I don’t really know exactly how to start this, so I’ll begin by telling you that my heart is grieved for our country. I was at a woman’s conference on Saturday, feeling the heaviness and weight of grief for The United States, and I cried out to God, “Please tell me what’s going on in my body? Why do I feel this grief as though I’ve lost someone? Why does my heart feel this way?” I asked him to please lift it from me. He spoke these words to my spirit instead: “I have given you this burden to pray for the world; to pray for your nation. you’re carrying the burden of intercession.”
Sometimes it’s in those moments, that even when you don’t like what the Lord has to say, his clarity brings peace, even though it’s hard and your knees buckle under the weight of it. “Okay,” I said, and left it at that.
After coming home to reflect and regroup on the downloads I received from the weekend, the Lord spoke this to me in my quiet time:
“I will do something the likes of which the world has never seen before. I am toppling kings and kingdoms in this hour. My divine set up. My divine set up is coming, and when I am finished, who will stand?
Those whose hears are firmly rooted and planted in me; those vines that are grafted to me; all others will fall away.
I am coming for my Bride; to take what belongs to me. She has been purified and made herself ready to do the things I have prepared for her from the beginning of time.
I am the Lord- there is no other. Man’s kingdoms will fall. Only my kingdom will remain.
Mine is the Kingdom. Mine is the power. Mine is the glory. Forever and ever.”
America
As I finished writing what he wrote, I looked outside the window in my office and saw the American flag waving in the breeze of the morning day. I heard the words, “America The Beautiful.”
I went searching for the full lyrics to the song, as we were only taught the first couple of stanzas in grade school. I linked the lyrics above so you can read them and fully appreciate the magnitude and glory by which America once stood under the eyes of her Creator. What I learned was that the original poem by Katherine Bates was set to another hymn called “Materna- Oh Mother, Dear Jerusalem,” and the lyrics and imagery are just as personally impactful:
O mother dear, Jerusalem,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?
O happy harbor of the saints!
O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.
Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square;
Thy gates are of right orient pearl,
Exceeding rich and rare.
Thy turrets and thy pinnacles
With garnets rare do shine;
Thy very streets are paved with gold,
Surpassing clear and fine.
Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green,
There grow such sweet and pleasant flow’rs
As nowhere else are seen.
Quite through the streets, with silver sound,
The flood of life doth flow;
Upon whose banks on ev’ry side
The wood of life doth grow.
There trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring;
There evermore the angels sit,
And evermore do sing.
Jerusalem, my happy home,
Would God I were in thee!
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see!
It was in that moment of pouring through the words penned by Samuel Augustus Ward, that I realized what God was saying to me, and I think it’s so interesting that he would marry these two poems together in melody, harmony, and rhythm. While America has been our home, our nation, a symbol of freedom for the freedom that God desires to give to all people, it is ultimtely not our eternal home.
The New Jerusalem
The bible talks about the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and there was no sea anymore. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,[a] coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Now God’s presence is with people, and he will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them and will be their God.[b] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain, because all the old ways are gone.”
5 The One who was sitting on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.”
6 The One on the throne said to me, “It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega,[c] the Beginning and the End. I will give free water from the spring of the water of life to anyone who is thirsty. 7 Those who win the victory will receive this, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But cowards, those who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who sin sexually, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last troubles came to me, saying, “Come with me, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And the angel carried me away by the Spirit to a very large and high mountain. He showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It was shining with the glory of God and was bright like a very expensive jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 The city had a great high wall with twelve gates with twelve angels at the gates, and on each gate was written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west. 14 The walls of the city were built on twelve foundation stones, and on the stones were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod made of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city was built in a square, and its length was equal to its width. The angel measured the city with the rod. The city was 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. 17 The angel also measured the wall. It was 216 feet high, by human measurements, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city walls were decorated with every kind of jewel. The first foundation was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was chalcedony, the fourth was emerald, 20 the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate having been made from a single pearl. And the street of the city was made of pure gold as clear as glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the city’s temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God is its light, and the Lamb is the city’s lamp. 24 By its light the people of the world will walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 The city’s gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there. 26 The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city.
I am reminded how incredible our heavenly home will be. And while I will fight on my knees in prayer for the future of America, I will keep my hands open, my heart surrended, and my eyes fixed on the clouds for his return.
I’m reading a book by Derek Prince called, “Shaping The Nations Through Fasting & Prayer”
It’s really helped me to understand the god-given authority we have in prayer to intercede on behalf of our country and world. The Lord spoke to me the other day while reading it, saying, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and pray for the peace for the United States, beginning in the hearts of her people.” You don’t have to look far to see how people are struggling right now. I have personally known 4 people who have attempted suicide in the last month, one of which was successful. When we have been forgiven, we can have peace in our hearts knowing that we have been restored to the one who created us. It’s as simple as asking Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and best friend. I promise you, he comes right away when you call. You’ve got to confess that you’ve lived a life of sin and separation from God. You’ve got to make up in your mind that today is the day you’ll be different. Whatever you’ve been doing in life, you’ll now commit to doing the opposite- it means following Jesus and knowing him through his word. When peace is restored to the hearts of all mankind, the senselessness and chaos of the days will live in will be mitigated. And you can’t put a price on peace. It is the ultimate luxury.
Psalm 122 says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.” When we commit to loving our jewish brothers and sisters, and praying for their peace and prosperity, God’s word says, “May those who love you be secure.” That’s us.
The Divine Setup
Going back to the word the lord spoke to me, divine setups can mean that what looks like something awful can actually be an opportunity for God to get the glory. Think of the planned destruction of the jews during Esther’s time. Think of the fiery furnace. Think of the lion’s den.
A divine setup brings us to the end of our reality, and lifts us above our circumstances, above our feelings, above how our limited minds would work, to the much more of God. I believe God is going to give his true disciples a divine setup to share their story- the hope to which they are called. The miracles God has done for them. The miracles he is still doing in the earth today, if we will have 20/20 spiritual vision and audacious faith to believe for. I believe that, as he did for Esther and Daniel, he is going to weave problems into divine setups for him to get his glory.
I believe he’s reordering his people like pieces on a chessboard, strategically placed for such a time as this. I’m excited to see what he will do next.
The Prince of Peace
May you call out to Jesus, the Prince of Peace today, knowing that The New Jerusalem or the City of Peace will be your portion in the future, no matter what lies ahead for America and the world. May you take authority given to you by God to earnestly intercede for America. May you know that, as the Lord spoke to me, it is by being knit or grafted to him, that you’ll be prepared as part of his bride (his church). And finally, may you be part of his divine setup. His glory is in your story. Don’t sit on your testimony. Encourage someone else today!
I’m praying for peace over your heart and mind today, and for the boldness of a lion to rise up in your spirit.
jess
photo courtesy of Fons Hejinsbroek, Unsplash
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