John Loren Sandford - Healing the Nations: A Call to Global Intercession

2000 by John Loren Sandford

Published by Chosen Books
A division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.chosenbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-1524-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE . Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked Phillips is taken from The New Testament in Modern English, by J. B. Phillips. Copyright J. B. Phillips, 1958, 1960, The Macmillan Company. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked RSV is taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

C ONTENTS

To all the intercessors
who prayed for this book
and who will respond to its summons

F OREWORD

You are about to open the pages of an amazing book. This is no mindless, easy-read material; rather, it is life-changing and groundbreaking. God has used John Sandford and his wife, Paula, to pioneer the area of inner healing, which has brought wholeness and release to thousands of people around the world. In fact, it was after I did a study of some of Johns books on inner healing that the Holy Spirit gave me the first revelations I ever received on how to heal a nation.

Since this book is about the healing of nations, I think it is pertinent to write what the Holy Spirit spoke to me when I asked Him, How do you heal a nation? His reply to me was, Cindy, how do you bring healing to an individuals life? Since I had gone to school on John and Paulas books, I could easily begin to make the leap in my mind to apply the messages of forgiveness and reconciliation to nations (see chapter 11).

The insights John shares in this book are not new to him. He has been waiting for this hour and time to share them. I have personally walked with him through some of the processing of his thoughts and know how he has labored to share revelation that he is aware might be controversial. I believe he does this with integrity.

Cindy Jacobs, co-founder
Generals of Intercession

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first thanks, of course, is to God. At times the Holy Spirit poured in ideas and words so fast I could hardly type them into the computer before the next were crowding the first out of my mind.

Thanks, too, to our friends Frank and Rosemary Miller, whose invitation to Paula and me to spend the last of April 1999 and all of May in their lovely home on the shore in Kailua-Kona gave me the combination of privacy and beauty that made inspiration and labor, for the most part, a joy. No thanks to the old devil, who plagued me with attacks on my health, on the computer and on my desktop printer, especially while I was trying to write chapter 9, Defeating the Devils Devices!

Thanks to our son Mark, who read the rough draft and challenged me to add or delete and to justify scripturally many thoughts and concepts.

To our daughter Ami and husband, Tony, who live with us and had to join Paula in wielding the head-knockers that called out to me, Earth to John, many times when deep thoughts spaced me out of their world. And Tonys editing here and there in the book was a great help.

To our Elishas, a group of friends with the same ministry as ours, who came by for a visit. Their reading and listening to chapters brought welcome encouragement, especially when the labor and warfare were getting me down.

Most of all I am grateful to Jane Campbell, our editor. I marvel at her ability to take scrambled writings that did not say what I meant them to, and turn them into readable, understandable chapters. I am afraid the possibly controversial material in parts of this book must have driven her to more research and struggle to rewrite than most books she edits for Chosen! She did a great job, and for that I am grateful and appreciative.

Finally, thanks to our board and staff at Elijah House, who took the financial step of faith to put us on paid sabbatical for all of 1999 so we could write. They had to trust that God would supply while we brought in no incomeand they have done it with grace and joy.

I say we because, although this time the writing has been more mine than ours, Paulas advice and continual support have made this as much a joint adventure as all the rest of the books we have co-authored more directly. She had to carry a lot of the burden-bearing and warfare so I could be free in heart and mind to write.

May God bless all who read and who are called to His purposes.

I NTRODUCTION

In November 1973 the Lord called my wife, Paula, and me out of the pastorate into the ministry that has become Elijah House. At that time He ordered us to write seven books and gave us the titles: The Elijah Task, Restoring the Christian Family, The Transformation of the Inner Man, Healing the Wounded Spirit, The Renewal of the Mind, Healing the Nations and The Healing of the Earth . All of these books, plus six others we have written, are pioneering works in the application of the blood and cross and resurrection life of our Lord Jesus Christ to the deep wounds and practices of the heart that prevent Christians from becoming who they are in Christ.

Each of the first five books, which have been written and published, concern the maturation and sanctification of individual Christians. The last two books present a departure from individual (perhaps even self-centered) concerns to corporate, altruistic, others-minded service to the Lord, to mankind and to earth. These call for forgetting about ones self and ones own sanctification and laying down ones life for others.

The earlier five books direct our gaze inward, then outward. This new book and the next call us to look inward only when we find our flesh interfering, and then merely enough to get the flesh out of the way. Those who come looking for something for themselves had better put this book and its sequel down until they are ready to serve others unmindful of their own needs.

Dont get me wrong. There is a time for introspection. If there were not, Paula and Iand many othershave wasted a lot of time and energy! But we are to be healed and transformed in order to be wiser and stronger servants of Jesus for the sake of others. If sanctification and transformation do not issue in selfless service, we have missed the mark.

The earlier five books plunge us into the pain of facing personal sin and dying to ourselves on the cross of Christ. This book and the next call us to the pains and joys of bearing the burdens of others as we stand in the gap for a hurting world. God has been preparing us to be a people for Himselfblood-washed, cross-crucified, resurrection-transformed children of God who are becoming mature sons and daughters, warriors for others. There is a call on our lives. God has been preparing us to answer it.