Prayer is taking an issue before the Lord, realizing that HE ALONE can make the changes necessary. You are taking it up with the One who really can do something about your request.
I remember when Mr. Clinton was elected--it was my first election as a Christian and I was a little shocked to see the absolute despair everyone at church was walking in. I also had to wrestle with my feelings about it. As the president-elect, he stopped into a printing factory I worked while pregnant with my first child. We had printed up quite a few of the materials and my boss gave generously to his campaign. He was doing a meet and greet with all of us (attendance was compulsory and I was the lone non-democrat), and as he shook my hand, I found myself saying, "I'm praying for you Mr. President". He stopped came back to me, looked me in the eye, and said, "Thank You. I sure do need it".
The thing is, my hope in that election was not in the likes of George H.W. Bush or Ross Perot, and my hope in this election was not in John McCain--and woe is you if it was. My hope is now and always has been in any politician, ballot initiative, proposal, or piece of legislation, but in Christ alone.
Read with me, Acts 17:6-7
"And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." (emphasis mine).
The first century Christians, living under the tyrannical rule of a series of very wicked leaders (including the crazy Nero, who lighted his garden with Christians dipped in tar and lit on fire), TURNED their WORLD upside down. They didn't do this through rallying around "their candidate" (Christ was rightly their true King), but by preaching Christ wherever they went.
How does this effect change?
When you change a law, that law can be changed back, misinterpreted by a judge or jury, or struck down in some other form or fashion. It is temporary. When you change the leadership of a government, the next time elections roll around, they leaders can change yet again. They are temporary. Someone can obey a law begrudgingly without being changed by it--a racist is still a racist even when it is forbidden by law. If someone wants to murder their pre-born baby, their attitude about life will not change even if they can't go down to an abortion mill to slaughter their child...they may still do so with or without the law's approval by finding a way however illegal...and so forth. Pick an issue.
However, when you change a heart for Christ....oh, my sisters!...that is eternal. A heart that is following after Christ is changed forever. One that is serving Christ is also developing the fruit of the spirit, changing more into His image. Every person with Christ in them (the hope of glory!---Col 1:27) is going to make the world a better place, one person at a time.
That's how a pro-choice feminist liberal came to be writing a conservative blog to encourage mommas to love their children and husbands and homes, to serve the Lord with all that is in them...Christ changed me from the inside out, and that change goes way beyond the way I vote, to the way I live (or try to live) each day.
Want to change your world? Tell others about the Savior. Need help doing so? Ask your local church, or check out Way of the Master.
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