“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible to be alive without breathing.” Martin Luther
Has the world seemed very heavy of late? It’s almost as if the sky is a bit darker than usual. The news stories are churning out at a rapid pace. I told my husband yesterday that the funeral of former president Jimmy Carter had taken a back seat to the chaos and sad destruction that is going on in the world. We still have family members who are keenly aware of the devastation that is ongoing in North Carolina and surrounding areas around us. There are the horrific wildfires raging in California, floods all around the world, terrorist attacks across the globe. The amount of suffering is heart wrenching.
The world is full of turmoil
There is also significant political turmoil in the world. We here in America are about to have an inauguration of a quite controversial figure. Some Americans are relieved to have a reprieve of the last four quite interesting years. It has felt like a very bad fever dream for sure. I’ve heard people say such things as, “I hope the next president fails, he caused trouble for this country.” I did take a moment and really contemplate what this person was saying, it reminded me of a comment that was made by the late Rush Limbaugh some years ago when Obama was president of the United States. Limbaugh stated that he hoped that Obama failed in every way. Much like the comment of my friend, I was a little shocked.
I shouldn’t have been shocked, but I was
Why was I shocked? Because much like Limbaugh, (who I did respect) these folks who were wishing ill on the next administration were people who filled the pews of church each week praising God with all their might. Is it right or necessary to utter these words to wish ill upon a leader and in doing so wishing ill on the country as a whole. Think about it, if the leader fails, it is very likely that the people will experience a great deal of suffering in their lives as well. Who wants that? Certainly not me. I was quite refreshed when I heard David Axelrod publicly state that he hopes that the next president succeeds and his policies help the world. Who is David Axelrod? He was a former advisor to President Obama. He is decidedly on the other side of the political aisle.
Our words have meaning
I don’t know if Rush Limbaugh made his peace with God before his passing, I certainly hope that he did, but his words at the time were not for the betterment of society as a whole. This brings the next question to mind. What are we to do as Christians as another very tense transition is to take place? We have 2 choices. We can continue the path of vitriol and wishing others ill or we can take heed to the words of Paul in his letter to Timothy, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
We must submit ourselves to God and pray
The Apostle Peter also admonished us to Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. What does that mean? If we are living lives in service to God, we are to pray for all those in authority, after all they are not only working for God, they have to answer to Him, the ultimate judge and leader. Some leaders may not know it, but God sees and knows and they will have to give account for their leadership.
Two questions came to mind
All of this talk of leaders and continued catastrophe lends itself to 2 questions. Why do we have what seems at times to be very controversial or negligent leaders in place? The other question that comes to mind quite frequently is, are we experiencing God’s judgement for our departure from Judeo-Christian values?
The history of Israel can teach us a lesson
Think about the history of Israel, they begged for a King from God. He gave them one. This set up a series of history that almost seemed like it played in a loop. A king would be appointed by God Almighty, Saul comes to mind. Saul came, he ruled, and then introduced godlessness into the culture through wives, sin and other means. This had a domino effect which rolled right down to the culture. They began to worship Ba’al and Ashtaroth instead of God Almighty. They then sacrificed their children in pagan worship. God’s judgement came upon the society (war, fire, famine, etc..) in a swift and mighty way which caused them to turn back to God.
Just like Israel, we live in Biblical times
Israel was in a cycle of closeness to God and His holiness. They became comfortable and introduced other gods into a space that was created for God Almighty alone. What happened to Pharaoh in Exodus? He held the Israelites in captivity for quite some time. He made them slaves that were terribly mistreated. When Pharaoh saw that the Hebrew children were plentiful he gave an edict to throw the little babies in the Nile. Can you imagine the heartache of the mothers? Baby Moses was saved after God heard the cry of His people to be set free from their burden of captivity. This set off a series of events that led to plagues that impacted the Egyptian people. Locusts, frogs, a blood red river and boils were some of the plagues. After all that hardship, Pharaoh still did not heed the call of God. Only after the Angel of Death passed through and took the first born of every Egyptian (Pharaoh included), did he let God’s people go.
Has society turned their back on God?
Has society turned their backs on God once again? Are we erecting high places of other gods in our lives rather than looking to Almighty God? As I was praying about what to write next, God brought this to the forefront of my mind. I didn’t want to write it, it is a painful concept to ponder. But after reading the scripture, looking at history and spending more time not wanting to write, I felt the nudge of God to indeed go to this difficult place. For quite some time it seems that the church has dwelt solely on the love and grace of God. Now, before you clutch your pearls, I fully believe in the blood, sacrifice and love of Jesus Christ. Without His sacrifice we would be forced to live a life burdened by the weight of sin and death. That is no way to live, but the church has thrown the concept of sin and consequences right out the door in what seems to be an effort to not offend people. That is simply not what the scripture outlines we are to do as believers.
