Ultimate reconciliation is attained only through Christ - our Redeemer. Indeed, Jesus paid the ultimate price to redeem all mankind for all time from the curse of a Christ-less hell. However, this reconciliation with the Savior becomes nearly impossible for certain people groups, when the ultimate offense has been committed against them, namely murder.

The greatest act of love is to sacrifice or give one’s life to save the life of another. This spiritual truth is embodied through the vicarious death of Jesus Christ represented in John 3:16. On the contrary, the greatest act of hate and offense is to commit murder or take an innocent life.

Proverbs 18:19 “A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city.”

If we journey through the annals of recent history, we find people groups that have been subject to murderous atrocities within nations flying the Christian banner. As a result, Christians find it most difficult to win these offended groups to Jesus - their efforts toward reconciling them to God through Christ often bearing little fruit.

● This ultimate offense was inflicted en masse upon the Jews, whose ranks were decimated through Hitler’s demonic regime during the Holocaust. As a result of this slaughter, the Jews are one of the hardest people groups to reconcile to Christ.

● A little closer to home, the American Indians, whose 500 tribes have been annihilated over the centuries by covenant-breaking, Christianized, white men, on the whole have rejected Christ. Indeed, despite numerous evangelistic efforts over decades, less than 9% of American Indians are professing, practicing Christians.

● Most recently, many X and Y generation Americans have grown to despise Christ, as our “one nation under God” since 1973 hypocritically continues to permit the sacrifice of millions of their would-be peers on an altar of convenience. Indeed, the murder of innocent life through abortion has been a key contribution to the alienation of America’s youth from Christ the Redeemer. As a result, with each passing generation, a declining number of Americans are born-again Christians.

Humility Precedes Healing

The healing and redemption of the land and its people is required for America to reap a spiritual harvest from our fields of offense and alienation. Although healing requires times of rest and reparation, it also requires times of repentance.

Repentance is the product of a people who will humble themselves, pray and seek His face. The Lord strongly emphasizing this truth to me through the prophetic sign referencing II Chronicles 7:14. This month during “School of the Holy Spirit”, students were asked to inquire of the Lord regarding three words for the Church in 2009. The Lord gave me these three words in the following order: Humility à Healing à Harvest

On a personal and corporate level, without humility, we can neither pray, nor seek God’s face, nor realize and repent of the sins that bind, blind and divide us. In other words, without breaking up the hardened, fallow ground of our hearts through repentance, our past and present trespasses against alienated people groups remain. This makes the healing of estranged Americans and their reconciliation to their offenders and to God nearly impossible. Therefore, repentance for the sins that divide us becomes an absolute necessity.

Hosea 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

Fertile, fallowed soil and healthy seed are but two of three necessary ingredients for harvest. Without rain from the sky, the harvest will wither and die. Despite repentance from wrongdoing, the reconciliation of races, and the redemption of the rejected, a spiritual harvest is not guaranteed without the dethroning of spiritual principalities that reign in heavenly places. As we corporately repent of our national sins, the resultant application of the blood of Jesus authorizes the saints to corporately dislodge and execute the written judgment upon the satanic principalities that hold our nation captive.

For example, corporate repentance from and renunciation of the sins of racism, divination, greed, idolatry, pride, rebellion, and murder, empower the saints to enforce Jesus’ victory and dominion over ruling principalities of darkness. Indeed, through strategic, prophetic proclamations and corporate, apostolic prayer and praise, the saints have the honor of binding the princes of darkness and executing vengeance upon them in Jesus’ name (Ephesians 6:12, Luke 10:19, Psalm 149:6-9).

Dethroning principalities and powers of darkness over America is a key to the commencement of a righteous reign in this country. This in turn will release a rain of righteousness that will produce the greatest spiritual harvest in our nation’s history. Jesus sacrificed His life for all mankind (John 3:16). If we will, as a nation, respond to and fulfill Christ’s mandate contained in II Chronicles 7:14, His sacrifice in our behalf will not only yield a bountiful harvest of everlasting life, but exalt our nation in righteousness once again. Remember, 7:14 precedes 3:16.