Christians must adopt a new “kingdom” plan to see our nation through its current leadership crisis
At virtually every crisis point in the United States’ history God has provided great men to lead the nation so that we’ve come out the other side victorious and ready to build on what has been won. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt … the list goes on of men who helped set the stage for the unprecedented level of prosperity and influence the U.S. has enjoyed since 1945. Clearly, God has favored us.
We haven’t always lived out the full implications of the godly values our founding fathers articulated and that we claimed to believe in. Neither have we always been a moral people by such a basic standard as the Ten Commandments. We did, however, always acknowledge God and His place in our nation at both cultural and governmental levels.
No longer. I hardly need to bore you with the litany of court decisions, laws and policies that now repudiate our historic acknowledgement of the Creator and His sovereignty, or what now constitutes a growing prejudice against the very Christianity espoused by virtually every one of the founding fathers. The hard truth is that because we no longer truly fear the Lord, the angel of the Lord no longer encamps around this nation to rescue it (see Ps. 34:7).
We now face a growing set of world crises that demand wise and strong leadership. Having forfeited the favor of God, no such leadership has emerged in our nation. I am therefore deeply troubled concerning the coming election. Pardon my harsh tone, but we have a man of profound wisdom deficit in the White House seeking re-election. Barack Obama could have been a great president, but humility, as well as the wisdom that would have come from humility, have not been in evidence. A similar wisdom deficit can be seen in those who vie for the Republican nomination to run against him.
Rigid ideologies have mired both Congress and the White House in a legislative gridlock that will not soon be broken. No one really listens—not to one another and certainly not to the American people. Proverbs 12:15 admonishes, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel” (NASB). This foolishness has taken deep root at the highest levels and has resulted in a government broken at every level, powerless to lead us out of the quicksand into which we find ourselves currently sinking.
Yet this is not the time for Christians to attempt to exert influence through shrill, judgmental and angry statements. This only perpetuates the foolishness that wins no one’s hearts and now destroys us. We therefore need a change of strategy based in blessing, the servant heart and prophetic wisdom.
Daniel and his three friends changed the hearts of the kings of Babylon and Persia by serving, not by pronouncing judgments. They did this for the very empire that had carried their population into exile. Joseph blessed the Pharaoh while confined in a prison to which he’d been unjustly condemned—and he ended up ruling Egypt. Why not pray for opportunities to bless those in authority with gentle and godly wisdom for the situations and problems they face? Why not pray for godly men and women to earn influence by means of humble service, even in the face of persecution?
The difficulties of the coming days present us with unprecedented opportunities to demonstrate the love and power of the kingdom of God flowing from the heart of our Father through Jesus. We can be Daniels and Josephs wherever and at whatever level God has deployed us. Please, let’s not miss the moment. The world may crash around us, but we get to win in the midst of it. The most powerful outpouring of the Spirit of God since Pentecost is upon us if we will choose to receive and use it in the loving heart of our Father.
R. Loren Sandford is the senior pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver, Colo. His latest book, Visions of the Coming Days: What to Look For and How to Prepare (Chosen Books), releases later this month.
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