Lesson 19

Righteousness is "conformity to the law, mind and will of God."
we are walking in righteousness when we do what is right and just according to the law of God.

God wants us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness in our lives.
He wants us to hunger and thirst after His righteousness (Matthew 5:6; 6:33).
He wants His people to establish His righteousness on this earth.

God wants His righteousness to be established in our life, family, government and every nation of this earth.
He wants all men on earth to fear and revere Him (Psalm 33:8).

Let all the earth fear the LORD;
      let all the people of the world revere Him.
(Psalm 33:8)

Righteousness in a nation will cause it to be exalted (Proverbs 14:34).
God will bless such a nation.
It will have the peace and prosperity that other nations will envy.
On the other hand, sin will bring disgrace to a nation and its people.
And the godly will suffer under an evil government.

Righteousness exalts a nation,
     but sin is a disgrace to any nation.
(Proverbs 13:34)

Every nation on this earth has been raised up by God, to fulfill His will and purposes.
There is no government on earth that has not been raised up by God (Romans 13:1).

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
(Romans 13:1)

When God's people no longer care to live righteously, God will raise up wicked rulers to discipline them.
He will raise up nations and rulers that are godless to punish His people, so that they will turn back to Him (Deuteronomy 28:47-50).

Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and die poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young.
(Deuteronomy 28:47-50)

When God's people repent, He promises to heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Healing the land includes:

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 sins and will HEAL THEIR LAND.
(2 Chronicles 7:14)

E.g. Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union or USSR.
The Communist bloc came tumbling down because God's people repented on behalf of the sins of the Communist nations many years before the event took place.
As a result of prayer, God touched the hearts of Gorbachev and other Communist leaders, and the Communist bloc fell with little loss of lives (See the book Exodus II).

During the time of the judges, the Israelites continually came under the oppression of their enemies, such as the Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amalekites, etc. (Judges 3:7-11; 12-31; 4:1-24; 6:1-40; etc).
They were oppressed because they forsook God and worshipped the gods of the Canaanites living among them (Judges 2:6-23).
However, when they cried out to the Lord, God raised up judges to deliver them, judges such as Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, etc (e.g. Judges 3:7-11).

E.g. God raised up Cyrus of Persia to help rebuild Jerusalem and its temple after the leaders of Israel in exile repented (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4; Nehemiah 1:1-12; Daniel 9:1-19; Isaiah 44:24, 28).

Every government that exists on this earth has been established by God.
He sets up kings and His disposes them (Daniel 2:21).
They are like watercourses in His hands, and He can turn them in whatsoever direction He wishes (Proverbs 21:1).

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;
     He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.
(Proverbs 21:1).

Although the destiny of every nation is in God's hands, God needs His people to build His righteousness in every nation on this earth.
And God has giving us TWO weapons to accomplish this, namely PRAYER and our GOVERNING AUTHORITY in Christ.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to pray for God's kingdom to be built on this earth, for God's will to be done on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Our Father in heaven,
     hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
     Your will be done earth as it is in heaven.
(Matthew 6:9-10)

Thus by our prayer, we can ask God to turn a nation from unrighteousness to righteousness. This is our responsibility on this earth.
We are God's agents commissioned to build God's kingdom on this earth.
Conversely, if we do not pray, and no believers pray for a nation, then evil will prevail in the nation under the god of this age, the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4 NKJ).

God in His word thus commands believers everywhere to pray for all those in authority, so that God's people may live peaceful and quiet lives (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

I urge, then, first of all that requests, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
(1 Timothy 1:1-2)

In our prayer, we must repent of our own sins, the sins of the church and the sins of the nation.
As we turn to God and seek His face, He will intervene in our nation.

As soon as we have asked for anything of our heavenly Father in Jesus' name, we must believe that we have received our answer (Mark 11:24).
We must therefore begin to exercise our governing authority by commanding and declaring in faith in accordance with what we have received.

When God first created man, He gave Adam the mandate to rule the earth.
But Adam lost this authority to the devil when he disobeyed God and listened to the devil (Genesis 1:26-3:24).
But praise God, Jesus restored man's governing authority to all those who believed in Him (Matthew 16:19; 18:18; 28:18-20; Luke 10:19).

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Matthew 16:19; 18:18)

E.g. Begin to say, after prayer:
"God has given us a good government, He is removing all corrupt officials in authority at every level of government, in Jesus' name."
Every spirit of wickedness and corruption, we bind and break your power over our leaders and government officials.
We declare that many repent and walk in righteousness.
We declare that the corrupt shall be removed."

Do not say:
"Oh NO!!! Things are getting worse everyday.
There is more and more corruption everywhere."

If you are a believer who talks like this after praying for the government, then you have no understanding of what prayer is all about.
You have nullified your prayer by your faithless declarations.
Don't bother praying for anything; you are wasting your breath.