The church spent a lot of time with a less than balanced message
For many years, hellfire and brimstone sermons were all over the place. Sinners in the hand of an angry God, beating on the pulpit until as many people as possible come up during the altar call, and singing all one thousand verses of “Just as I Am” were standard fare in the church. This understandably caused many to scale back that particular approach to bringing people to Christ. This ushered in the modern and chic gospel that preached nothing but love regardless of your sin. After all, God will just forgive you, right? The Apostle Paul pointed out in Romans 6, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Live a life seeking God
We must seek to live by the precepts of scripture, ask God regularly for forgiveness, and turn from those things that were from our former life of sin. To walk down the path of only love is to negate the sacrifice of Christ. How does all of this come together? If we are not fond of those who are in authority what should we Christians do? First we must pray. I often find myself irked when I see people post something about prayers not working in response to any tragedy. Our mandate from God is to pray often. James 5:16 tells us: Therefore, confess your sins to one another [your false steps, your offenses], and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man (believer) can accomplish much [when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power].
Actions have consequences
Our actions have consequences for us, our children, our children’s children, the legacy moves on. That is why it is so important to approach voting with prayer. Also, we should pray for our leaders, set the example of love and grace to others who are sowing division. As I often say to my kids, “Step away from the computer, pray, seek God, love your neighbor and touch some grass.” We are not to be of the world, we are to set the example of God’s grace and balance. Think about it, we vote, we get a leader, we don’t like them and then.. We tend to pick the polar opposite of the political spectrum in hopes that it will fix things. While it is an absolute privilege to be able to vote, it is also a prayerful seeking God’s direction task. How often do you pray? Do you place your hope in one leader to fix things? I certainly hope not. Our humanness will fail us over and over, or do you realize that God is the Majestic One who can make real change by our prayers?
Are we currently under judgement?
I often tell people, God is the judge, not me. By His grace, He gave us the scripture to give us warnings concerning sin and the consequences that come after repeated admonition to come back to the narrow path. What are the wages of repeated sin? Death. God makes no bones about it. To see innocent humans suffering from war, fires, hurricanes, and all manner of happenings is heartbreaking. To think about it brings such a heavy spiritual weight to our spirit, soul and body. We must pray often and do what we can as believers in Christ for them.
What does the Bible say about judgement and the last days?
Paul told the Apostle Timothy that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad. They will be hard headed and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good. They will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God. 5 They will go to church, yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that.”
Live a life modeled after Christ
Are we in the last days? Only God knows that. But having the scriptures admonishing us to live a life modeled after Christ, to pray for our leaders, to be the light in a world that is moving very fast towards darkness, we must find God’s balance in all things. Think about God, He gave us Jesus, the balance and atonement for our sins. He gave us 6 days to work and 1 day to rest. He gave us seasons, varying geographically beautiful places in the world, he gave us oceans and freshwater, and He gave us scripture which was God-breathed to make it until God calls us home. We must as the church model our lives after His glorious balance. Gone should be the days of the gospel of my truth and The Gospel of His Eternal Truth should be our dwelling place.
God is Truth
God is truth. There are some scholars who say that because the Scripture was written by men it is fallible, we can take it as mere suggestions of how to live our lives. Yet as Timothy tells us: All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the [a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
God has given us a road map to serve Him
In conclusion, our choices have consequences, God lays that out for us over and over in scripture. When Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun, he was right. I recently heard a sermon where the pastor said that we are living in new days with the same old demons that have been around for centuries. This is so true in history. In my next article I will lay out the concept of new days, old sin and gods. It is a fascinating study. Thank goodness we have Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. The events that are swirling in the world ever and ever faster can teach us a lot about a prayerful and God-seeking life. I know I’ve said it a lot but we must pray often. As we’ve seen there was a world wide bug, floods, a catastrophic set of hurricanes, drones, snow storms, attacks, societal questions about men and women. This is so much to take on a daily basis. If anything, this is a call to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Prepare for the shaking that seems to be all over the world and what is to come.
Turn our eyes upon Jesus
I leave you all with the words of the Hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” by Helen Limmel. O soul are you weary and troubled. No light in the darkness you see. There’s light for a look at the Savior. And life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus .Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of his glory and grace. His word shall not fail you he promised. Believe him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace God Bless You All.
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