Greetings!
Today, I want to pass along a message that is relevant to us all (in the United States). We must be in prayer for this election. Take these ideas to heart...and take ACTION.
Be blessed!
Andy Johnston, Facilitator
http://musicsharegroup.blogspot.com
Dear Friends,
It seems as if every election we hear the words, "This is the most important election in…" I am sure I have been guilty of such statements in the past. Today, I don't believe I am going out on a limb when I say that this election is one of the most important of my lifetime, and possibly the most important.
Our nation is divided in so many ways. We see division in our churches, we see it politically, we see it socially and economically. We even see it in our families, as we now have so many single parent households. We have become a nation where most people are doing "what is right in their own eyes." This has become our "way." Truth is under attack, and deceit is coming from all sides where people are desperately trying to prove any point.
Friends, a house divided cannot stand!
Our way is destroying us. We live in the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We are and have always been a Christian nation. Yet, as Christians, we have stood by and allowed the world to divide us. We have become lethargic and act like a people defeated instead of a people who "can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." This election is about much more than politics. It is our future. Are we as Christians going to continue to stand by and allow our nation to be stolen from us?
John Quincy Adams, one of our founding fathers, said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." There are many things that can be said of our leaders in government, however “moral” and “religious” are two words that I would not use to describe most of them. It is imperative that we elect people who are moral and religious and who are willing to speak truth. People who are willing to stand up for what is right even at great personal cost. People who truly want to serve their fellow man and this country. Not people who lust for power and will let nothing stand in the way of their personal ambitions. This is especially true of the 2008 presidential election.
One event or one election did not take us to this moment in time where fear, selfishness and division rule. One event or one election will not get us out of it. Our Christian faith in action is the only thing that will make a difference.
2 Chronicles 7:13 "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Our ONLY hope is in the Lord. It is time for us to unite in prayer and fasting for our future and for the future of our kids. We need to pray for this nation, pray for unity, pray that each and every candidate for office (local, state and federal) will come to know the Lord personally and base their decisions on the Living Word and the wisdom of God. Pray that all deceit will be exposed, no matter the source. Pray that truth will find the light of day. Pray that each and every candidate be willing to set aside personal desires, ambition and philosophy for the good of this nation and its people. Pray that the people of this nation set aside selfishness, greed and personal ambition. Pray that the people of this nation will humble themselves before the Lord and each other, that “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow… and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)
THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS!!! It is time for Christians to take a stand. I ask you to pray and fast with me over the election as you feel the Lord lead you. I specifically ask you to fast and pray on Sunday, November 2nd. I ask you to set this day apart as a day of fasting, a day to humble yourself before the Lord and each other. I ask you to pray devoutly to implore God to avert the heavy calamity which threatens destruction to our economic future and our civil rights. Pray against the evils of division. Pray that the Lord give us one heart and one mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to our Christian and our American rights, and that the minds of our elected officials may be inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, to remove from the loyal people of America all cause of danger from a continual pursuit of measures pregnant to their ruin.
Strong words. I wish I could claim credit. The inspiration for these words comes from a book my friend and co-worker Andy recently purchased titled The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the
RISE UP
Imagine what a difference we can make if the Christian community set aside our differences and united in fasting and prayer. Anything is possible! Please use this e-mail or any other means to implore your family and friends to fast and pray. Imagine what could happen if instead of eating lunch on Sunday, we all shared communion instead. That is my plan personally. I beg you to join me!
Yours in Christ,
Bob Erwin
At the beginning of the great conflict for liberty and an independent nationality and government, Mr. Jefferson—who, whatever were his peculiar views of the Christian system, always acknowledged the government and providence of God in national affairs—recommended in Virginia the appointment and observance of a day of public prayer and humiliation. In June, 1774, when the news of the Boston Port Bill reached Virginia, the Colonial Legislature, then in session, appointed such a fast-day for that colony. Mr. Jefferson’s account of it is as follows—
We were under the conviction of the necessity of arousing our people from the lethargy into which they had fallen as to passing events, and thought that the appointment of a day of general fasting and prayer would be most likely to call up and alarm their attention. No example of such solemnities had existed since the days of our distresses in the war of ‘55—since which a new generation had grown up. With the help, therefore, of Rushworth, whom we rummaged over for the resolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day, preserved by him, we made up a resolution, somewhat modernizing their phrases, for appointing the 1st day of June, on which the Port Bill was to commence, for a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, to implore Heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us with firmness in support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the king and Parliament to moderation and justice.
To give greater emphasis to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave and religious character was more in unison with the tone of our resolution, and solicit him to move it. We accordingly went to him in the morning. He moved it the same day. The 1st of June was proposed, and it passed without opposition. The Governor dissolved us. We returned home, and in our several counties invited the clergy to meet the assemblies of the people on the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of the day and to address them in discourses suited to the occasion. The people met generally, with anxiety and alarm in their countenances; and the effect of the day through the whole colony was like a shock of electricity, arousing every man and placing him erect and solidly on his centre.
Washington, then a member of the House of Burgesses, sent a special message to his family and constituents to observe this day; and Mason, a distinguished patriot, also a member, “charged his household to keep the day strictly, and to attend church clad in mourning.”
The House of Burgesses of Virginia, on the 24th of May, adopted the following resolution, which was directed to he forthwith printed and published—
Ordered, therefore, That the members of this House do attend in their places, at the hour of ten in the forenoon, on the said 1st day of June next, in order to proceed, with the Speaker and mace, to the church in the city, for the purpose aforesaid; and that the Reverend Mr. Price be appointed to read prayers and to preach a sermon suitable to the occasion.
By the House of Burgesses,
George Wythe, C. H. B.
Source: The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States by Benjamin F. Morris. Pages 652 – 654. Published May 2007 by American Vision, Inc. Available for purchase at www.americanvision.com.
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