Warfare Wednesday

"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 saints." Ephesians 6:18

As we continue to pray for President Obama and governmental leaders this week, I think it's important that we also direct our prayers to the direction of God's Will for this nation. What IS God's will for America? What plans does He have for this country? While we are praying for strength and wisdom and protection for the president, we should also be praying for revelation, for him to wake up and see and know that there is a God who loves him, a God who would give him direction, understanding, and love. Think of the possibilities if we had a president and a congressional body who believed in the God of love- who spent time every day in the counsel of the Most High. God's Glory would come through and wise decisions would be made.

When I look around at my neighbors and friends and family, and I spend time out among people, I can't help but see the fear, the not knowing what's coming next is gripping people. As they watch their checkbooks dwindle and the past due notices coming in, or they see neighbor after neighbor packing up their belongings and moving away, it is a time of uncertainty. But we have a God who isn't uncertain! We have a God who always IS, and who always loves His children. The answers to what is wrong with this country is not going to be found by turning to a man- or turning to a body of elected leaders to make new rules for us. The answer is our Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us, and wants us to prosper and be secure. He wants us to have rest in HIS arms, and not have to slave away 80 hours a week just to appease the idol of the dollar.

The "experts" are declaring that our recession is over and that in the next several months unemployment is going to shrink and things are going to get better. That's wonderful to hear- but really, what I want to hear is the unexpected. I want to hear that the mayor of a town took a leap of faith and prayed with his alderman for financial needs, and then discovered an oil field in his backyard. I want to hear of our government leaders standing up and proclaiming that the Christmas trees and manger scenes WILL be displayed at Christmas. Most of all, I want our nation to remember where our country came from.

I'll tell you, the fact that we have chosen to study American history for school this year is no mistake, because it's crystal clear to us that our country was founded to escape socialist agendas and religious persecution. People fled Europe, risking death on three-week long journeys at sea to live in a new land where they could worship God! Not only did they want to worship God, but they also wanted to love each other and take care of each other through love- they didn't want a government telling them how to care for one another.

After Thomas Jefferson served our country as the third president, he retired to his home of Monticello. He was always entertaining, and Monticello had 50 bedrooms in it- often times, all these bedrooms were full. People just wanted to spend time with him! Running an estate with that many visitors clearly had a lot of expenses. It didn't take long for Thomas Jefferson to start running out of money. His first solution was to sell 7,000 of his personal collection of books to congress. This helped for a short while, and also was the beginning of the Library of Congress. But when all was said and done, do you know how Thomas Jefferson kept his estate going at the end of his life? People. The people in this country, so appreciative of how he served and helped found the United States of America, began sending him money. They sent him money and they sent goods that would be needed to run a household in that time. The people took a portion of what they worked so hard for and cheerfully shared it. Money was scarce in that time- and yet people shared it with no thought of themselves, but of how they could help.

That's what we need a return to. We need a return to people looking out for each other, of sharing what they have instead of being selfish and hoarding it all. We need people to be so full of the Father's Love that they can't help but give to anyone who might need it. Instead of turning to the government and our elected leaders to solve our problems, we need to turn to God and trust that He will place people in our paths to help us with our needs.

God is the answer. Not our president, not our government, and not our judicial system. It is God. This week I am praying for God to take over the white house. And I am praying for God and his host of angels to take over Congress. We the people need to return to seeking God for the answers- not man.