This can be our best year yet if it is one of increasing love for God and drawing near to Him. Nothing is more contagious than a person who is getting closer to God, and this is the greatest thing that we could ever do for our loved ones, drawing them to the ultimate human purpose—loving God and serving Him.
Every year it seems that we say “good riddance” to the past year and turn with hope to the new year. If our hope is in the Lord and remains in Him, we will not be disappointed this year.
As I shared before, this is the second time I have been through a seven-year period where I received very little prophetic revelation. After the first time, I received one of the greatest prophetic downloads I’ve ever received, which I wrote about in my book, The Harvest. The last time I went through such a period I received a vision of the harvest, but this time I was told that I would see the harvest. The signs of another Great Awakening are becoming prominent. They will become more so this coming year.
I promised to finish our discussions of the 2012 elections this week, and in this WFTW format, I think we have saved one of the most important lessons for last. We are told in I Thessalonians 5:16-18:
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.”
No doubt many people are having a hard time giving thanks for the 2012 elections, but “everything” in this Scripture does mean everything. We have a lot to be thankful for. No President in my lifetime has awakened the church like Obama, and his reelection seems to have been a much bigger shock than his first.
Even though this election likely means much greater hardship for our country in many ways, it is also an even greater opportunity. We are told in Acts 14:22 that the Apostle Paul went about “strengthening and encouraging the churches, declaring that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” To rephrase this just a little, we could say that in every trial, or tribulation, there is a doorway to the kingdom. Trials or tribulations are encouraging to the mature because they’ve learned this truth. When trials come, the mature begin looking for the doorway to the kingdom. They also know how these trials strengthen us, helping us to grow in the Lord, which is more valuable than any earthly treasure.
Some trials we are facing as a nation are bigger than possibly ever before; so they are also some of the biggest doors to the kingdom than we may have had before. Far more important than getting people to the ballot box, we need to get them to the kingdom, and we are about to have a great opportunity for this.
This is not to say that the outcome of the presidential race in the recent elections was God’s will. He allowed it because as we have covered in Psalm 115:16, “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” This is why the Lord will not do things on the earth until we pray. We may think that many of His people were praying for this election and their prayers were not answered. Why?
Could it be that many people were praying who should have been working to help educate and mobilize Christians to vote? No doubt prayer is far more powerful than any ballot, but there is a time to quit praying and take action. The body of Christ may need to pray much more than we do now, but many are praying too much—praying when they should be doing something.
We can be thankful that many who need to pray more are doing so because they are disturbed. Likewise, many who should be more engaged have been convicted about that. An amazing number are already mobilizing for the 2014 mid-term elections. I believe these can be even more important than the 2012 elections, especially for the U.S. Senate. The Senate has to ratify Federal judges, Supreme Court judges, and ratify treaties. Treaties are being proposed by the U.N. right now that threaten some of our basic freedoms.
After the 2004 election, Obama did not shut down his campaign, but kept more than 5,000 people working full-time all over the country, especially in the swing states. It paid off. Where was the church? Possibly the only hope of the conservatives ever mounting such a ground game is for the church to mobilize.
Many fasted and prayed for the elections and then felt that their prayers were not answered. They were not in vain, even though the outcome may not have been what we were praying for. The Lord will not violate the free will of people, and the American people obviously want something we may not have agreed with, but that does not mean we did not do the right thing to pray and fast for the elections.
A physician cannot help a patient until the condition of the patient is known. The condition of America should now be clear if it was not before. Regardless of who had been elected, the real cancer that is destroying our country cannot be overcome at the ballot box. We must have another Great Awakening or we will not survive much longer as a Republic.
Ultimate issues of life and death, freedom or tyranny, are now being decided. We are in “The Valley of Decision,” and everyone on earth will have to choose who they will serve. This election was not final on November 6, but every day is Election Day for this ultimate choice. Right now America is choosing the culture of death and wickedness over life and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord, which He has made very plain in His Word.
America needs to be born again, not just convinced how to vote better. Now that we know clearly what the condition of the patient is, we can do something about this. Now maybe we can focus on what can truly change the heart of America—the gospel of the kingdom.
We should also consider that Obama is in the best position of anyone to turn the nation back to God. We are commanded to pray for our leaders, not just the good leaders, but the ones we have. Right now Obama is our leader. Here are some “what ifs” to consider:
What if he had an encounter with God, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit came upon him and began leading him to the truth? Think about it. He does not have to run again. He no longer is under obligation to any special interest group.
We should resolve to pray far more for Obama now than we ever have. Who knows what God could do through him? If we are praying for the heart of our nation to be turned, why not begin with praying for the heart of the leader chosen by the nation that reflects the nation’s condition?
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing,” and the main thing is turning our hearts to God, and by this helping others to do the same until our nation is again one that honors, loves, and opens its heart to Him.