From Sept. 23-Nov. 4, the BGCO’s Office of Prayer encourages every believer and church to enter 40 days of intense prayer, fasting and repentance before God. My assignment from the Lord was to write this specific book for this particular moment in our national and spiritual history.
There are times in every believer, minister and writer’s life when an assignment from God is so clear, disobedience or neglect would be profoundly serious. (Luke 12:47-48) In my own ministry, the book Forty Days of Seeking God—Praying for Revival, Elections and Key Leaders is one of those assignments. The Frieburg Foundation, which owns the copy rights to the famous portrait of George Washington’s “Prayer at Valley Forge,” gave us permission to use the art on the book cover. This was in itself a miracle and confirmed this work.
The book is, of course, in no way political. The overwhelming emphasis is a genuine return to God in true revival and restored power in the Church. This tool is a 40-day Scripture-filled prayer journey that is for individuals, groups or whole churches. While there are some focused prayers for our nation and the critical decisions before us, the prayers in no way push particular candidates or parties. While God’s people are certainly guided to pray fervently for His direction and mercy in our land, the focus is far more on the Church House than the White House.
In Scripture, God’s people are called to discern the spiritual signs of the times and be alert to key periods of significance. One thing is certain—these are not days for “business as usual” in either the Church or the nation. It is absolutely critical that God’s people beseech Heaven for genuine revival and the Lord’s direction in our land. The book Forty Days of Seeking God enables believers and churches to fulfill the Lord’s call to stand in the gap on behalf of our churches and nation. More importantly, the book and prayer journey have three key points of uniqueness.
Three Key Points of Uniqueness
1. The book answers why there has been 50 years of baptism, family and moral decline in spite of the voluminous emphases on prayer, evangelism and education. Above all, the 40-day prayer journey provides hope that we can even now recapture the missing keys to New Testament power.
2. The book journey contains biblical prayers that have unique depth, kingdom perspective and God-centeredness. According to Scripture, how and what we pray matter greatly! (James 5:16) Sadly, modern prayer efforts have often been so general and unfocused, there is little power. Forty Days of Seeking God can strengthen believers’ prayers long after this particular emphasis.
3. The 40-day prayer journey helps believers experience a deep cleansing and full lasting return to God, not just some general surface confession. A significant uniqueness is that believers end the emphasis by embracing concrete commitments to walk in stronger daily prayer, deeper surrender and powerful focus on evangelism and missions. Practical Bible inserts help them keep the commitments they make.
While the book is surely not perfect, my conscience is clear, and my heart is at peace. I have done what I can to call God’s people to special prayer at this most urgent time in our history.
Each believer, pastor and church must now answer the question, “Will we do what we can to stand in the gap in these crucial days?” One thing is clear: these are not days of business as usual for the Church or nation. May God find us on our face before His throne.
