Stacie Stoelting is a Jesus-focused patriot who, with her sister, is on a mission to call America back to God. I thought she’d be perfect to share a special Holiday UPGRADE for the 4th of July!
“Fireworks on the Fourth of July always get me excited,” Stacie writes. “I’m like a little kid about it! People around me always hear, ‘Oooh! Aaah!’ I just can’t help it.”
I (Dawn) love to join my family at July 4th celebrations too. It’s our privilege as free Americans. But Stacie encourages us to think about something else as we watch those fireworks.
She continues …
I’m a diehard patriot who still gets thrilled by the concepts of Independence Day.
But God Himself excites me more than anyone or anything else. And I believe that my fellow Christians and I need more “fire to do the works” of God.
We need simple prayer. Pure prayer. Prayer with a purpose to know and praise God Himself. I feel inspired when I read passages like Hosea 6:3 (NLT):
“Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”
When we feel depressed, we must choose faith and “press on” to know him. He will respond. We need only to pray –even if all we can muster are extra short prayers.
Recently, I prayed hard from my heart. In a moment of high stress, I simply prayed, “SOS, Jesus!” He helped me as only He could! And later it hit me: That’s what Christians in America need to pray.
As we observe Independence Day, America needs to declare independence from sins and pray, “SOS, Jesus!”
Our population suffers from being over-programmed and “under-prayed.” In America, there is:
- so much stress and so little happiness;
- so many activities, yet so many lonely families;
- so many fears and so little faith.
Yes, in America’s churches, we see more flashy ads and less Spirit-led fire.
In addition to simply praying from the heart—a prayer like “SOS, Jesus!”—this SOS acronym can also help:
S: Stop sin. We need to stop the “facades for God” and be ourselves while praying hard from the heart.
As Billy Graham once said, "We must repent of our prayerlessness. We must make prayer our priority. Even our churches today have gotten away from prayer meetings."
O: Open your heart to Jesus as Savior and Lord. (If you haven’t done so, click here to learn more about how to know God personally.) Be willing to do His will.
No prayer substitute exists. Nowhere in the Scripture do we see a Christ follower told to “do more” and pray less. The essence of prayer is to come into God’s presence.
S: Start believing and praising God. Practice child-like faith.
I believe that the fireworks of faith in America can be revived because of one simple fact: Jesus remains alive. We must erase sin and chase after Jesus.
Yes, it’s as simple as SOS: Stop sin. Open your heart to Jesus. Start believing and praising Him in private and in public. Remember that we will "...see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26). Hallelujah!
The next time you notice our country’s symbolic bald eagle, be reminded that “…they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31, ESV).
Yes, let us “wait for the Lord” and “press on to know Him” – depending on Him for the fire to do His works in America and beyond!
Are you asking God for the “fire to do His works”? What would that look like in your life, if the fire fell?
Stacie Ruth Stoelting and her sister, Carrie Beth Stoelting, are recording artists and authors of the
book 
Unite the USA, recently endorsed by Mike Huckabee, Pat Boone, Rick Santorum (Patriot Voices), Tony Perkins (Family Research Counsel), and Mathew Staver (Liberty Counsel). Learn more about their Christ-focused, patriotic mission at UnitetheUSA.org and join their prayer group here.
Graphic in text, adapted: Image courtesy of nirots / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
creator the blog, Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Heartsand a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.
America, 