Your words of doubt and fear, cynicism and criticism will be used by the devil to tear down the nation instead (Proverbs 11:11).

Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
     but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
(Proverbs 11:11)

Do not take a lackadaisical or indifferent attitude (doesn't matter attitude) towards your role in the kingdom of God.
Do not say, "Even if the people of God don't pray, God can do what He wants on this earth. After all, He is the sovereign God!!!"

This is an irresponsible and deceptive abuse of the concept of the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. It is nothing but a cheap, glorified excuse to not spend time building up our faith and acting in faith through prayer.

Yes, indeed, our God is a sovereign God.
His purposes and plans for our earth will ultimately be fulfilled.
However, on the earth, He acts only in response to prayer from His people.
If we do not pray and rule in Jesus' name, we will be held accountable to God.
Do not pass the responsibility back to God.

This is because it is only His people who have access to His power through their PRAYERS, and it is only His people who have the GOVERNING AUTHORITY to rule this earth on His behalf.
In His sovereignty, God has delegated responsibility for the welfare and rule of this earth to His people.

If you use the above excuse and do not pray, it is a sure confirmation that God has called you to pray.
By wrongly passing the responsibility back to God, you have acknowledge your indifference and prayerlessness.
Repent before temptation comes and disaster strikes (Matthew 26:41).

"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
(Matthew 26:41) 

Repent on behalf of the nation of all form of unrighteousness in the land and in the government at the state, federal and district level.
Ask God to pour out the fear of the Lord upon all government officers and the people of the land so that they may repent and walk in righteousness.
Blind and break the spirit of greed, bribery and corruption in the government and nation.

When the rulers and leaders of Judah became wicked and led God's people astray, God sent Isaiah and Jeremiah to warn them to turn from their evil ways and walk in righteousness instead (Isaiah 1:16-17; Jeremiah 22:1-3).

Take your evil deeds
     out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong,
     learn to do right!
Seek justice
     encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
     plead the cause of the widow.
(Isaiah 1:16-17)

Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on David's throne - you, your officials and your people who come through the gates. This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
(Jeremiah 22:2-3)

Ask God to pour down His wisdom upon the nation's leaders, so that they may make wise decisions and laws for the nation.
We also need to ask God to give wisdom to the people to elect the right leaders to represent them in government.
In this way, peace and prosperity will prevail in the land.
In this way, God's people will live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

This is pleasing to God, for when peace prevails in a nation, the Good News can be preached without hindrance, and men can be saved through the hearing of the Good News (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

I urge, then, first of all that request, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
(1 Timothy 1:1-4)

Ask God to move upon the leaders of the land so that they will continue to grant favor to God's people in every aspect of their life and ministry.
Ask God to raise up leaders who will allow:

Believers must continually lift up wicked or corrupt leaders before God, asking God to either change them (e.g. the encounter of Saul with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus), or remove them from all levels of government (Acts 9:1-19; Psalm 37:9).

For evil men will be cut off,
     but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
(Psalm 37:9)

Pray that the people of the land will submit to the righteous laws of the land, so that peace and harmony will prevail in the land (Romans 13:1-3).
It is God's will for all citizens of a country to submit to the laws of the land.

The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.
(Romans 13:1-3)

God's desire is that every nation "none should perish, but everyone should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
He wants "all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).
This is what we also should be praying for when we pray for our nation, in order that we may build God's righteousness in this nation.

God can change the heart of the rulers of any nation.
We must never resign ourselves to the status quo when the rulers are wicked.

God has changed rulers before.
He can do it again if we pray in faith.
Our God is the unchanging God - the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
He is the same miracle-working God today as He was yesterday.
But He acts only in answer to prayer from His people.

We receive the type of government we Christians deserve, through our prayers or lack of prayer.
If we have greedy tyrants ruling this nation, we deserve it through our lack of prayer.
Do not blame God or unbelievers for the corrupt and wicked rulers in your nation.
Blame only the believers - ourselves.
For it is only believers who have been given access to God through the blood of Jesus to receive by prayer anything they may ask for (John 6:23).

If we have a righteous government, we deserve it because we have spent the time praying for it.
Your prayer for your government can change your nation's direction and history.
Let us arise to this responsibility and privilege.

God's eyes are moving over the face of the earth, to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:9).
And He is specifically looking for intercessors (Ezekiel 22:30).
God will strengthen you when you obey Him and pray. Will you pray?

I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall, and stand in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
(Ezekiel 22:30)

Your thought

1. God has put you in this a nation. Have you pray regularly for the people and leaders of your nation?
   what steps should you take to spend 5 minutes per week to pray for your government?

2. If you have prayed for righteousness in your nation, have you nullified your prayer by declaring that things will become more wicked in the land?
   What steps should you take to control your unbelieving tongue and instead build God's righteousness through your governing authority in Christ?

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page