Author, Dream (2012)
Exec. Dir. of Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI)
Former Senior pastor, Freedom Church, Colorado Springs, CO
Founder of both Dutch Sheets Ministries and The United States Alliances for Reformation
Author of numerous books: Intercessory Prayer, Authority in Prayer, Roll Away Your Stone, etc
Graduate, Christ for the Nations, Dallas, TX
Married to Ceci, two adult daughters
GUEST BIO
Praying for America with Dutch Sheets
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com-FAITHFULLY PRAYING FOR AMERICA
Earlier this summer, Dutch started a new position as Executive Director of Christ for the Nations Institute (CFNI). This role brings him back to his alma mater. He believes God has been developing him into a mentor/spiritual father for these students. Dutch’s heart is still to pray fervently for America. He has faithfully been praying for our nation for years. He issued a critical call to prayer in October 2000. On March 16, 2010, he released an even more urgent prayer appeal for our country because he felt like America was facing “horrendous crisis of monumental proportions, a season much like Israel in the days of Joel.” To review Dutch’s 2010 insight, the prophet Joel warned of devastating judgment coming to Israel, but laced the warning with hope and God’s mercy if certain things occurred. Dutch stated that we, as a nation, are in serious trouble. Americans are a confident and optimistic people, which is often good, but it can also create a dangerous denial and crippling passivity. Listen to these words from Joel – they are accurate for us today: What a day! Doomsday! God’s judgment has come. The strong God has arrived. This is serious business!… Shake the country up! God’s judgment is on its way – the Day’s almost here! (Joel 1:15, 2:1; The Message)
STATE OF THE NATION
Consider the true condition of America: 1) Our government is in decay. Our current leaders promote homosexuality, abortion and socialism, while arrogantly ignoring God and the wishes of the people. They are proud, power-hungry, self- serving, career politicians, not the statesmen/women we so desperately need. Along with Congress and the President, we have many Judges with no regard for God’s word, the Constitution or our true history. The predictable verdict is in: America is in a moral and spiritual crisis of such magnitude.
2) From a practical standpoint from Dutch’s grandparents’ day until now, we have gone from 65% of Americans having a biblical worldview to now 4% of today’s young people sharing these beliefs. Apart from an absolute miracle, which Dutch thinks is still possible; we have lost a generation of Americans to Satan and secular humanism. Generally speaking, we are a narcissistic, self-loving nation that has accepted a culture of death, perversion, drugs and violence. We have murdered 51 million babies in the womb and to satisfy the cry for a toleration of immorality and perversion, we are ready to throw away 6,000 years of honoring God’s definition of marriage and family.
3) The church, which is supposed to be salt and light, is neither. Though a remnant has remained faithful, for the most part the church of America has become totally irrelevant and completely ineffective. Our pulpits are filled with smiles, not tears; entertainment, not passion; and self-help stories, not prophetic truth. Our feel-good messages and mega fun-centers have anesthetized us to the reality of our condition and, as opposed to offering solutions, are actually part of the problem. We, the church, are not changing our world; we’re being conformed to it. We have left our first love and abandoned our cause. In short, an apostate church, an ungodly government and a culture of death, perversion and self-centeredness have earned us an appointment with judgment.
CONTENDING FOR OUR COUNTRY
Dutch was frustrated during the years leading up to the election. After the election, he took time to grieve.
God gave him the scripture Jonah 2:8. In the New Living Translation it says, "Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God's mercies." The New International Version (1984) says, "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." Dutch says we are seeing God’s ‘judgment’ as a result of coming out from under God's grace by decisions we have made. He also says to cry out, pray, and fast and get behind the right people, especially for the courts. We are voting for things bigger than prosperity. We need the right justices in the Supreme Court. If not, we won’t be able to reverse decision. Dutch says God has been merciful and we have been spared miraculously. There is still time to stop the path we’re on. God is giving America another chance even though we have made some bad decisions. It's not too late.
THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR AMERICA
Dutch says, “But there is still hope.” God desires to bring a Third Great Awakening to America. It can be truly amazing – millions saved and delivered; all of society impacted in a huge way; the youth of America finally introduced to the true Christ in all of His power. But hear Dutch when he says, “Our prayers and actions will determine the magnitude and timing of this awakening; and the level of awakening will determine the magnitude of our judgment. Again, the hope-filled words of the prophet Joel are very pertinent: But there’s also this, it’s not too late—God’s personal Message! Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins! Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot. This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now; maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all is said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust from your God! (Joel 2:12-14; The Message) Our God is so ready to show mercy. But not to the proud and indifferent! The prescription to turn a crisis such as Joel warned of and that which we face today, and the trigger that releases the spirit of awakening to offset it have never changed: repentance, humility, prayer and fasting. Dutch says, "This is our only hope for a reduced sentence. Judgment cannot be fully averted but it can be lessened.”
A friend of Dutch’s had a dream about him. His friend dreamed he saw Dutch from across the street and Dutch was 6'9” tall. When his friend asked Dutch how he had grown, Dutch said the Word and revelation. When Dutch heard the dream, he knew that 6,9 was a scripture reference that referred to Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (NIV)” because he had been preaching on contending. Dutch says it's time for the outpouring of God's rain. In I Kings 18 Elijah had to contend before the rain. Daniel and David also had to contend. We can't grow weary no matter what during this time. We are so close to the outpouring of the rain like in Zechariah 10:1. We must contend like never before. If we worship we can stop what is happening to our country at the half way point. If we contend, we will make it.
Dutch senses that in the November elections God will begin the process of delivering us from the judgments we’ve incurred in America, much of which has manifested itself through our government. A much larger aspect of the deliverance, however, will occur as the Third Great Awakening gains momentum. Dutch believes we are in the first baby steps of the Third Great Awakening. We can still and will be a part of this great awakening. The “outpouring” of God’s “life” is most definitely the awakening/revival we’ve been waiting for and that has begun. Dutch says it is currently a sprinkle, but it will become a downpour. Dutch has had a dream that he is moving from the forerunning stage to the experiential stage of an outpouring of life. In the context of Dutch’s new book, Dream, his dream of the Third Great Awakening has begun.
DREAMING WITH GOD
Your God-given destiny is inextricably connected to dreaming. If you don’t dream you will never achieve your destiny. Psalms 139:13-18 substantiates the belief that the Creator mandated our existence, and then created us with design and intent. If we allow Him, God will direct us towards our purpose from dream to dream. If you do not dream, your life will become too random, and driven by circumstances, emotions, etc. If at one time you dreamed but have ceased to do so, your destiny has stalled. Dreaming with God is so much more exciting than dreaming earthbound dreams. If God is a part of your dreaming process, part of your dreams are God’s. You were designed to dream, and you must dream – for yourself and for God. God has big dreams, as witnessed by Abraham, Jacob, etc. Dreaming with God allows Him to bring His will and your destiny to pass in the earth. We become outlets for God's dreams. The relationship between dreaming and creating is important. If you don't dream, you will not create.
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