I FEEL LIKE CRYING Now
                                   Identification with the sins of the Nation
                                                                                    - John Dawson

Hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now} day and night} for the children of Israel Your servants and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have dinned.
Nehemiah 1:6 (NKJV)

What was true in Nehemiah's day is true today. A repentant church, confessing the sins of the nation before God, is America's only hope. As we have seen, Abraham Lincoln recognized this truth. During the darkest days of the Civil War, he summoned the people to:

"Recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation," and to "sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy-to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved.
President Lincoln gave warning to his proclamation of March 30,1863:

        It is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence on the overruling power of   God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon.2

This was a proclamation to all citizens. To the pagan it says, "Repent! and to the Christians also, but the unredeemed cannot make atonement for the land. The pagan cannot go up into the gap and present the blood of the Lamb. This is the privilege and responsibility of God's people; even if they are just a remnant in the land.
The Judgement of God is as real today as it was in ancient Egypt when the plagues came. Remember when the death angel took the firstborn of man and beast during the last plague?. The Jews were not delivered because they were morally superior. Their salvation depended on the sacrifice of a perfect lamb. " Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses" (Exod.12:7).
Unknowingly, many Jewish fathers made the sign of the cross as they placed the blood overhead and side to side. God was laying foundation for our human understanding of the atonement. "The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt".(Exod.12:13)
Through the Temple  ceremonies, generations of Israelite priests made atonement for the land in this way as they looked forward to the Messiah. We do the same thing, as we present the blood, looking back 2,000 years to the cross. But imagine this. What if one Jewish father decided not to put the blood on the doorpost?. The family would have received the full consequence of the plague, waking next morning to a dead child. Christian Americans are in the same position of the father. There is a perfect lamb, the blood has been shed, but the blood must be applied.

The Missing Key
The question is: What is the role of the Church in presenting the blood? How do we do that? How do we restore God's needed favor and bring healing to the land? We have the promise, but What is the process?.
In 1976, 2 Chronicles 7:14 was written like a banner over America. Prominent songwriters, Jimmy and Carol Owens, turned it into a popular Scripture chorus, and the theme of large worship and prayer gatherings. Today's prayer movement had their beginnings at that time, and it seems that every organization quoted this scripture in its brochure, letterhead or statement of purpose. Eventually, half a million people gathered during "Washington for Jesus," the hope of its promise as the dominant theme.
"[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, will forgive their sins, and will heal their land" (2 Chron.7:14)
It's time to examine this passage again. Particularly the question, what does it really mean for God's people to humble themselves? first, let's look at the context.
David has died, and Solomon has inherited the task of building the Temple. The work has finally been completed, and Solomon has an awesome experience, a personal visit from God. " then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice'" (2 Chron. 7:12) Here God explains the purpose of the Temple. It is to be the place where the blood is presented for the purpose of removing guilt. As New Testament Scripture says, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sins]" (Heb. 9:22, NKJV).
Then God briefly refers to the curses in Deuteronomy 28. "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people" (2 Chron. 7:13).
Then the conditions of heart and attitude God needed to
see are mentioned. It's obvious that a ritualistic presentation of the blood by an unrepentant people would not make atonement for the land. God was looking for genuine responses on the part of His people before the land would be healed.
Let's look at these conditions.
[If] My people who are called by My name." He's addressing us, not the pagans. America will be cursed or blessed according to the obedience or disobedience of the Church.
"Will humble themselves." This is the statement we understand least and neglect the most. We understand what it means to pray and to repent, but what does it really mean for us to humble ourselves?
As an exercise, go ahead and feel immensely humble right now. See if you can do it. It doesn't really work, does it? Humility has to be more than a pious mood. It is an attitude expressed through dynamic action. The most obvious action associated with humility is thanksgiving; to acknowledge our debt to another. When God sees a grateful heart, he reads humility, but there is a far more radical action, an action that brings both cleansing and healing. The act of confession.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to for- give us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
"Confess your faults one to another,...that you may be healed" (Jas. 5:16).
The act of confession is as powerful in effecting the cleansing and healing of nations as it is in individuals.
In many ways, America has become worse since 1976, particularly the alienation between genders, races and political ideologies. At "Washington for Jesus," a huge gathering on the mall, we briefly made mention
of our national sins, but was it enough? Have we ever really practiced in America the identificational repentance exemplified by the priests and prophets of the Bible?
Is it possible that evangelical Christians have devalued confession because of our roots? There was great abuse of the confessional prior to the Reformation. Are we in a state of reaction? What is really biblical? What is the posture of the interceding Church in the midst of a land polluted with blood and blinded by self-sufficiency?



Stark Honesty

I was once visited by a businessman who had been listening to my teachings by cassette tape. "I don't know how you can have such hope," he said. "This culture is rotten to the core."
How would you answer him? It's true, wickedness is woven into the fabric of our culture. Is there hope?
The gospel reveals a message of faith, hope and love. Faith is receiving the knowledge of the Father's ability and character; hope is the expectation of His goodness to me; lore is the experience of intimate affection, the embrace of the Father, His grace poured out. But the promise of the gospel is only realized as human hearts identify with Christ, our great intercessor, in His ongoing labor of prayer. That is why the intercessor weeps. Like Jesus, he or she identifies with both God and man. .
The great intercessors of the Bible all approached God with a genuine sense of shame and embarrassment. They did not come into God's presence in order to cover up sin, but to agree with His assessment of it, to face with stark honesty the wickedness of the culture around them.

"For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know Me," says the Lord. "Everyone take heed to his neighbor,
And do not trust any brother;
F or every brother will utterly supplant, And every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor,
And will not speak the truth;
They have taught their tongue to speak lies, And weary themselves to commit iniquity" (Jer. 9:3-5, NKJV).

