BOTH CANDIDATES ARE DISGUSTING

I came across the following quote a few days ago:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury, with a result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence:

• From bondage to spiritual faith
• From spiritual faith to great courage
• From courage to liberty
• From liberty to abundance
• From abundance to selfishness
• From selfishness to complacency
• From complacency to apathy
• From apathy to dependency
• From dependency back into bondage  (Alexander Fraser Tytler)

I am deeply burdened for our nation. I believe we are in the last part of the sequence that Professor Tytler laid out. In addition, Christianity is under attack and on the decline in America. Terrorism is on the rise. Islam is about to make its presence very strongly felt in our land. In the midst of all of the above, we are in the most contentious presidential election this country has ever seen. Many evangelical Christians are shaking their heads about who to vote for. Both candidates are, to my view, disgusting! But we must carefully consider the issues at stake . . . and vote!

I have taken my concerns before the Lord and will continue to do so, not only because of the election, and I’m pleading with you to join with me in prayer for our nation. While in prayer the Lord reminded me of what he did through Daniel’s prayer for the Jews in captivity in Babylon.

Daniel was a man of God who knew how to keep his faith alive in extremely difficult circumstances. The Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for nearly seventy years and faced a troubling and uncertain future. Daniels prayer for the deliverance of his people in Daniel 9:3-19 is one of the best models of prayer for us, as our nation sinks into the madness of the end times.

The brevity of this blog allows me to touch only the highlights of this powerful, intercessory prayer. I would encourage all who are burdened for our churches, our nation, and our world to take time to read, meditate on and pray over this passage.

Daniel’s prayer is a model of how to pray for the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 to be fulfilled.

Verse 3 — “I set my face toward the Lord God” (NKJV). Daniel was determined to touch God with his prayer. To “set his face” means he was intent on achieving a specific result. He was going to pray through!

Verse 5 — “We have sinned and committed iniquity.” Daniel did not point fingers at others. He took ownership of the sin and iniquity of the people. I call this a “we” prayer and the use of “we” establishes that Daniel identified with his people; he did not point at them and say, “They are to blame, they have done wrong.”

Verse 6 — “We have not listened to the messengers [the prophets] you sent to bring your word” (my paraphrase). We heard the words but we did not do what Your word instructed us to do.

Verse 7 — “Righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face.” There is nothing arrogant or proud in Daniel’s prayer. This is the expression of the humility that God says He will respond to, the humility spoken of in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people . . . will humble themselves.”

Verse 10 — “We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord.” No excuses are being offered. “We are disobedient; we have taken the word of the Lord lightly and have not been obedient!”

Verse 12 — “He has confirmed His words.” Even in judgment God is faithful to His word — He promised that curses/judgment would come because of disobedience (Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28).

Verse 13 — “All this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God.” All that had happened to the Jews had not brought them to a place of prayer nor had they turned from their sinful and unfaithful ways. Are we any different?

Daniel then appeals for God’s intervention. Verses 16-19 are, I believe, the heart of Daniel’s prayer as he asks God for four things:

1. First, he asked that the Lord turn away His anger and wrath from Jerusalem (verse 16).
2. Second, Daniel asked that a new day of blessing would come for His temple: “Cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary” (verse 17).
3. Third, Daniel appealed to the Lord to open both His ear and His eye to the desolation (spiritual dryness) of the people. Daniel appeals to God for mercy and acknowledges the lack of righteousness among the people (verse 18).
4. Fourth, Daniel calls on the Lord to forgive His people and to take action to return them to their land, to the city of Jerusalem and to the temple (verse 19).

The church of today is looking for the fulfillment of 2 Chronicles 7:14 without having to meet the conditions of the promise. We want the healing of the land without humility, without repentance, without prayer.

  

It is time for us to humble ourselves and ask God to forgive us for our failures and to extend His great mercy to our land. And if we will, He will!