In the midst of unprecedented uncertainty: the housing crisis, gasoline prices, politics, and catastrophic world events, we are not to fear nor be traumatized. It is God we are to fear. Let Him be our fear, let Him be our dread, and He will become our sanctuary. In Genesis, after Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, they later came to him for food. He told them, “What you meant for evil, God has turned for good.” America is in a pivotal battle between the values our nation was established upon and the theory of relativism and humanism. The way we think and the laws of how we operate are at risk. That looks very alarming and it is alarming.

However, when I look at the body of Christ in my lifetime of 72 years, I have never seen the Church more alert to what is going on from God’s view and that is because we as a nation are interceding. Back in 1973, I didn’t know of any churches praying for our nation. Maybe they were but it was like an unheard of idea. It wasn’t a concept in Christianity. But now we have whole organizations whose sole purpose is to intercede for the nation. I was raised in a church and never recalled a message about prayer. As an adult, my eyes were opened to the Scripture of how much God commands us to pray. If we do not pray we will operate at the level of what we see, sense, feel, hear, and touch.

On our college campuses 24/7 prayer is happening and prayer groups in cities are popping up in every sphere of society. That tells me that the Spirit of God is released to a brand new level in our country. God is totally capable and will turn our nation, as long as we keep this up and keep steady. In other words, if we do not become distracted by the economy with what we want in the American lifestyle but we truly seek what God wants while, and intercede that into being, our actions follow suit, then we are going to see a change in the form of another great awakening. God wants us to pray. God has always wanted prayer.

Editor’s note: These are comments from an interview with Fran Paris for the main Focus article God In The Midst of Turmoil coming out May 15th.