(By Ron Allen) Beginning with Aug. 11, the first day of the Jewish repentance season of Teshuvah, we have been praying through the 40 days of Teshuvah. For the first 10 days, we prayed for personal repentance in keeping with literal meaning of Teshuvah: to return to the presence of God. For the next 10 days, Aug. 21 to 30, we prayed for church unity, in accordance with the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-23 that we be united in Him. The unity Jesus prayed for was a purposeful unity, so that “The world may know that You have sent me” (John 17:23b). Yet there are five billion people in the world who do not know Christ. In America
more and more people are adopting a secular hedonistic lifestyle leading to the rise of an anti-Christian culture. The result is a plague of fatherlessness, bringing poverty and crime, and our national shame of 60 million abortions. Christian values and Christian faith are under attack in the public square, and the nation is bitterly divided politically. Now is the time for God’s people to unite and pray for the healing of our land. It is clear that only God’s people can humble themselves, pray, seek His face and repent to bring about healing of the land (2 Chron. 7:19). The church must repent of its division, coming into visible unity, so the world will know Christ. CONTINUE
