Following God Through Tennessee

If you take a road trip vacation this month, you might want to visit Tennessee (though it will be hot). God is on the move there and wants to multiply his work into every county of the nation. 

Legislators in the “Volunteer State” have called for a month of fasting and prayer during July. Here’s the exciting story from Dutch Sheets of “Give Him 15.”

Following God Through Tennessee

Dutch Sheets:

If anyone has doubted that God is humbling our nation, think again. And if you doubted the assertion that we are past the point of recovering on our own, surely you now know better. America is ill, terminally ill. The roots of the illness are spiritual, and only God can heal us. The state of Tennessee agrees with this.

Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody and Representative Monty Fritts sent a letter to the pastors of their state last week, asking that they join state leaders in “a 30-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting for the month of July as a means of humbling ourselves to receive God’s grace, mercy, and blessing in Tennessee and our Nation.”

House Joint Resolution 803 passed with an overwhelming 27-1 vote in the Senate and an 82-6 vote in the House and was signed into law by Governor Lee on April 16, 2024.

Pody and Fritts continued, “This document embodies a bipartisan recognition that the issues we are facing cannot be effectively addressed without the intervention and favor of our Lord.

“We are respectfully inviting you to join with us in leading the people of God across Tennessee into a time of humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God’s Face, and repentance during July. Let us model for those who are not called by His Name a better way to bring about the positive changes we so desperately need. How do we do this?

On Sunday, June 30, read or have HJR803 read in our church services; Examine our lives in light of God’s Word and confess of our sins; Acknowledge that we, as the Church, have failed to stand for the principles of God, ask for His Forgiveness and Mercy, and commit to stand firmly on those principles going forward;

For those who are able, join in prayer and intermittent fasting as a means of demonstrating our desire for repentance.

“On July 1 we plan to begin a journey to all 95 counties in Tennessee, visiting courthouses and places of worship in order to read the Resolution, profess the need for repentance, and join in prayer together. We are convinced that this Resolution must be more than a legislative act and piece of paper.”

Dutch continues:

Watch and see. God will surely respond to this action. I’ve heard and seen quite a few proclamations of a day of prayer and fasting, but I’ve never seen one lasting a month. I say again. God will respond. Here is the proclamation in its entirety. It is so well written, I’m going to [share] all of it:

“A RESOLUTION to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee.

“WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens; and

“WHEREAS, our State and Nation suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens; and

“WHEREAS, acts of violent crime in our schools are unacceptable; and

“WHEREAS, human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our State, enslaving lives and violating the core values of our Creator-endowed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and

“WHEREAS, drug addiction overwhelms our families, our government finances, our workforce productivity, as well as our healthcare and our law enforcement resources; and

“WHEREAS, deadly fentanyl flows uncontrollably across our southern U.S. border, resulting in the deaths of Tennesseans; and

“WHEREAS, Driving Under the Influence, drunk driving, results in great pain and injury for Tennessee families; and

“WHEREAS, we have approximately 9,000 children in need of foster care, indicating a brokenness in many Tennessee homes; and

“WHEREAS, evidence of corruption in our federal government stands to impact every Tennessean; and

“WHEREAS, our National and State Founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of Providence to guide and bless our land; and

“WHEREAS, over decades, these leaders called our people to seek out the Creator’s favor by issuing proclamations like the one from John Adams on April 15, 1799:

“[This day] be observed throughout the United States of America as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens on that day abstain, as far as may be, from their secular occupation, and devote the time to the sacred duties of religion, in public and in private; that they call to mind our numerous offenses against the most high God, confess them before Him with the sincerest penitence, implore His pardoning mercy, through the Great Mediator and Redeemer, for our past transgressions, and that through the grace of His Holy Spirit, we may be disposed and enabled to yield a more suitable obedience to His righteous requisitions in time to come; that He would interpose to arrest the progress of that impiety and licentiousness in principle and practice so offensive to Himself and so ruinous to mankind; that He would make us deeply sensible that ‘righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.’ [Proverbs 14:34]; and

“WHEREAS, we hold that our Founders correctly acknowledged Truth in their words; and

“WHEREAS, we hold that “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1); now, therefore,

“BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE CONCURRING, that the period of July 1, 2024, through July 31, 2024, be recognized as a time of prayer and fasting in Tennessee.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize that God, as Creator and King of all Glory, has both the authority to judge and to bless nations or states.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, as public servants in the Tennessee General Assembly, seek God’s Mercy upon our land and beseech Him to not withdraw His Hand of blessing from us.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize our sins and shortcomings before Him and humbly ask His Forgiveness.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask the Lord Jesus to heal our land and remove the violence, human-trafficking, addiction, and corruption.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we ask that the Holy Spirit fill our halls of government, our classrooms, our places of business, our churches, and our homes with peace, love, and joy.

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call upon all those who are physically able and spiritually inclined to do so to join in a thirty-day season of prayer and intermittent fasting as we begin a new fiscal year as a means of seeking God’s blessing and humbling ourselves to receive His Grace and Mercy, transforming ourselves, our communities, our State, and our Nation.”

***

I have never seen a resolution from a state government as clear as this one calling the people of Tennessee to seek God’s face, turn from their sins and apathy, and put their renewed in God alone and his grace.

Did you note that Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody and Representative Monty Fritts’ team are taking this resolution to all 95 counties in their state? Reminds me “Washington Awakening” in October of 1995, when we took the message of repentance to nearly every county in Washington State. Thousands of people responded.

Let’s follow God through Tennessee this July and beyond to  call our beloved nation back to “In God We Trust.”