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The election is past, and we’ve got a new chapter ahead in our nation. It’s time to lead.
It’s time for the church to lead the way – because no governmental institution can do what the church can do. No one has a leader like we do – King Jesus. No one has the power of the Gospel and forgiveness like we do. We have to lead. It’s time for us to lead the way to kindness and compassion in the wake of a divisive election. We can celebrate without being crass. We can weep without bitterness and anger. We can consider others first – because He did that for us. It’s time for us to lead out in racial reconciliation and build bridges to each other instead of walls between each other. We are a nation and we are communities of many colors. What impacts our neighbors impacts us. And our King tells us the eternal home is made up of every nation and tongue. It’s time for us to lead the way to pray. It should be obvious that the new president needs our prayers – just like the last president did, and the ones before him. Who will do that if we don’t? It’s time for us to lead the way to truth. We hardly recognize truth anymore, but as believers we have the truth, know the Truth and are called to this – let’s stand for it. Let’s call for it prophetically. Unapologetically. To everyone. Because we know what it looks like when truth is ignored. Because we lose our individual and collective conscience when truth is not longer recognizable. It’s time for us to shape the direction of a nation. Can the church help mold the next steps we take? Can we call for these things, for compassion instead of ruthlessness? For reconciliation instead of division? For justice instead of injustice? For accountability instead of tyranny? We (the church) were born into a ruthless, unjust and compassionless culture. And we turned it upside down with the Gospel. Not with a political party and a national leader, but with a leader who said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” A leader who sacrificed Himself for us. He’s our hope. It’s time to lead that way again.
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On Sunday, November 6, as our church prayed for our nation, Dr. Jimmy Draper shared what God has led him to pray about our nation – based on Daniel 9. Please read, pray and share in these next few hours and days.
Dear Lord God, creator of our world and its people. Your grace and Your mercy are incomparable and Your power is undiminished and unlimited. Oh, God, there is none like You, none who can even be compared to You. Your covenant with us through Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice for our sins on the cross provides forgiveness of our sins and places us in your eternal family as accepted and beloved children of God. In spite of all the many undeniable evidences of your love, grace and mercy, we as a nation have rejected your love and grace and have acted with unquestioned evil, immoral, unethical, violent and wicked ways. We have disregarded your Word and have refused to hear the calls for repentance from the messengers you have sent to us and from your Holy Word. You have spoken to our president, to congress and state legislatures, to city and county governments, to fathers and mothers and to all of us as individuals, yet we would not listen and return to you. Dear God, all of us are guilty. We have denied you and rebelled against your grace. Even though You are a God of compassion, mercy, grace and forgiveness, we have not obeyed Your voice. All of our nation has defied Your commands and have violated Your precepts. We have deliberately abandoned You. This is a day of public disgrace and shame. And it rests squarely on our shoulders. Every leader and every individual in America stands condemned for our rebellion against You! We have arrogantly refused to acknowledge You and our evil is like an unrelenting beast destroying our nation from within. Our refusal to repent has brought Your judgment upon our nation. In spite of all You have done to bless America, we have now declared that You are no longer welcome in our land. You are not welcomed in our government, in our schools, in businesses or any part of our culture – especially in our individual lives. We have become a proud and arrogant people who feel no need for You. We continue to slide unrestrained toward our own destruction. We have murdered our pre-born children in their mothers’ wombs. We have destroyed the sanctity of the home where life should be protected and guidance passed on to the next generation as they move into adulthood. We have adopted sinful lifestyles and extolled our open-mindedness. And now most of our children will grow up in broken or dysfunctional homes and not in a loving environment that honors You and teaches respect and discipline to them. Our churches have become selfish places where we want our desires satisfied and fulfilled. We have made worship about us, and not an act of praise and adoration for our eternal, incomparable, merciful and compassionate God. Our concerns are all about us. God, you established this nation upon the sound principles of Biblical truth, where every individual has great value, where life is cherished and protected and the opportunity to live with unlimited potential. Yet, we have made our land a jungle of selfishness, greed and violence where life itself has no inherent worth. Our courts and legal system which once were based on the principles of right and wrong, and on standards of justice that were clearly understood, now have devolved into places where truth is determined by precedent and not by principle. Each individual in each situation now determines right and wrong for themselves. There are no absolutes that are always true everywhere and all the time. Violence and abuse is the norm in America today. In spite of the clear expectations in our founding, we have now turned away from You and have made a society based on human reasoning, making our own conclusions without any consideration of Your clear guidelines. God, you established this nation upon the sound principles of Biblical truth, where every individual has great value, where life is cherished and protected and the opportunity to live with unlimited potential. Yet, we have made our land a jungle of selfishness, greed and violence where life itself has no inherent worth. Dear God, hear our cry. Look out at our desolate and desecrated land and heal our land. We do not appeal to You based upon our righteousness. Surely there is none righteous but You! We plead our cause based upon Your character and compassion as a powerful but redemptive God. Lord, hear us! Forgive us! Please listen and act for Your sake, and don’t delay, but act quickly in our nation and in our world. Lord, we do love You, but not nearly enough. And we do praise You, though often with hypocrisy and half-heartedness. Lord please forgive us and draw us to Yourself. Raise up godly leaders who will adhere to Your truth and will lead us effectively through Your power. Almighty God, we come before You as Your children. We are not strangers, nor are we beggars. According to Your Word, we come boldly before Your throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace which is desperately needed. Lord we implore you to hear our prayer and heal our land, in the name of Your son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen! |
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