Faith and Politics

 

 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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

 

My heart is heavy, and I have to confess I have been worried.   In forty days, America will once again vote for President, and the importance of this election seems very great as our country is in need of such healing.   We seem to have forsaken so many of the ideals of our founding fathers and strayed so far away from “one nation under God”.  And as Christians, we cannot separate our faith from our politics.  Tony Evans, in his “40 Days to Pray for the USA” day 5 says, “Under God, the government is to promote the conditions for the wellbeing of the citizenry for good while protecting the citizenry against the proliferation of evil. And since civil government is to operate under God, He – and not man – must be the ultimate standard of what is good or evil. This means that politics is fundamentally an ethical enterprise based on what is right and what is wrong. Therefore Christian voting should first and foremost be a spiritual issue.”  Indeed, it is my responsibility to look at the platforms of the two parties and prayerfully compare them to Biblical principles.  I will tell you, one more clearly represents Biblical principles and will get my vote. 

 

Yet, the healing our country needs requires so much more than a new party in office.  Over and over Scripture describes nations in need of healing by a merciful God.   I know you would agree with me that we are such a nation.  It saddens me how much Christians (not just the lost) resemble the godlessness described in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power”.  Stop.   Read back over that.  I can tell you I don’t get very far in that list before I have to confess my own sin, and this is exactly what is needed for healing for ourselves, our families and our land.   God heals nations by healing His children.  Healing comes when HIS people, those called by HIS Name, humble THEMSELVES and pray, and turn from THEIR wicked ways (2 Chron 7:14).  God tells His children to repent.  He also tells us to pray.

 

Are you praying?  Are you praying for this country?  Are you praying for this election?  Are you asking God to heal our land?  Do you believe He can?  I know we have strayed far from our Biblical foundations—but until God says we are done—we are not done.  He can still bring revival and healing to America.   Let’s not be a people “having a form of godliness but denying its power”.  Will you join me and hundreds of thousands of other Christ followers across America and pray 2 Chronicles 7:14 for our nation?   Perhaps God is leading you to organize prayer in your community.   Listen to His voice.   Believe God can.  Speak His truth in love.  Yes, you may feel persecuted.  Paul says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).   He goes on to say “ At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.  But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim 4:16-18).

Do you want to live that kind of stand-for-Jesus godly life?  Do you believe our nation needs healing?  Christian, now is the time…now is the time to repent, to pray, to ask BIG things of a big God and believe in His power. Will you join me?  Time is of the essence.   People all around us do not know our Savior.   The enemy is crouching at the door.   Now is not the time to retreat but to remember we are God’s soldiers.  Put on the full armor of God and stand.   May this be our prayer: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Eph 6:10-18)

(If you are in the East Tennessee area, I invite you to “United Awakening” --a call to pray for our nation -   Oct 25^th, 6:30pm at World’s Fair Park Amphitheater, Knoxville.)

Something is happening all around us!

 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matt 11:28

Have you felt like things are getting crazy in our world?  I’d like to stick my head in the sand, concern myself with choosing the best toenail polish, or think about my next vacation… but I can’t.  Something is happening all around us.   Prophecies are being fulfilled.  The Kingdom of Heaven is advancing, and the enemy is turning up his guns.   Our everyday lives are filled with tribulation-- the economy is tanking, gas prices are rising, morality is ridiculed, families are falling apart, our country and what it has stood for is increasingly hated,  radical Islamists want to destroy us, natural disasters are increasing, and wars and rumors of wars abound.   Yet God told us all this would happen, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt 11:12).  God tells us to discern the “signs of the times” (Matt 16:3).  He tells us to look for birth pains (Matt 24 and Mark 13), and He tells us to pick our side – “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” (Matt 11:23).

So what does this all mean?   What does it mean to discern the times and be on the side of Christ?  Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matt 16:24).  He says, “He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matt 10:38).   So how in the midst of this crazy world are we to follow God?    Jesus puts it in simple terms when He simply says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt 11:28-29).   Jesus says “Come to Me” in the midst of all the crazy, hard stuff; and as we are tempted to sit and wonder about all the things we don’t understand, Jesus emphatically cries, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”   He told us long ago, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).   If you want peace you have to run to Christ and the things He has spoken to you in His Word.  You have to know what He has told you.  And you have to do it.     

