An international prophetic minister is calling for urgent prayer to avoid another U.S. economic collapse.Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of Texas-based Generals International, said she received a "dire" word July 17 that the U.S. economy was teetering. She then saw a vision of the economy on a justice scale and says God told her that Christians must fast and pray for solutions that balance righteousness and justice to avoid another Great Depression.
"The balance of the economy is fragile and depending on the way we fast, pray, and how we cast our votes in the next election will depend on which way the scale tips," she said. "We must pray and do. We must pray and act. We must awaken the church to the state of the nation without fear of pleasing man or fear for our reputation."
She said returning to biblical values and continuing to support Israel will cause the U.S. economy to stabilize and strengthen. As a result of prayer, she said God will send "supernatural solutions ... that our natural minds could never reason, nor grasp and they will heal the land."
"If we do not heed His word in this hour, there will be a tumbling of our economy and dark days will come such that our nation might never fully recover and have the greatness that God has favored us with for generations," she said.
In addition to the urgent prayer call, Jacobs plans to lead a 40-day fast beginning Sept. 24 and ending on Election Day, Nov. 2.
"This is not something that will be easily turned," she said. "It will not be turned without a battle, a battle both through our prayers ... [and] on our feet. We must vote with our feet for righteousness for these pro-life, pro-biblical values candidates. We must engage as we have never engaged before."
"I know that if we will do this that God is going to have mercy upon the nation," she added. "He's going to do miraculous things, things that no one else could do because He will give God-inspired, God-breathed ideas."
Jacobs' 40-day prayer effort mirrors another campaign a cross-section of Christian leaders are launching in late September. Dubbed Pray and Act, the initiative calls for a 40-day fast from Sept. 20 through Oct. 30. Organizers are calling people to not only pray for the nation but also vote for "righteous" leaders during the midterm elections, and help transform society through compassion ministry and evangelism.
Supporters include such Christian leaders as TheCall founder Lou Engle, evangelical author Charles Colson, Foursquare Church leader Jack Hayford, Teen Mania founder Ron Luce, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and California pastor Jim Garlow, who called the initiative "a national movement that can save America."
"We're saying it's not enough to pray; we must act," Engle said. "We must stand for the foundations of the sanctity of life, of marriage and religious freedom, but that's not enough. We must act. We must live a lifestyle of justice to the poor."
"It's not enough to be standing in a righteous position," he added. "We need the measuring line of justice to be unleashed. We must become the heart of Jesus and compassion released in the land."
The Pray and Act campaign kicks off with a simulcast Sept. 19 from Jericho City of Praise church in suburban Washington, D.C., and ends with another simulcast prayer event from the Lincoln Memorial Oct. 30.
