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by Ps Peter Walker, an Indigenous Christian Elder from the Bundjalung tribe and leader of the Uluru Bark Petition.

Intention
A strategy to come back to God and enjoy His blessing.

Scripture
Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain — a land that the Lord your God cares for. He watches over it through each season of the year!

If you carefully obey the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul, then He will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil. He will give you lush pastureland for your livestock, and you yourselves will have all you want to eat.

But be careful. Don’t let your heart be deceived so that you turn away from the Lord and serve and worship other gods. If you do, the Lord’s anger will burn against you. He will shut up the sky and hold back the rain, and the ground will fail to produce its harvests. Then you will quickly die in that good land the Lord is giving you.
~ Deuteronomy 11:11-17

Reflection
I believe most of us would be in agreement when I say Prayer and Repentance (2 Chronicles 7:14) are the keys for the healing and restoration of our land and nation.

I am amazed just how far we have gone away from the Godly standards that have been the primary reasons God has blessed us as a nation in the past.

I now believe it is time to come back to where we broke away from God.

We are presently experiencing the worst drought in living memory. All our rivers are drying up. Local businesses in rural areas and small towns are dying. Many farmers have taken their own lives as a result of these extreme living conditions. Livestock is being shot as the only humane thing to do.

My family have relocated to Casino in the far North Coast of NSW, which was recently surrounded by fires that ravaged our land, fueled by unusually high temperatures and very dry landscape. The lives of two elderly residents were lost during these fires, along with much of the wildlife and fauna.

Scripture has much to say about this in Psalms 68:6. It says, “God places the lonely in families; He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun scorched land.” (NLT)

However, we find hope and encouragement in Psalms 68:8 which states, “The earth trembled, and the heavens poured down rain before you, the God of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You sent abundant rain, O God, to refresh the weary land.” That is our prayer today!

Prayer
Heavenly Father, I thank You Lord for Your faithfulness. We thank You for the men and women who have dedicated their lives to service.

Lord, we acknowledge it is us who have failed You! We have walked away from Your laws and statutes, and for this we ask that You forgive us.

Firstly, forgive us as First Nations People within this great nation, and as one nation under God we take account for our actions. Forgive Australia for not listening to the voice of the Aboriginal people in the Uluru Bark Petition on the sacredness and sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. You gave us marriage in the garden. It is holy and cannot be redefined.

Forgive us as a nation for the introduction of no-fault divorce and the promotion of immorality and pornography in our nation. For homosexual laws that our governments have introduced and legalised. For the murder of unborn children that is legal in every state of Australia.

We know according to Your holy scriptures, these immoral acts were practiced by the nations You removed before Israel took possession of Caanan.

Lord, we pray for our Government that they would hold true to Your precepts. Your Word says “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.” – Proverbs 14:34

Your Word also says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” Psalm 34:12

So Lord, we declare that Your healing has begun in our nation. The sound of abundant rain is in the making. We listen with ears tuned to the frequency of the Holy Spirit. Lord, we thank You for hearing our petition. We thank You for the answer to our cry, for healing and repentance over our nation. In Your precious Name Jesus, Amen.