Sunday, July 1, 2012

A Dry and Thirsty Land...





  


"O God, You are my God; 
  Early will I seek You;
  My soul thirsts for You;
  My flesh longs for You
  In a dry and thirsty land
  Where there is no water...."
                 Psalm 63:1 NKJV







The grass is brown and painful under my feet. It literally crunches when you step on it. I don't dare walk to the mailbox barefoot. I might lose a toe. You can almost hear the earth beneath screaming for water. We haven't seen rain in weeks. I frequently look to the Weather Channel for hope and comfort, but all I find is despair as the map is overwhelmingly red. The heat wave is dominating most of the country and temperatures have been steady in the 100's for the past week. 

I have been sitting here in my room, sweating and thinking about the irony of life. I feel as if the weather climate is imitating the spiritual one. In the midst of the majority of North America being seemingly cooked to death, heat was also rising over the passing of the new healthcare law. Now, this is the one and only time you will see me discuss politics in this blog. For the most part, I avoid the subject entirely. I have my opinions but I feel often that this topic of conversation does more to divide than to enlighten. 

I was pondering how angry people were over the passing of this law or tax or whatever the heck kids are calling it these day. My Facebook feed was just filled with angry commentary. People who never once had posted anything even slightly resembling political conviction were in an uproar of the injustice of it all. It is completely within their rights to share their thoughts and opinions on the subject, of course.  The bigger surprise was my lack of conviction on the matter. I saw the story and the news and my response was a very non-emotive "OK". 

So I thought to myself, "What is the proper response to this matter? Should I get angry? Am I really all that surprised?" 

 The reason I was so unresponsive was because I knew at the end of the day my anger over the laws passed by my government changes nothing. Though I am continually disturbed by what our nation is becoming, I was told in Hebrews 13 , Titus 3Romans 13 and 1 Peter 3 that I am meant to obey the authorities placed over me. The authorities placed over me have been elected by the people of this country, including myself. So what am I to do then? Do I start a picket line in front of the White House? Do I rant and rave to everyone I know and inform them of the injustice, as if they were unaware of it themselves? Do I write angry letters to senetors and congressmen expressing my distaste? I guess I could do all of those things. They might help. They might not.

Here's where I am taking my stance. My form of activism will be in prayer. The world is thirsty for Jesus. Even our leadership. They just can't see it. The ground is parched for the Living Water. They don't need our opinions. They need our prayers. They need us petitioning the Holy Spirit to speak to them and bring salvation to the lost. We need a revolution of Love to rise up in our country. We need the kingdom of heaven to come to Earth.

It says in  1Timothy 2: 1-2, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way".


If I truly want to see change in this country, it starts with me, on my face in prayer. That's the strongest weapon I have. If my words have the power to bless and to curse (Proverbs 18 ), then I will use them to  ask for mercy to fall on this country and wisdom on its leaders. I will ask for the love of Christ to fall on its people and salvation of souls. I will ask for forgiveness for turning a blind eye and not raising my leaders up in prayer daily. I will continue to share His love and the words of my testimony, in hopes to see lives changed and hearts won.

I don't know what will happen to our country. I have my guesses. By I am sure of our fate if we don't take action. Total destruction. Its not too late. Jesus hasn't returned yet. We must not grow weary in doing good. We have to act. But we cannot be effective if we lack conviction.

 Beloved, we must guard against getting dry and weary.We need to seek Him while He may be found. The lost need us. We need to ask the Father to wash us and renew our strength. Its time to stand up and fight.We stand up by kneeling down. Kneeling before the throne of God and asking him to spare our nation. We need to fight  against the spirits and principalities governing, not against flesh and blood. Our nation needs us. It needs Him more.

Father,
Quench this dry and thirsty land with your living water. We need you. Our hearts long and ache for you. I plead your blood, Jesus, over my sins and the sins of my nation. Send a revival of hearts desperate for you, Jesus. Awaken us. Awaken us. Quench our thirst.
In Jesus Name I pray,
Amen




That's my political conviction. 





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