Warfare Wednesday

"Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’"  Jeremiah 18:11

This verse is my prayer this morning, that our country will turn from its evil ways, and that righteousness will take front and center in everything.  As the Senate and the House of Representatives get back to business after several days off, I pray that God will have an influence in the decisions to be made.   I pray that those congressional leaders who have dealings under the table will stop what they are doing and will return to a life of honesty and integrity.  Two characters that often seem to be missing these days.  I also pray that arguments and debates will be peaceful and civil, and that in the end, the right decisions will be made.  A country can be run with honesty and integrity, if it's a nation that puts God first, and seeks His will in all they do.

I continue to pray for protection for the Obama family.  And I pray today that they're time visiting with Chinese President Hu goes well.  May he see something here on American soil that he wants for his country- and may that something be Jesus Christ.  God certainly loves the people of China, and God can even use a presidential visit to show his love to the people.

This morning, I also felt drawn in a direction to pray for our economy.  There are rumbles of hope out there for the economy to come, but it's a very cautiously optimistic hope.  The fact is, the economy is making people depressed and causing bad decisions and a myriad of other problems.  First I want to pray that people will take their eyes off the economy and focus on Jesus.  May they see that He is more than enough, and that money is not the answer to everything.  But secondly, I wanted to pray something specific about the economy, and that is a prayer that invention and innovation will see a resurgence as people turn to God for answers.  May He give divine answers that result in new ideas and innovations that will change the way we live.

We've been studying some great innovators for school, Thomas Edison, The Wright Brothers, George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, and so many more, and it's very obvious, as we read about these amazing inventors, that God was a part of these people's lives.  These men, and many of the others we're studying changed the world with the amazing ideas that God gave them.  It's remarkable to see the hand of God on someone, and see all the ideas that He blessed them with.  Even Benjamin Franklin had idea after idea- many that we still use today- those ideas were gifts from God.   God can inspire inventions and innovations that truly could change our world, and I pray that He does that very thing.  Inventions that are world-changing will also be economy changing.    Think of all the people nowadays who are employed in a technical trade- the people who help run and take care of the Internet, for example.  There are millions of people who make their living working for an idea that thirty years ago was a figment of someone's imagination.   There are many times that I'll be looking something up online, and I'll just quickly think something like "gosh, God, this Internet was one of the best ideas you've ever had".  I am thankful for technology- even though sometimes I may have a desire to live a simple and plain life, I am thankful for how far we've come with technology, and I cannot wait to see what else God has in store for us- because it just has to be great!

I think our country IS going to turn from its evil ways.  I really believe that God has great plans yet for the United States of America, and that His love is going to ooze from every square inch this country has.  And then it's going to spread across the globe like a wildfire, and our planet will be united in one thing, and one thing alone: Jesus.  That's going to be awesome to see.