November 7, 2012 (Bound4Life.com) – I wrote a blog last night, right after election results came in, which made some people angry. I have to admit it surprised me a bit because it was one of my shorter pieces, and it was laden with scripture. Quoting Romans 13 proved troubling for some:
“For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”- Romans 13:1
Some said I was saying God wanted Obama to be president. What I actually said was the Bible says if a person is ruling, God did allow it to happen. We can’t get around that. The Bible is full of stories of less than ideal people in leadership. Sometimes they tormented people; sometimes they turned to God, but the idea that it happened outside the will of God is incorrect.
Often a call to pray is seen as an act of weakness. In one sense it is; we have to set aside our physical strength to get things done and stop and talk to Someone we can’t even see to ask for things we can’t see happening. It’s hard. It’s voluntary weakness, but voluntary weakness is strength. But it’s also only one step. It’s the most important one. But prayer isn’t an “in-stead,” it’s an in-addition.
We still fight. If people think my fight will suddenly slow because we didn’t get a pro-life president, I’d say those people don’t know me at all. I’ll never stop fighting, but I won’t be one of the angry hateful ones in the battle. Each election cycle things seem to get uglier. James 1:20 says “for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Anger spewed forth about anything doesn’t help endear anyone to us. Prayer does.
Here’s the deal: If we don’t believe prayer works, we might as well quit being believers. Luke 18 says:
“And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”-Luke 18:7-8
This scripture is key for understanding the hour. It doesn’t say “if the church has a prayer meeting once a week for four years, justice will suddenly come.” It says, in essence, night and day prayer releases justice—even if it seems to take a long time. And then the key question is this: when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
When Jesus returns to the earth in the book of Revelation, things are bad. They are not bad like “we didn’t get our president.” They are bad-bad. Jesus is asking us, will we cry out day and night in prayer until His return so He can come back and find faith on the earth as He avenges the wrongs?
Almost 4,000 babies will die today in our nation –legally; we have to keep trying to stop that, but unless we believe in our hearts that Jesus will avenge that, we will grow exceedingly weary, and He will not find faith in us when He returns to the earth because we will burn out from the battle.
This is why I’m adamant we can’t let the anger overtake us, not because we’re passive—but so we can fight harder. Outside of the strengthening in our spirits that comes from intercession and meditation on the word of God, we can do nothing spiritual long term—at least with a pure heart. We will burn out from being disconnected from the Lord. Jesus will bring justice. That’s who He is. But if we are weary after four years and think we can’t take anymore, we are not prepared.
This is the hour to strengthen ourselves in prayer so we have the strength to fight the battle for LIFE. We should be praying for our president and praying to end abortion. I am a person who really doesn’t like passivity. The very quality makes me want to scream. Prayer is not passive. It’s an active weapon of genuine war. This is an hour we have to face what we say we believe and let it be real to us. Ephesians 6 clearly says our weapons are not really against flesh and blood. Our anger at a man isn’t producing the righteousness of God because the real problem isn’t the man; it’s the powers and principalities that drive abortion.
The Bible is real. Spiritual warfare is real. The book of Revelation is a real prophetic picture of the future. And this election, though not good for the LIFE movement, is really an opportunity to stand on our knees, to strengthen that which remains. Revelation 3:2-3 says:
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
That passage is from the letters to the churches in Revelation where Jesus tells them what He thinks of their spiritual state. Every one of the letters ends with the same phrase:
“To him who overcomes…” followed by what rewards Jesus will give the church.
This is our hour to overcome. Whatever happened to bring about these election results isn’t the important question now. The question is how we will respond. Will we overcome in a time of trouble for the LIFE movement? We must strengthen that which remains. Only then can we fight for babies lives without losing our own strength on the way.
Reprinted with permission from Bound4Life.com