The prophetic dream began with what looked like a battle scene. At first, all I could see through the smoke was rubble laying everywhere and the flashing of artillery fire in the distance. As the smoke settled, I could make out a flag. Looking at the flag, I was shocked to see that it was a dirty, white flag splattered with mud and covered with smoke stains. I noticed that there were seven black rips that went across it. Realizing that this flag represented America, and seeing the state of our flag — a white flag torn, dirtied, and shredded — I began to weep.

While I was crying, I suddenly began to hear the prayers of the saints of God. With that, instead of seeing the smoke settling on this battle scene, it began to clear, and a whitish “smoke” took its place. But this cloudlike smoke wasn’t sinking down; it was rising up, going up into the heavens. When this rising white cloud reached the heavens, the black rips in the flag began to turn red. This started with the top one, and then moved down one by one until they had all turned red. The flag now contained red and white stripes, with the white stripes no longer dusty. They had become a very brilliant white.

Suddenly, a blue field formed on the flag in the upper left corner. But the blue field was barren … without any stars. Looking below the flag, I saw a pile of stars just lying on the ground — gray, dirty, and bent. Their appearance was like the stick-on stars you might have gotten on a good report when you were in grade school. Once again I heard the prayers of the saints go up to God. With that, I saw the stars start to whiten and brighten. Then they rose up, spun around in a circle and placed themselves on the field of the flag where they belonged. The dream ended with the flag flying brilliant and bright on its flagpole.

The Call
The battlefield covered with debris and smoke represents the truth that there has been a battle raging in America, a severe spiritual warfare. The white flag that had been ripped up showed that instead of lifting high the standard we have been given, many have given up and surrendered — waving the “white flag.” But while some might want to surrender, there is no appeasing the spiritual enemy we face. The only time we will have peace with Satan is in the very end, when he has been completely vanquished. As the Church has tried to make peace through apathy or appeasement, we have surrendered our society to Satan. But he has not accepted our white flag; he has torn our society with seven vicious, dark rips.

The Lord told me that the seven dark tears represent the seven abominations found in Proverbs 6:16–19. “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” The good news is that the blood of Jesus Christ is well able to remove each tear — every blot and blemish — from the Church and from America. His blood is all-powerful. Nothing is too torn or too badly stained as to be unable to be cleansed by the blood of Christ … if it is applied!

God is calling the Church to repentant intercession, so that His blood can cover the seven black stripes — those seven abominations. God is calling to those who will hear, because He desires to forgive the Church and forgive America. His heart is for restoration, not retaliation.
1 - We must repent of pride. There is no country on the face of the earth more filled with pride than America.
2 - We need to repent of a lying tongue. From business leaders to heads of state, this nation is filled with those who lie. Lying is not only accepted in our culture, it has become expected.
3 - We must repent of shedding innocent blood. As a people, we have destroyed by abortion nations full of children who are fully innocent.
4 - We need to repent of having a heart toward wickedness. As Americans, the books we buy, the television shows we watch, nearly every facet of our society reveals that our heart is bent toward wickedness.
5 - We must repent of running to evil. There was a time when most people would avoid anything that even had a hint of being evil. But now many openly embrace it instead of fleeing from it.
6 - We need to repent from being a false witness, which means we repent from deceptiveness. In our society so many people build their lives and their businesses upon deceiving others.
7 - We must repent of sowing discord or allowing others to sow discord. With political unrest, increasing racial tension, and greater friction between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” discord in America is at an all-time high. If this were only true for our secular society, it would be bad enough. It should never be part of the Church, for the Lord’s desire is for us to be united so that He can pour out His commanded blessing (see Psalm 133). Yet with record numbers of divorces among believers and ever-increasing church splits in our days, discord is not only something the Church has allowed, it is something we have embraced.

When I asked the Lord what the blue field and the stars represented, He told me the blue field represents His royal reign and dominion, and the stars symbolize the individual states of our nation. When this country was first founded, every state was founded upon the royal King — Jesus Christ. But now, none of the states are resting on the place they should be, which is the Lord’s royal dominion. We need to pray for each individual state (for the governors, judges, and state legislatures), that they will once again return and be founded upon the principles and precepts of the very Word of God. Nearly every month some new governor acknowledges dishonest or unethical behavior that forces public apology or resignation. State judges increasingly rule against biblical values. Our state legislatures are filled with corruption and those seeking dishonest gain. We need to rend our hearts in repentance and intercession for our fallen nation. If we will not fall on our knees, our country will continue to fall further below the mark it is called to uphold!

The Promise
The Lord has promised that if we will humble ourselves and repent that He will hear us and forgive us. “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 will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This promise is contingent upon the true believers in our nation hearing His call to humble repentance and heeding that call. There is no forgiveness until there has first been repentance. Repentance involves getting on our knees, getting on our faces before God, and humbling ourselves. To truly repent, we must put away any and every rationalization, for sin is not removed by rationalization, but by repentance. Repentance is accepting responsibility, asking forgiveness, and then determining to look in a new direction and live in a new way. As we truly repent of all of these abominations, the blood of Christ will cover our sins and bring forgiveness.

America cannot be fixed by Washington or Wall Street. Only almighty God can change America … and He is calling us, His people, to stand in the gap on behalf of the land. This is an Ezekiel 22:30 moment in time: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it …” How I pray that we will answer God’s call to repentance. How I long for both intercessors and saints alike to hear the call and heed its invitation. The Lord’s desire is for His mercy to triumph over His judgment — for us to receive restoration and not retribution. May the Lord not have to finish His call to intercession in our day as He did in Ezekiel’s day when He sadly said, “… but I found no one.” Every believer in America, every believer who cares about the Church in America, should set aside time to answer God’s call to stand in the gap in prayer.