I’ve got a lot of friends, and have pastored several Churches in my meager 16 years of ministry, so I get a lot of e-mails. One type of e-mail that I frequently get will suggest:

“If you love Jesus you will send this out to as many friends as you can, and back to me.
I bet you won’t do it, but I hope you do.”

It’s kind of like an electronic chain letter. Usually attached to the request is something political, bashing the President or Congress or someone that has made an anti-Christian comment. Let me stop at this point and as kindly as possible explain that sending chain e-mails will not change anything. It’s like a “whisper campaign” at a Church – you know, the one where we talk ABOUT somebody but not TO somebody. All the whisper campaign does is stir up emotions, anger a crowd, but does it really change anything? Not really. Sometimes it works to get a person ostracized or a leader fired, but it doesn’t do what we should be doing. It isn’t redemptive. It doesn’t glorify God nor lead others to Christ. It isn’t the light.

Let’s turn this around. As Christians who love the Lord, let’s do better.

In 1952 President Harry Truman established the “National Day of Prayer”. Though it wasn’t specified as a “Christian” day of prayer the bulk of America at that time was Christian, so it’s safe to say that was a Christian call to prayer.  In 1988 President Ronald Reagan (my favorite President) designated the First Thursday in May of every year to be the “National Day of Prayer”. Again, though it was not specifically specified a “Christian” day, President Reagan was a good Christian man, and it was understood to be a Christian call to prayer.

We had a “National Day of Prayer” until the election of President Barack Obama. He cancelled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House because he said he did “not want to offend anyone”. Yet on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM there was a call to prayer for Islam held on Capitol Hill. Is President Obama a Christian?  Jesus said:

John 3:19-21 (KJV)  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

“He that doeth truth cometh to the light”. The Bible tells us:

John 1:17 (KJV) 17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and TRUTH came by Jesus Christ.

Jesus brought the truth. His way is truth. His disciples teach others to DO what He has said (Matthew 28:19-20). The Christ would not compromise with Allah. He made it plain that HE and HE ALONE “is the way, the truth, and the light – that no man comes to the Father but by Him” (John 14:6). Those who are OF the Truth DO the truth. I cannot say if President Obama is saved or not, but I can say that IF he is saved he has drifted far from the God of the Bible. He walks in darkness and the Bible is clear:

1 John 1:5-7 (KJV)  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6  If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

You cannot walk in darkness and be saved. The saved walk in the light as Christ is the light. We have a President and, I believe, a Congress AND a Supreme Court that is filled with darkness. Blind people are leading our country. When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch – and we are all headed toward a deep and black ditch. Common sense has left the building with Elvis, and the mob is listlessly cheering for nothing. We have become a confused nation led by a confused leadership. The combined personal income of every American in the United States is $13.4 trillion a year. Our national debt is $16.699 trillion. Think about it. If we gave every penny we had to the government and starved to death we still can’t pay off the national debt. How huge is our debt? If you were to have spent a million dollars each and every day since Jesus came into this world up until now you would have only spent $700 billion. That is 1/23rd the debt limit of our country. We spent $415 billion per year in interest alone on the national debt. Folks, we are spending money without any common sense. What is the President and Congress solution? Let’s raise the debt ceiling. If you stacked $1 bills on top of one another our debt would be a million miles high, enough to stretch from the earth to the moon four times. And still we increase spending.

If we continue, we will have to evolve as a nation into a socialist state. If we evolve into socialism it will not be long before we collapse. The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) survived 69 years before collapsing in 1991 in economic chaos. That’s where we’re headed if the lunatics continue to run the asylum. 

We need as a nation to get back to God. The Bible says:

Psalms 33:12 (KJV)   Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

How can we get there? First, we who are Christians need to BE Christians. The Bible tells us to pray for those who are in authority over us.

1 Timothy 2:1-6 (KJV)  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6  Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

Christian’s, let’s pray for our President. You may not have voted for him – I didn’t – but pray for him anyway. And don’t pray harm on him, but pray that God will guide him and lead him to the truth of Christ.  Let’s pray for his wife, his family, his children. Let’s do it regardless as to how we feel, regardless as to our political persuasion. Let’s pray that he will be balanced, and fair to both Christian and non-Christian. Pray! God can sway the heart of a ruler. He caused Cyrus – a Persian Conquering King – to allow Israel to return to their land and rebuild.  The Bible says “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1). The Lord can change the President’s heart. The Lord can change Congress, and bring common sense to bear. We need to pray. Pray for our leaders every day. Pray for not only our national leaders, but our state and local leaders. Pray!

Max Lucado preached a sermon called “When You Are Weary of Washington”, and gave permission for it’s use “however you see fit”. I quote this from his very Biblical sermon:

“As you worship me, {God} promised, I will protect you.  So who controlled the impulses of the enemies?  God did.  Who prompted the Egyptians to favor the Hebrews?  God did.  Who directed the official to be kind to Daniel?  God did.  Who softened the king’s heart toward Nehemiah?  God did.  Who kept the enemies at bay while the Hebrews worshiped?  God did.  Who controlled the destiny of the nations?  God did.

And God does.

As David prayed, “O Lord, God of our Fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven?  You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.  Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.”  (2 Chron. 20:6 NIV)

Others may worry about the election.  Others may grow bitter from party or petty rivalries.  Others may cast their hope with the people of the elephant or the donkey.  Others may anchor their future with conservative or liberal,  but not us.  We place our trust in the work of God.

How many kings has he seen come and go?  How many nations has he seen stand and fall?  He is above them all.  And he oversees them all.  So, while others get anxious, we don’t. Here is what we do:  we pray.”

We pray. We don’t chain e-mail, we pray. We pray for those in authority. For Presidents, Congress People, Representatives, Senators. We pray for Governors, Mayors, local officials. We pray for Pastors – please pray for me – lest we get off course of God’s Word. We pray. God can. God will. But we must pray!

Let’s start now …