A Call to Repentance: WEEK FIFTEEN

2008-06-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

April 13, 2008

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32)

	INTRODUCTION TO WEEK FIFTEEN

INTRODUCTION TO WEEK FIFTEEN

This week, we continue to press in during WEEK FIFTEEN of our 40 Weeks of Prayer and Fasting, to offer prayers of repentance for the sin in the church, the sin in the nation, and the blessing of Israel.

We now address these areas:

1. SIN IN THE CHURCH: POVERTY

2. SIN IN THE NATION: JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS

3. THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL: PASSOVER

	SIN IN THE CHURCH: POVERTY

REPENTANCE FOR SIN IN THE CHURCH:

POVERTY

"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)

God wants us to prosper in all our ways, but love is giving in all ways, not getting.

"A faithful man shall abound with blessings." (Prov. 28:20)

How faithful are we in all the areas of our lives? Are there some dark closets in our hearts that we haven't given to the Lord? Could this be a reason why we're not being blessed? What's holding back the blessings from being manifested?

(Source: Riding with the King in Unity, by Giles F. Mack, P.O. Box 1761, Branson, MO 65615, pp. 76, 77 )

· "Father God, we come before You and we repent that we have become a "gimme church" instead of a GIVING CHURCH that demonstrates Your love to all who are in need. Help us, Lord, to learn Your ways, and please redeem back that which the enemy has stolen in our lives, through our erroneous ways. In Jesus' Name, amen."

	SINS OF THE NATION: JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS

REPENTANCE FOR THE SINS OF THE NATION:

JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS DURING WORLD WAR II

Japanese Internment Camps

Japanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and internment of approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps", in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans was effected unequally throughout the United States. Japanese Americans residing on the West Coast of the United States were all interned, whereas in Hawaii, where over 150,000 Japanese Americans comprised nearly a third of that state's population, an additional 1,200 to 1,800 Japanese Americans were interned. 62 percent of those interned were United States citizens.

President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066, which allowed local military commanders to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones", from which "any or all persons may be excluded." This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of Oregon and Washington, except for those in internment camps. In 1944, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the exclusion orders, while noting that the provisions that singled out people of Japanese ancestry were a separate issue outside the scope of the proceedings.

Conditions in the U.S. Camps

According to a 1943 War Relocation Authority report, internees were housed in "tar paper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." The spartan facilities met international laws, but still left much to be desired. Many camps were built quickly by civilian contractors during the summer of 1942 based on designs for military barracks, making the buildings poorly equipped for cramped family living. In other areas, the internees had to build the barracks-like structures themselves.

To describe the conditions in more detail, the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in northwestern Wyoming was a barbed-wire-surrounded enclave with unpartitioned toilets, cots for beds, and a budget of 45 cents daily per capita for food rations. Because most internees were evacuated from their West Coast homes on short notice and not told of their destination, many failed to pack appropriate clothing for Wyoming winters which often reached temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. Many families were forced to simply take the "clothes on their backs."

Closure of the Camps

In 1944, two and a half years after signing Executive Order 9066, fourth-term President Franklin D. Roosevelt rescinded the order. The last internment camp was closed by the end of 1945.

Official Apology and Reparations

In 1988, the U.S. Congress apologized for the imprisonment of Japanese-Americans and provided monetary payments to the approximately 60,000 surviving Japanese-Americans who had been incarcerated during World War II. President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". $1.6 billion in reparations were later disbursed by the U.S. government to surviving internees and their heirs.

(Source: Wikipedia)

· Father God, we thank You that our government has already taken action to apologize to the Japanese- Americans for their internment, and to make financial restitution for this error. As the Body of Christ, we ask You to forgive our nation for any abuses that these precious people were made to endure by our government, and that You would "wipe the slate clean," laying axe to this root of sin in our national history.

· We pray, too, now for the Department of Homeland Security and all others who are charged with keeping our nation safe and free, that they be granted Your wisdom in doing so. We ask this in Your Name, amen.

· "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

	THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL: PASSOVER

THE BLESSING OF ISRAEL:

PASSOVER AND ALIYAH

Aliyah - the return of the Jews to the land of Israel - is one theme of the seder (the Passover meal). This is one of the two times a year that Jews say "Next year in Jerusalem."

- Lord, cause the Jews in exile to rise up and set their eyes towards Zion.

- "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Psalms 137:5-6)

- Give great joy to all the new immigrants who are celebrating their first Passover in the land as citizens.

- Continue to remove all the stones of stumbling from the path of Your people that prevent them from coming home - whether those are stones in exile or in Israel (Isaiah 62:10).

- Raise up end-time Jewish philanthropists who will finance a huge new wave of aliyah from the West (Zechariah 8:7-8).

- Give Your bride a burden to help Your people come home. "Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders." (Isaiah 49:22)

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, wisdom, and strength, honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing, and honour, glory, and power, be unto Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." (Revelation 5:12-13)

(Source: Intercessors for Israel)

	Song of the Week

JESUS LOVES EVEN ME

Words & Music -- Philip P. Bliss, 1870

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." (Romans 5:5)

Mr. Bliss said that this song was suggested to him by hearing the chorus of the hymn "Oh, how I love Jesus," repeated very frequently in a meeting which he attend ed. After joining in the chorus a number of times the thought came to him, "Have I not been singing enough about my poor love for Jesus, and shall I not rather sing of his great love for me?" Under the impulse of this thought he went home and composed this, one of his most popular children's hymns.

To listen to the tune for this delightful children's hymn, go here.

	A Closing Thought . . .

REPENTANCE IS RARE

By A. W. Tozer

"Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke 15:10)

Humans, deceived by the devil and charmed by their own pride and abilities, deny that our world is a rebel province in God's universe. They deny that human society has willfully pulled loose from God's rule and the rest of God's domain.

In fact, they deny that men and women are the creation of God. They deny even that they owe any allegiance to God, their Creator!

The Bible is the record of how God deals with mankind and we can draw but one conclusion: all people are morally obligated to repent and to ask forgiveness of God. Failing to do so, they will perish.

How rare it is in our day to hear of genuine repentance; We live amid a proud, selfish and self- sufficient people, Even in our Christian churches there are those who want nothing more than to be known as "respectable church members!"

When repentance is real and faith is genuine, the atoning death of Jesus Christ is effective for pardon and forgiveness and regeneration.

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A Call to Repentance - 15

A Call to Repentance: WEEK FIFTEEN