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Thank you for your interest in seeing Christian principles and values
restored in the United States of America. All over, people are
concerned about the deteriorating spiritual condition of our nation.
The current crises that we are facing as a nation are only outward
symptoms of a deeply rooted spiritual problem. Our society as a whole
has abandoned the Christian principles and values that our nation was
founded upon, which brought us from an obscure group of colonies to
the greatest nation on earth in just over 200 years. However, our great
nation has shown major cracks in the foundation. Proverbs 14:34
says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people.”

Like a vacuum, when God and righteousness are taken out, evil and
darkness move in. The destructive strategies of satan, which have
been carried out by people yielded to him, have methodically removed
God and all He stands for from mainstream society. We should not be
surprised that when God is removed from the scene, we begin to see
satan’s influence. Violent crimes, addictions of every kind, greed,
sexual immorality, etc. are all manifestations of the moral fabric of our
society being unraveled. Unfortunately, most people are in denial
about the real cause. They are acting like everything is going to be all
right. However, if we do not get to the root issue, it is only going to get
worse. It is time to act now!

The question is, what can we do to stop this tailspin that we are
presently experiencing as a nation? First of all, we must stop blaming
everyone else. We all share some of the blame. I must say that as
Christians, we have allowed the kingdom of darkness to penetrate and
infiltrate our nation. A lazy, complacent and indifferent church
basically laid down on the job and stopped praying effectively and
using our spiritual authority. Our light has gone dim and we have lost
our saltiness. We have hidden behind religious facades and
formalities, and lost our power. In short, we have become proficient at
going to church and putting on a show, but we have lost the reality that
we are the church, and the gates of hell should not be prevailing
against us.

Our first step is going back to the foundational roots where we, as a
church, got off track to begin with – prayer and exercising our spiritual
authority. I am not referring to some type of religious ritual of prayer
that is powerless and meaningless. I am talking about powerful and
effectual prayer in the Holy Spirit, where we make a connection with
Heaven and shake the foundations of the kingdom of darkness in
America. We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, or a political
party. We are dealing with renegade spiritual forces, that have been
defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ, but are attempting to usurp their will
and purposes on the United States. They must be dealt with through
exercising a strong hand with our God-given authority. (If you are not
familiar with what I am talking about, you can download a free copy of
the Solid as a Rock Foundational Course #9 on the Authority of the
Believer.)

As I was seeking the Lord about how to incorporate this first, very
important step for the church that I pastor, Joy of Faith Christian
Center, I believe He gave us a plan of action. I Timothy 2:1-3 instructs
us that first of all we should pray for kings (presidents) and all who are
in authority in civil government. We are not to complain and talk
negatively about them, since this will not change anything. We are to
pray earnestly and effectively over each branch of government:
Executive (President, Cabinet, Advisors), Legislative (House of
Representatives, Senate, and all committees), Judicial (the Supreme
Court, and the entire court system), and I also added the military.

Then, we are to pray for each region of the nation. I have broken these
down to the following: Northeast, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest,
Southwest, Northwest, Pacific West, and Mountains & Plains. Within
these regions, we have assigned specific states. We will be praying
over one state, including the District of Columbia, per week. Some
easy division will tell you that we will be able to cover all the states and
D.C. in a one year period. We will cover specifically the civil
governments within the state, along with spiritual aspects in the state.
While we are praying for the individual states, we will pray over the
entire region every week.

The congregation of Joy of Faith Christian Center will be praying over
the nation, the various regions, and the individual states every week.
In addition, we would like to develop a prayer network around the
nation, of individuals, groups and even churches, to join with us in
covering our nation in prayer. It is not just the amount of people
praying that will make this work, but the effectiveness in our praying.
We will post a Prayer Force Bulletin every week which will contain the
region we are praying for, the state with the specific information
regarding the local government, and anything else of a prayer interest
for our nation. Please note that this is not a political movement, but a
spiritual movement. We will not be praying against any particular
person or party. The idea is to pray for our nation and those in
authority. However, we may be including issues from time to time.

If you or your church would like to join the prayer network, please e-
mail us at tonycowanmin@bellsouth.net. Of course, this is free and
there is no obligation other than your commitment to pray. We are not
trying to build a mailing list. Unless you would like for us to send you a
weekly e-mail including the current Prayer Force Bulletin, we will not
be contacting you. Also, we would like some feedback from people in
the individual states about how to pray more specifically for your
state. If there is something of interest that we could pray about in your
state, let us know.

In addition, it is important to put some feet to our prayers. The Lord
needs laborers in the field to gather in the harvest. It seems that we
often get lost in the shear magnitude of evangelizing our nation. There
are a lot of people in our nation that need to hear the Gospel. However,
there are a lot of us. We do not have to win everyone ourselves. We
tend to think of evangelization in terms of mass evangelistic crusades
or massive door-to-door campaigns. While these can produce some
positive results, this may not be the most effective way.

Someone put it this way: If a person led only one person to the Lord
every 6 months, and discipled that convert to do the same, in 10 years
they would have been responsible for 1,048,576 converts. In just 15
years, he would have been responsible for over one billion converts;
and in 16 years he would have been able to reach the present
population of the world.

We should commit to be a witness for the Lord. You do not have to be
a “hell fire and brimstone” evangelist to win the lost. Just let your light
shine before men and share the Gospel with those around you. Set a
personal goal of at least one convert every six months. I believe you
will find that it is much easier than you think, and you will win more
than this.

The commandment of Jesus extended beyond just converts, however.
He said to go out and make disciples of all nations. Once a person
receives the Lord and is born again, they must be taught. Again, I am
not talking about indoctrination in some kind of man-made religious
system. The truths that will set people free are in the Word of God –
specifically the New Testament. Through systematic teaching from the
New Testament, a new believer can have their minds renewed to the
ways of God. You or your church may already have an effective
discipleship program. If so, that is great. However, if you do not, we
have put together an extensive discipleship program entitled “Solid as
a Rock Foundational Course” which is available as a free download on
this website.

I believe that if we will be diligent to carry out these three mandates
from the Lord: Prayer, Personal Evangelism, and Discipleship; we will
be able to see the state of our nation turned around and we will again
be able to refer to the United States of America as a Christian nation.
Join with us as we pursue the plan of God in our nation. I believe we
will once again see Jesus as the Lord of the United States. And I
believe that our best days as a nation are ahead of us.

Tony Cowan

Operation: Christian Restoration in America (CRA)