Greg Laurie, senior pastor at Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, has revealed the "one prayer" every Christian should pray over America is that there will be a spiritual awakening.
"We should all be praying that God sends a great spiritual awakening," Laurie told The Gospel Herald in an exclusive interview. "We need to pray 2nd Chronicles 7:14 over our nation: 'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'"
He reiterated, "We all need to be pray in America for a spiritual awakening, because we desperately need one right now."
In a separate interview with The Christian Post, Laurie warned morally, that America isn't quite as far gone as Europe - but is well on its way.
"Europe has become so concerned with political correctness and has moved to what is often described as a 'post-Christian' state, where church attendance is at an all-time low. I think if the people of the U.K. and Europe in general would turn to God, they would find strength and truth that would help them in the battle against terrorism and their cultures in general."
"So, I think they are further down the road than we are. I hope we don't go down that road because America is great because America has been good, as it has been said. But, really that goodness is a result of our faith," Laurie continued. "I think if we stay close to that faith, not just faith in any god, but faith in God of the Bible, we will be stronger for it. The more we stray from that faith, the weaker that we'll become. The Bible says, 'Righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to the people.'"
Earlier this week, Laurie announced that his Harvest Christian Fellowship has officially joined the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest denomination of churches, in an effort to "do everything possible to prepare the ground for" revival.
"I know the effect of the revival we seek firsthand because I came to Christ during the last great American revival, often referred to as the 'Jesus Movement,'" Laurie wrote in a blog post. "That revival emanated primarily from Calvary Chapel in Southern California, and I learned to preach the gospel and to teach God's Word myself within the Calvary Chapel movement under the example of Pastor Chuck Smith. Since that time, I've invested my life in the Calvary fellowship of churches while working with countless Christians from nearly every other denomination. I'll continue to do just that, and I also look forward to continuing to build bridges between our communities. It has also been my privilege to be friends with evangelist Billy Graham (himself a Southern Baptist) for many years, and from him I learned how to preach the gospel.
"I believe that the time is right to reach across the church and to lock hands in total support of the rapid advance of the gospel in our nation and in our world. I believe this decision is a powerful step in that direction. I appreciate the SBC's focus on evangelism as well as their outreach in missions and relief ministries that touch our world every day in a significant way."
