On My Mind...

Election day is tomorrow.  I hope that you take your voting privilege as a sacred responsibility.  We are blessed to live in a country that, despite its failings, is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  We are a representative republic and your vote matters.  So, go to the polls.  Cast your ballot, vote your conscience, let your voice be heard but don’t neglect your greater responsibility…pray!  

Elections have consequences.  It does matter who is in office.  Political philosophies and party platforms do matter because they set the tone for how that nation is governed.  I do believe that we are to vote for those more closely (neither party has a sterling record on this point) aligned with biblical principles.  We are to vote for ballot issues that more faithfully represent biblical principles of truth, justice and righteousness.  It is wrong to vote for something that clearly violates biblical teaching.  But I come back to what I wrote a moment ago, our greater responsibility is to pray.  Pray that God would bless our nation.  Pray that He would guide the minds and hearts of our leaders to do that which is right.  That our leaders would govern with truth and righteousness.  Pray for a revival, a fresh movement of the Spirit of God upon our land.  A movement that would begin in the Church and spread through the faithful preaching and living of the Gospel.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.”  

Biblically, every elected official is a servant of the LORD.  Government is ordained of God to be a check on evil.  Because officials are servants of the LORD, it matters who we put in office but more importantly it matters that we pray for those who are in authority.  We are to pray for their souls.  We are to pray that the LORD grant them discernment, wisdom and courage to do what is right.  It is easy to criticize those in office, to second guess every decision and to question their motives, but do you pray for them?  Confession, my complaints and criticisms out number my prayers by a larger percentage than I care to mention!  

So, go to the polls tomorrow and pray.  If your candidate (obviously the right man or woman for the job) should lose, pray for the winner.  Of course, you can criticize and critic their performance in office and you can work to see them defeated in the next election, but your prayers will accomplish far more than your rhetoric and you will please your Father in heaven by being obedient to His command.
 
Have a blessed week, and I’ll see you Sunday.

Rod