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.)