Voting to Reform the Culture
Primary Election Days are upon us and for voters of faith there are some things worth remembering.
“I am a part of a movement that is mobilizing the Church for action to get out and vote. This was not something we just set out to do. I was a local pastor. But, a number of years ago, the Lord began to impress on me that Christians have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to our communities. We have a responsibility to our cities. We have a responsibility to our states. We have a responsibility to our nation. We need to engage the culture and re-form the culture for the sake of the generations following behind us. We Christians have given up our culture in the past, but it’s time to take it back. The world is not going to do our job. If we want to reform our culture, it is going to take the Church of the living God to get in the prayer closet and begin to engage. And, one of the places we need to engage is in the ballot box.
“We need to be like the sons of Issachar who understood the times and knew what to do. Anybody can look around and discern the times they are living in, but not everybody knows what to do to change it or move it forward. We can see what’s happening, yet not know what to do about it.
“2020 is an election year. From the White House to the Court house, all the way to ‘my house’, we are going to need to engage. In 2020, we can no longer just be the ‘Presence Church’. We are going to have to be the ‘Voting Church’, too! We can’t just pray and say, ‘Okay God, just do what You are going to do.’ We need to vote as if our lives depended on it. We need to get out there and vote and ‘stake the ground’ spiritually.
“In my lifetime some things happened to remove God from our culture. In 1962 prayer was removed from school. In 1963, Bible reading became illegal in schools. In 1973, abortion became legal in America. Between 1963 and 1973 an interesting thing happened. There was a major move of God called ‘The Jesus Movement’ and multitudes of people came to know Jesus as their Savior. But in 1973, abortion still became legal. There is something wrong with that picture. How can God be on the seat of my heart and my life and my church, but abortion still become legal? Here’s the thing. It is not enough for me to have a great walk with God and a great church, if we are not impacting the culture.” (Mark Gonzales)
“Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” (Daniel 9:18-19; NKJV)
Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:
- Go back and read Genesis chapters 1 through 3 and notice what God says to Adam and Eve about stewardship.
- Increase your prayer life for things outside your personal needs.
- Worship God in a place of intimacy, then ask Him what’s on His heart and intercede into that.
- Now, go do the action associated with that intercession. If you prayed for the ending of abortion, do something to end it. If you prayed for the strengthening of the family, find out how to help do that. He may lay on Your heart something He wants You to engage in.
- Intercede for the Church to use tools like iVoterGuide.com for prayer and action and the reformation of our society.
A prayer you can pray:
Lord, You have given Your Church the privilege of partnering with You over the affairs of the earth. You are allowing us to participate with You in stewarding all of the earth realm, not just the animals, birds, fish, land, air, and sea. You want us to work with You to steward the affairs of the earth, including bringing righteousness into our homes and our government. You created government and this is very important to You. You said that when the righteous rule, the people rejoice. Why then would we want the unrighteous to be the only ones voting. They will make unrighteous decisions that Your Church will then have to live under. We don’t want our children subjected to that!
So, Your Church needs to get this! You need to light a fire in us, Lord. We need our prayer meetings, yes! But, we also need to know what’s going on in the world around us. We need to educate ourselves on legislation, pray and vote. We need to educate ourselves on candidates running for office at every level, local to national, and we need to go vote! Stir us to action, Jesus. Don’t let us think that someone else will take responsibility for us. We must do so. Amen.
Today’s decree:
The Church will get out and vote, and will reform American culture!
Learn more about Mark Gonzales and the Hispanic Action Network here.