Are you resting in what He has told you?  Do you shudder when you turn on the news, look at your bank statement, or think about what your kids face every day in school?   Do you find yourself feeling defeated?   Do you want to jump in the bed and cover your head, or distract yourself with mindless TV?   God knows us and says instead, “You are the light of the world…. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:14, 16).   Now is not the time to retreat!  Christian… NOW is NOT the time to retreat.   It is not the time to be politically correct… It is the time to courageously remember who you are in Christ and be “salt of the earth” (Matt 5:13) to a world who is in desperate need of a Savior and whose time may be very short!   Run to Jesus for yourselves and for your lost loved ones!  You are His soldier.   Pick up your sword (God’s Truth), strengthen yourself with daily bread (the Bible), and “encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day (of His Return) approaching.” (Heb 10:25).   As you deny yourself (and the temptation to run from all of this), as you take up your cross (and stand as a light to the world around you), you will find peace!  Real peace! You will find rest for your souls.   You were created with a purpose for such a time as this!   Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes (Eph 6:11) and speak truth in love so that others may give glory to the One, to the soon-coming-King, to whom all glory is owed!   What a victory we have in Jesus!

Prayer:  Oh Father, draw me near.  Clean me.  Use me.   Help me to daily live the life you would have me live so others will see You and give you glory!  Oh Father, have mercy on us.   Have mercy on our country.  Bring Revival and let it start with me.  Amen.

 

 

 

For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain

Phil 1:21

 

 

A few weeks ago, I stood surrounded by row after row of white tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery, yet my tear-filled eyes stayed fixed on the solitary, flag-draped coffin sitting atop the horse-drawn carriage.   The Air Force band played, soldiers stood in solemn salute, and the air space over our nation’s capital was shut down, so a B-1 Bomber could be flown over in honor of the General, my hero-cousin, Ron Henderson.   Six four-star generals attended his funeral, and many spoke in awe of his accomplishments, the greatest of which-- the way he died.   This star-of-our-family, soldier died fighting the good fight, but not on some distant shore.  He died slowly, painfully before friends, family and coworkers; and day after day, visibly wasting away, he continued to go to work at the Pentagon.  Ron’s coworker and fellow general recalled how person after person had come to him and asked why Ron, so visibly wasting away with cancer and gripped by pain would still come to work.  He remarked, “One day I just asked him”.  To this Ron responded, “I used to have to go to people to share my faith.   Now they are coming to me.   I have to be here for that next knock on the door”.  

 

Although my cousin accomplished so much in his life: rising from a daring pilot who put the B-1 on the map, to a commanding General overseeing operations around the world; Ron lived and died with his eye constantly on the only prize that matters. The General was called to many battles, but he called cancer his “great calling”.  His funeral verse was Phil 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.   To live for Ron was always an opportunity to point to Jesus Christ, and in dying, Jesus was truly his gain.   He called his Savior “faithful beyond words and worthy to be praised”. 

 

Ron would hate the accolades.  He would tell you he was just an ordinary man.  But Ron was an ordinary man always pointing to an extraordinary God…waiting for that next “knock” on the door.  I wonder are you and I intently listening for that next “knock’?   We live in a world desperately in need of a Savior.   Will they see Jesus in us?   Will we use each moment --even the hard ones, how about just the inconvenient ones, to point to Christ?   Will we look at this life as Ron did-- as a breath, but will our every breath be to give glory to our Lord?   Will we be able to face death with hope because we know we trade these failing earthly bodies for Heaven and Jesus?   I know you are busy.   I’m busy.   But this life is our one shot.   Does your heart break for the lost?  Aren’t you tired of sitting idly by passing person after person desperately trying to live life without a Savior and facing eternity in Hell without Him?  Won’t you join the fight?   Will you live, will you die for the One who died for you?    Oh, He is worth it.   To really live… is Christ.   To die is gain! And that is peace for a crazy, hard world!

 

Prayer:  Oh Lord, Only in You can pain be turned to praise.  Only in You can the lost find hope.  Only in You can death be finally defeated.  Oh Father, break the chains which hold me back from living my life so others can see You.   Break my heart for the lost.  Help me to love those around me enough to mention your Name.   Help me to remember each day is my chance to give you glory… and oh, Jesus how I owe you glory!   Amen.