Intercession is not an escape from reality. Our communication with God must be rooted in the truth-the eternal truth of His holy standards and the awful truth about American society as God sees it. The intercessor experiences the broken heart of God through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The intercessor also identifies with the sin of the people, because the intercessor has personally contributed to God's grief.
Our God is a God of patience and compassion beyond human comprehension. His torment is poured out through the prophecy of Jeremiah.

"Why have they provoked Me to anger With their carved images,
And with foreign idols?..
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning;... .
Oh, that my head were waters,
And my eyes a fountain of tears,
That I might weep day and night
F or the slain of the daughter of my people! "
(Jer. 8:19,21; 9:1, NKJV).

In responding to the broken heart of God, we need to identify with the sins of the nation in personal and corporate repentance. When Nehemiah prayed for the restoration of Israel, he did not pray for the nation as if he were not part of it. He said, "I and my father's people have sinned" (Neh 1:6).
Ezra went even further when he said, "Oh my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens" (Ezra 9:6, NKJV).

    My Sin, Our Sin

Both Nehemiah and Ezra were righteous men. You may be a righteous person who is not involved in any direct way with the vices present in this nation. But no temptation is not common to humanity (see 1 Cor. 10:13). We can all identify with the roots of any given sin. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
Take, for example, the shedding of innocent blood in the act of abortion. You may never have participated in an abortion, but all of us have been guilty of the root sins that give place to such an activity. I can think of five common roots that lead to abortion: lust, the love of comfort, the love of money, rejection and unbelief.
* Lust  because it is often the context for irresponsible conception.
* The love of comfort because the decision to abort is often made simply to avoid the discomfort of pregnancy.
* The love of money because of a choice to avoid financial sacrifice even though a human life is at stake.
*  Rejection because in her fear of rejection by society or
boyfriend, a woman's solution is to in fact reject the
child in her womb.
* Unbelief, because we discount the existence of a just God who will surely honor a difficult but righteous decision. The voice of unbelief concludes, "If I have this baby, it will ruin my whole life!"

These are struggles common to us all and illustrate, there- fore, the need for honest identification with the sins of our nation when we "stand in the gap" (Ezek. 22:30) asking for God's mercy. Nehemiah and the families with him assembled themselves before the Lord with fasting, in sackcloth and with dust on their heads. Though they were just a remnant, they completely identified with their nation and its history. "Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers" (Neh. 9:2, NKJV).
When we ask for God's mercy on others, we should never say, "How could they do such a thing?" We know exactly how they could do it, because the potential for the worst evil lies within each one of us, apart from God's saving grace and the life of Christ within us. Paul said, "I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good" (Rom. 7:21).
God often gives me an objective in prayer and fills me with faith for an answer. I may be praying for a needy neighbor or praying for the nation. As I struggle in prayer for others to be released from spiritual bondage, the Lord begins to reveal the depravity of my own heart.The issues here are humility and honesty. God cannot use an unclean vessel in the place of intercession. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Ps. 66:18, NKJV). First cleansing, then power. "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you" (Josh. 3:5, NKJV).
We need to gain a place where not only do we trust God, but God also trusts us. "Search me, a God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Ps. 139:23,24, NKJV).
When' God has tested us and found a heart totally dedicated to His purpose, then He gives the promise of access to His power. "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7, NKJV). At this point, our prayers become reflective in releasing power that changes things. "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (Jas. 5:16, NKJV).
The Holy Spirit prays through us as the divine intercessor "with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Rom. 8:26, NKJV), but limits Himself to exercising an authority proportionate to the yieldedness of the human vessel.
It is my own testimony that the victories of my life have always come in the midst of repentance and confession.



When I come back to the Cross, I experience again cleansing and forgiveness. The consequences of my sin have fallen upon the Lamb that was slain. The blood is again sprinkled on the doorposts of my heart. Instead of perfecting righteousness in me, He who if righteous is standing up within me and beginning to live His life. Jesus is the only person who can truly live the Christian life. I must acknowledge again my total dependence on Him. We are by nature incomplete. Human beings by definition are the dwelling place of God. God has created us as a vessel for His own being. In a sense, we cannot be fully human apart from Him.
Jesus doesn't dispense His attributes to us as we need them. He doesn't give us dome love. He if love. His life unleashed within us is the source of all victory and blessing. He is every- thing that I am not. He is consistently loving, completely honest and quick to forgive. My only hope is to consciously acknowledge my desperate need of Him. "Jesus, live Your life through me," has become-my daily prayer.
My biggest problem is not demons. I am my biggest problem. It is only when God has cleansed my own wicked heart that participation in the redeeming work of intercession becomes possible. It is then that the power to change history is released through prayer.
"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit" (Jas. 5:17,18, NKJV).
As we stand in the gap for America, we allow the Holy Spirit to shine the bright light of truth into the inner rooms of our souls. We run from the religious deceit that would seduce us into believing that we are superior to any person. It is only by the blood of the Lamb and the power of the Spirit that we stand free from the chains of guilt and the sentence of death.

This is why I stood and wept before the Maoris of New Zealand in 1990. I am not superior to my own ancestors. In my own way, I had participated in the same kinds of sins. God sees it that way, and unless I see the truth of it, He cannot use me in the ministry of reconciliation, either in reconciling people to Himself as an evangelist, or to each other as a peacemaker.

"Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:5, NKJV).


Notes
1. Mark A- Wall, "The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln," Christian History magazine, Issue 33,
Vol. XI, No.1.
2. Ibid.