It's interesting to note in scripture that when there was ungodly leadership, God would often turn to the children. Notice this pattern:

When Saul rebelled, God anointed a teenager named David to be king. When Eli was in sin, God spoke to a child name Samuel. When Judah had several wicked kings who were idol worshipers, God turned to an eight-year-old boy named Josiah to lead the nation.


At the beginning of each year, our president gives a "State of the Union" speech, where it is usually stated that the state of our union is strong. How can the president say that? We may be strong economically, but we are sacrificing our morals, our values, our children, and our future.

Our children, in the past several years, have been murdering one another in our schools. It seems that our culture is obsessed with sex, drugs, violence, and pornography.

What is wrong with our nation when we say that the free speech of pornographers is more important than the minds and hearts of our children?

Our nation leads the world in teen pregnancy. Is the nation strong for those babies who grow up without daddies? Several years ago, statistics showed that more than 25 percent of the children in our nation grow up without a father at home.

Is this nation strong for the fatherless? It seems that Americans are saying that as long as we are prospering economically, our nation is strong.

I believe that this is prophetic word for our nation, America, right now. America is deserving of God's wrath because, in many areas, we are being led by ungodly leaders. But I don't believe we will see God's wrath, because He delights in mercy.

Nineveh was deserving of God's wrath, but God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn them of His coming wrath because His desire was to pour out mercy. The result was that Nineveh repented of their sins, and God spared the city.

The following is a quote from "The Chosen Fast" by Arthur Wallis, which was first printed in 1968.

How is it that fasting can help us here? On the negative side, pride and a too-full stomach are old bedfellows. What was the sin of Sodom? Not primarily that gross form of immorality known anciently as sodomy, now called homosexuality.

The Bible says, "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom, pride, surfeit of food and prosperous ease" (Ez. 16:49) When we look at the nations of the West today where this sin of Sodom is rampant, we can discern the same root causes.

History cannot help repeating itself. Given the same conditions, the same malaise inevitable falls.

It's not that I think God's wrath is going to be poured out on our nation right now, but what concerns me is when I think about where we will be in the next twenty years.

We are truly entering a time when evil has become good and good has become evil. Where does it end? Where are our nation's leaders leading us? Where will we be twenty years from now?

There IS Hope!
I believe that the hope for our nation is our children and our youth. We must reach them now while their hearts and minds are tender. It's not good enough just to reach my own children. We must reach the children of the nation.

Right now, there are hot spots of revival around the country, but we have yet to see a national revival that influences our whole country. I believe we will see a national revival that will be led by our children and our youth.

They are the key to reaching the lost youth of our nation. Just as in the time of Josiah, when the adult leaders were ungodly, God turned to a child to bring the nation to repentance.

The children of America know that our nation is not strong. They are the ones growing up in homes without fathers. They are the ones who go to school everyday in fear of their lives. They are the ones with no hope for tomorrow.

But there is an answer and there is hope. If we as Christian leaders will lead our children to revival, then they can jump into the river. Our children only need us to believe in them.

Children and the Holy Spirit by Mark Harper
All rights reserved. Used by permission.