KEY 1: RELATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
Family is the highest form of authority in the Kingdom. That is why God is our “Father,” not just “God”, and why Jesus taught us to pray “our Father” not “my Father.” Building relationships that are connected at the heart level is essential to a thriving nation.
The first commandment Moses received on Mount Sinai regarding interpersonal relations was the command to honor one’s father and mother. This command came with the promise that if we followed it, we would have a long life (Exodus. 20:12). This aspect of family is the reason it is crucial, before beginning any new work in a nation, to reach out to the fathers and mothers in the land, the servants of God, and others who have been laboring in a land for decades. By doing so, we honor them and acknowledge what God has already been doing. It shows humility and honor, and enables us to join the strength of many faithful laborers. When we create such an environment of honor, it turns the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers which helps to prevent judgement upon the nation. (Malachi 4:6)
KEY 2: HEARING AND OBEYING GOD
The key to success is to seek God for His ways and His timing. This is the model Israel followed to take hold of the Promised Land. As a family of believers seeking the healing of a nation, the key is to come before the Lord to ask “what” to do, “how” to do it, and “when” to proceed. The answer will be unique to each nation or corporate person.
For instance, in Czechia, after several years of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics, Czech and past oppressive nations, etc., God continued the process of healing by declaring, “It’s a New Day!” over the nation, and drawing the people into a new relationship with Him. In Slovakia, God proclaimed, “I see a New Slovakia!” and then began a process of renewing the hearts of the people. In Quebec, Canada, God instructed us to facilitate healing through a creative art festival called “Quebec, I love you.” While all the ways in which God has worked have been unique to the circumstances and “personality” of each nation, a common thread has been regional gatherings. These gatherings have played a key role in the progression of revelation and healing, though each one ended up having its own flavor or focus. God has a way of putting His finger on very specific issues.
Key 3: The Remnant
Second Chronicles 7:14 details the specific people to be part of the healing of their land. He calls them “my people.” These are not all people, but those whom God has called His own. This remnant can be likened to hinges that change the direction of a huge door; they are people who shift national history, they are the hinges of HIStory.
These individuals do not have to be numerous to make a difference. In Romans 11:4 we see that God told Elijah that He had set aside seven thousands who had not bowed the knee to Baal. In the account of Abraham interceding with the Lord for Sodom, it is written that God would have been satisfied with a remnant of merely ten righteous people (Genesis 18:32). There is synergy in the corporate gathering; “One puts 1000 to flight; two put 10,000 to flight” (Deut 32:30; Josh 23:10).
KEY 4: BIBLICAL PRESCRIPTION FOR HEALING
National issues need to be dealt with on a national level. In Joel 2, they blew the trumpet and called a national assembly to stand before the Lord. The goal is not necessarily for every single believer to stand before God, but a representation of the entire nation is to stand before Him as the remnant. This can only be effective when the call is done on a national scale, and across dividing lines (such as political, denominational and racial divisions).
Secondly, as outlined in 2 Chronicles 7:14, God has laid out a kind of prescription for a nation’s healing. In order to see the fullness of healing in a nation, He calls His people to gather together to do four things: 1. Humble themselves; 2. Pray; 3. Seek My face; 4. Repent from their evil ways. All too often, believers focus on only the second part of the prescription, prayer, and so nations only see pockets of limited breakthrough. For the prescription to be complete, all four instructions need to be followed, and they need to be done on a national scale. Then God brings the breakthrough He promises. He: 1. Hears; 2. Forgives; and 3. Heals the land.
KEY 5: GOD’S PEOPLE WILL COME
Sometimes people new to this process worry that they will go to great lengths to prepare a gathering, but that no one will come. However, in Psalm 110, the Lord promises to make His people willing for the call at hand. David writes, “Your people shall be willing in the day of your power” (Ps 110:3). It is our job to get the word out to the best of our ability, but it is God who will make His people – the remnant – ready on the day of power, the day of battle. There is a spiritual battle for the soul of nations. God’s people will be stirred and willingly be drawn to stand together; they will come and heed the call of God in the land.
KEY 6: PROPHETIC ACTS
We must never underestimate the power of prophetic acts to release victory well beyond the end of a gathering or meeting. When Elisha told the King of Israel to strike the ground with the arrows as a prophetic act of victory (2 Kings 13:18) and he only struck the ground three times, he only got victory three times. This prophetic act done with the prophet had national repercussions. There is grace for national breakthrough in prophetic acts when the remnant and the apostles and prophets of the nation come together and stand in the presence of the Lord.
KEY 7: LAYING DOWN OUR AGENDAS
When we stand together before God we lay down our agendas and become like a spiritual Switzerland, a neutral land. At the gathering in Antioch (Acts 13), the teacher did not teach, the prophet did not prophesy. Each and every person laid down their crowns and mantels and focused on the Lord. When we gather, we lay down our ministries, our agendas, and our passions in order to better hear the Lord for the nation. The key to doing this is trusting that God is the one who will bring about the fruition of our individual assignments. This frees us to hear God’s instructions in the context of healing the national heart and it helps us avoid the greatest hindrance of all to hearing God; offense. In this way revelation flows freely into the gathering.
KEY 8: MINISTER TO THE LORD
In Acts 13, the believers gathered together to minister to the Lord. Their worship was focused on Jesus. It was not a “make-me-feel-better-about-myself” kind of worship. They were ministering to the Lord with gratitude and telling Him how amazing He is. Blessing the Lord attracts His presence and the Holy Spirit comes and releases divine strategy. At time of Acts 13, the Holy Spirit revealed the strategy to reach the gentile nations through sending Barnabas and Saul. King David understood the reality that God inhabits the praises of His people and he pursued God’s presence through worship. As a result, he was able to continually hear God’s specific instructions that granted him victory wherever he went.
KEY 9: THE GIBEONITE KEY
In 2 Samuel 21, there had been a famine in the land for three years and David inquired of the Lord what the reason was. The Lord answered David, saying it was because Saul had killed the Gibeonites. Israel had sworn to protect them, but Saul had violated this agreement. Because he inquired of the Lord, David was given a key to end the famine in the land. He met with the Gibeonites, atoned for the wrong that had been done, and the famine ended. Like David, we can inquire of the Lord and ask for the Gibeonite keys in the nations where God leads us; the keys that will end the suffering and pain, and bring restoration and healing.