Praying for the US Election 2020

During this US election season, I was praying for the US that a particular administration would be elected. Searching within, I am asking God, what am I actually doing and how does it work? What does praying for one administration really mean? What does praying to God  for anything for that matter looks like?

So exploring down this route, the idea of praying for something, looks a little bit like this. When I was praying to God about the election, I was basically saying to God and asking of him to supernaturally arrange for the outcome of the election.

But how could this even work? Are we asking God to rig the outcome of an election? In order to do so, He will need to violate people’s will. Which if we looked, throughout the history and records in the bible, is not something that God does, or theoretically can do. So if God can’t change the will of the people, he can’t change the outcome of the election (unless he cheats and turns in some fake votes supernaturally).  So when we are asking God to intervene in the election, then these intercessionary prayers are really a waste of time, and misleading.

So if God can’t change the results, does that mean we shouldn’t pray about it? For whatever will be will be?

Well no, Jesus told us in the Lord’s prayer that we should pray that “His will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10). We need to look at what this really means in the context of an earthly system that is under the control of man. As many may understand (I will have another blog on this topic), God is NOT in absolute control in what happens on earth. Otherwise he would not have asked us to pray for “His will to be done on earth”. His will is followed absolutely in heaven. (hence “as it is in heaven”) but on earth, his will is not fully followed, because man don’t fully follow God.

So when Jesus asked us to pray, Say in the context of the US election? What did he want us to talk to God about?

Insight:

I think there are lots of things going on in the Election backdrop. What we firstly want to understand is Which party would God vote for, what will be the Father’s will? You may think well, if God was here he wouldn’t vote for any of these guys! That probably is true, but again God doesn’t have full control at the moment on earth, we as the body of Christ only has certain options to choose from. We look back in the Old Testament, this was the same during the time of Egypt, Babylon, Persia with  Joseph, Mordecai, Daniel, Nehemiah all of them served under nations which were not the “chosen” nation of Israel. Yet they chose to perform their duties to the best of their ability under those administrations, and surely there are some administrations that are better than others, and there are some which are more evil than others, so which party you support do in fact count.

So ask God about which is the right party to Support. Do the research,

Understand what the parties represent and what are their policies? How good are they in keeping what they promised? I have never heard a Politian give out a policy that doesn’t appeal to at least a segment of the audience, however these policies needs to be weighted into the workings with other policies, does it practically make sense? For example, in our local state election, LNP has a $300 “Car Rego” rebate, if we voted for them and they win. Yes, $300 rebate sounds great! But how does that look on the Government’s budget? How is the government going to pay for this, is it sustainable? and what are their other policies if they win? So one must study in details what the policy is offering from a practical sense, as well as a biblical moral sense. This takes work, time and takes effort. But if we put God’s kingdom first, this should take priority over watching TV dramas.

 

Action:

Once understood what God wants, takes action to do our part in enforcing the results of the Kingdom. Vote! If you truly believe it is God’s will and you are doing what God wants, then inform others who are probably uninformed, tell others why you are voting the way you are, why you feel this is Godly. A lot of people are voting out of some false premises or are viewing things through a particular narrative. Until shown an alternative, will think they have the correct perspective. So be proactive in sharing why you vote who you vote, and understand the issues others may have that’s contrary to what you say, they may have a legitimate reason, and if correct, you may want to have the party address it. Be influencers. We are called to be world changers, to change for the better.

Wisdom:

Pray for wisdom and strategies, as to how you can play a part in influencing others to take on what is right. Because If you “should”, then you “must”. For thing that are blatantly against God. Speak confusion to the enemy. We see this time and time again, that the enemy that came against God, when facing Israel started attacking each other. In the same way, we pray for confusion to t he evil plans of the enemy that it will not succeed.

The votes are in, what else can you do?

Pray for the correct outcome. As God would not rig the votes, we pray that the correct votes are actually counted, that there are no counterfeits, fraud, and unfair conduct. God is a God that plays by the rules, and so should we. If there are misconduct, pray to God again for insight and wisdom, and also for other’s to spot the misconduct and bring it to light. The devil is the one who lies, steal, kills and destroys. Pray that there are revelations as to what those lies are and strategy to expose them to the light. Prayer for the operatives, who were involved, to come up and come clean if things were done wrong, again people do wrong because they have been lied to, Adam didn’t intentionally rebelled against God, he was deceived. He believed in a lie.

What if the other side wins!

Choices has consequences, our peers choices impacts us, our government’s choices impacts us, and their policy will impact us. If the administration that you chose did not come into power, pray for the leadership of the party in power to have wisdom in enforcing beneficial policies, and scrap the ones that are no good. At the same time, know that there is another election in 48 months. It is not the end of the world, and if it is, thank God we know where we are going! So don’t be stuck in fear. Be in faith, Pray to God, asking for insights, Wisdom, Strategy, and take action and to be an influencer.

Reading the bible during a Crisis?

In times of Crisis, Christians turns to God for strength, directions and insights. They pick up the bible and wants to read and hear what God has to speak to them about. I tried doing this many times during times of difficulties, yet I rarely see anything that gives me directions that is specific related to the problem or the issue at hand.

And I asked God, Why is it that you don’t speak to me via your word? Why are you not speaking to me about the issues that I am dealing with. And I was reading Luke 11:28.

 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:28

The verse Jesus says, The Blessing comes when we heard the word, but we need to keep it. The word “keep” can be talking about “keeping” in terms of actions, (ie keeping the law, keeping the Sabbath), but also “keeping” can mean in treasuring and preserving it. So when we are just reading the word in the times of crisis, we maybe reading from the page we last read, or some people flip open the bible like a lottery, and see if something divine will happen.  When we do that, we are not actually keeping the word, we are focusing on the problem, looking to the word as a word search looking for answers. At that moment most of us are just glossing over the word and have not studied or esteem the word, which causes you to be fully persuaded of the power that worketh in us.   

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 TIm 2:15

I am generalizing the above of course, as I have done that many a times myself. If you already have the context of what God said about a certain thing, and you are going in to study that topic or the verse to get a deeper revelation, this is different, and is is part of "keeping" the word.    

The word of God is not an instant super soldier serum 
Reading the word of God, it is like training for war, You don’t try and learn the word of God in the middle of trouble, just like you wouldn’t go learn how to shoot a rifle in the middle of the battle. If you are not trained up before the fight, then you have to use what little you got in the fight, but most probably you won’t be using anything that you are unfamiliar with. Soldiers are trained before they are sent off. They are not looking at the manual in the heat of the cross fires.

So reading the bible on a routine basis, allows us to be equipped with the arsenals that God has for us, for different times and over different challenges. Reading the bible, should not be viewed as a thing we HAVE to do, and you set yourself a routine of reading 3 chapters a day and you are hoping it is over ASAP because you got real fires to fight, but it should be viewed as a time of equipping, getting to know our commander and chief, understanding the battle, the enemy and our position as the body of Christ on earth. It is also a time to spend with the father, to understand his heart. As the word of God gives us proper perspective of the world, it will provide context to the things that is happening around us, and also allows us to take position and use our authorities as the spirit filled man, to make the right choices, and be material in facing challenges that is in front of us.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:23-24