America is a story of great, pious men and women, full of failures and flaws, who were burdened for something that would outlive them. John Adams famously said, “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.” He sacrificed his present so that future generations could have a future full of liberty and dignity.

We have lost that sacred posture. There is plenty of piety in America, but it is apathetic. It is void of response, action, and sacrifice. Piety has become a lazy response to the broken places in our land. We offer silent prayers and well-wished greetings to truly devastating circumstances and realities and feel like we have accomplished something great. 

Nehemiah fasted and prayed, and God gave him a burden to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:3-4, 2:5). Moses encountered God in a burning bush and was compelled to deliver Israel from slavery (Exodus 3:7-10). Esther faced the destruction of her own people, and risked her life from a burden to save them (Esther 4:14-16). Ezra was moved to restore the spiritual life of Israel and, out of prayer, led the people back toward obedience to God (Ezra 7:10, 8:21-23). Isaiah encountered God and responded, “Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). Paul prayed for his people who had not yet known Jesus, and then took the Gospel throughout the Roman world (Romans 9:1-3; Acts 16:9-10). 

God often answers prayers not by changing the situation, but by changing the person praying and giving them a burden to respond. 

There are a whole lot of Christians who say they are praying for America. But the real test of genuine burden is not just prayer, but how we respond to it. Those who pray and are not compelled to act are not pious, they are indifferent. 

We can have all the prayer gatherings we want. But, if we are not genuinely burdened for our city, for our state, for our nation, what are we doing? It has become a genie theology, where we hope that God will change the situation without our involvement, or he will call someone else to fix the problem. 

When you are sick, do you pray and then hope that a doctor will randomly call you for an answer? No. You change. You meet with physicians. You start exercising. You make sacrifices in partnership with a God that cares for you to see a physical renewal in your body. 

Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon on Numbers 21, said “They began with a promise, they turned the promise into a song and into a prayer, and they did not stop there, but then they went to work.” 

God’s people were told that water would be provided to them, but they still had to dig the well. 

We have a generation that thinks prayer is a substitution for participation. We pray for God to change our nation, our churches, our communities, but then sit back and wait for God to do what He may be calling us to do. That isn’t biblical prayer. That is genie theology. 

In the years before the American revolution, preachers like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards helped ignite what would become the First Great Awakening. It produced an entire generation of people who believed they had a moral responsibility to change society. That awakening greatly shaped the delegates of the First Continental Congress. In 1774, when they first assembled, they prayed and read from Scripture. 

After they said “amen,” they didn’t pack up and go back to their designated colonies. They got to work. It wasn’t a story of these men pleading with God to save America and then go home. They prayed, but they then organized resistance, raised up armies, wrote declarations, sacrificed their fortunes, risked their lives, and pledged their honor. 

The generation that founded America did not just pray for a nation worth saving. They became willing to sacrifice themselves to save it. They did not ask God to save America so that they could remain comfortable. They asked God to save America, and then they offered themselves as the instruments through which He might do it. This isn’t meant to be a bible-thumping guilt trip, friends. It is meant to be a wake-up call to the millions of Christians who have devoted their piety to America, but not their resources, to those that have prayed, but never participated. 

I have met with hundreds of elected officials from every level of government. I have broken bread with moms and dads, pastors and politicians, who are desperate for your voice and your commitment to the welfare of the city we all find ourselves in exile to. 

I am not interested in building political machines. Political parties can’t save us or renew us. But, I am interested in a Church that would create a culture where people are informed, thoughtful, generous, redemptive, and bold. My bible shows me that almost every generation of believers have been instruments for the Kingdom of God in their city, in their region, in their state, and in their nation. 

You cannot pray sincerely for the preservation of something while refusing to participate in its preservation. God has entrusted us with a Republic. Will we keep it?