blog
Email  |  My Account  |  Donate
"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Prov. 21:1).

What I have to say to you today is simple. And it is quite serious. Your response to it will not only affect your life and mine, but many thousands of others.

It is a message—no, a command—all of us have no doubt heard before. But by and large, we have ignored it. We have thought somehow we could get by without it, that we could let it slip without paying a price.

But we have paid. Our nations have paid. One look at any newspaper will give you an idea just how dearly.

The command I'm talking about is the one found in 1 Timothy. There the Apostle Paul says:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
(1 Tim. 2:1-2)
That verse is clear, isn't it? The instruction is plain. Yet even in these tumultuous days when our nations are so desperately in need of God's guidance, most of God's people don't do what that verse commands.

Why not? Is it because we don't care? Is it because we're unwilling to invest a few minutes of prayer in the future of our nation each day? No.

I believe it's because most of us are overwhelmed by the problems we see around us. How could my prayers make a dent in the national debt? we think. How could my faith affect foreign policy?

In other words, we fail to pray because we fail to realize just how powerfully our prayers can affect our countries. So I want us to look at some scriptures and find out what the Word of God has to say about the subject.

First, let's look at Romans where the Apostle Paul writes:
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
(Rom. 13:1)
It amazes me how little attention is paid to this very important scripture. In fact, when you get right down to it, most Christians don't even believe it! You can tell just by the disrespectful way they talk about their leaders.

"Well, if those leaders are ordained of God," you may say, "why don't they act like it?" Because the Believers they govern aren't praying for them!

You see, if by prayer we will invite God into our governments, He'll take control of those who've been put in positions of authority. As Proverbs 21 says:
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
(Prov. 21:1)
Think about that for a moment! God has reserved the right to override the will of a nation's leader, if need be, to see that His people are governed according to His will.

What's more, God will hear the prayer of any government leader—even if he's the worst reprobate in the whole world. He heard the prayer of old King Nebuchadnezzar. And believe me, that means He'll listen to any leader!

If we'll open the way through prayer, God will deal with our leaders! He'll turn the hearts of everyone from the top office on down to make sure His children are governed justly. In fact, if we'd just be obedient to 1 Timothy 2:1-2, there's no council of any kind on earth, no king, no president, no congress, not anyone who could overthrow God's purpose for His people.

The Constitution of the United States is a tremendous document, a Holy Spirit-anointed document in its original form. But, I'm telling you, it doesn't hold a candle to the Word of God. The Bible is heaven's constitution! And if we'll start believing it, praying it and acting on it where our nations are concerned, its power will whip our countries back into line with the will of God. And there won't be anything or anyone on earth that can stop it.

But if we're ever going to see that happen, we're going to have to take the Word of God and go to war in prayer and in faithful intercession. Unfortunately, most of us don't know the first thing about fighting such a war. For, as Ephesians 6:10-12 says, it's not a battle of flesh and blood, but of the spirit. In fact, let's look at those verses and see exactly what they say about this fight:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
(Eph. 6:10-12)
Read that last verse again. Most believers are so earthly minded (or carnally minded) they never even realize where the enemy's attacks are actually coming from. They blame circumstances and people, and they waste their energy fighting natural conditions instead of supernatural causes.

We need to wake up to the warfare that's going on in the heavenly realm!

We can get a glimpse of it in Daniel 10:12. There, we find Daniel had been fasting and praying for 21 days, awaiting a word from the Lord. Then an angel appeared to him and said:
Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
(Daniel 10:12)
This angel had left heaven with the answer to Daniel's prayer on the first day he prayed. But he didn't arrive for 21 days. What took him so long?

Look at verse 13:
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
(Daniel 10:13)
Then later in verse 20 he says:
And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.
(Daniel 10:20)
These scriptures are clear examples of the activity and warfare going on in the heavens. Sometimes when I talk about the warfare that takes place in the heavens, people get confused. "Heaven?" they say. "I thought the devil was thrown out of heaven."

What they don't realize is this: Throughout the Bible, we are taught there are three different areas called heaven:
  1. The heaven where God resides.
  2. The stellar heavens (what we call "outer space").
  3. The heavens around this earth (the atmosphere surrounding this planet).
This last heaven is where spiritual war takes place. (That's why Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan the prince of the power of the air.) It is where wicked spirits such as the prince of Persia operate. From there, they attempt to rule the nations to which they've been assigned.

And they will rule them unless the prayers of God's people keep them from it. Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:18?:
Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(Matt. 18:18)
The heaven Jesus was talking about there isn't the heaven where God resides. Nothing needs to be bound there. He was talking about the battle zone, about the heaven where Satan's forces are operating.

He was telling us we have been given the authority to pull down the strongholds of Satan (2 Cor. 10:4). He was telling us God has given us the power to bind the wicked spirits in heavenly places and to loose the angelic powers of God to work on our behalf.

Daniel couldn't do that. He didn't have the authority of the Name of Jesus. All he could do was hang on for 21 long, hard days until the angel of God could get through to him. But praise God, you and I, as believers and as children of the Most High God, don't have to wait 21 days. We don't even have to wait 21 seconds for the angels to begin their work on our behalf!

Every few years, national elections take place in many nations. If we want nations of "godliness and honesty," it's up to us to begin to intercede right now and use the power God has given us.

Right now, you need to be praying for all of the candidates. You need to find out who they are and then go to the Lord and ask which ones He's chosen. Don't just make your decisions by what the media says. Go to God. He knows the heart of each man and woman who's running for office. He'll give you supernatural guidance.

Be willing to set aside old ideas and past prejudices. I don't care if everybody in your family has voted Democratic ever since the Depression. I don't care if you've always voted a straight Republican ticket. If your country allows voting, vote Holy Ghost this time, OK? Vote however He says. (If you can't vote, you can still pray and have great effect.)

Did you notice what I just said? I said, VOTE.

The vote is a God-given privilege, a gift the Lord has given us. Don't throw it in His face by failing to take advantage of it!

In the last few U.S. presidential election, there were millions of born-again, Holy Ghost-baptized, professing, believing Christians who weren't even registered to vote. Just think what a mighty army for God we would be if we all went to the polls during the next election.

We could determine the outcome of elections with our votes if we only would. God has called us to intercede. He has commanded us to pray for those in authority. He has given us His Word, His power, His Name, His authority and His faith. We have all the tools necessary to pray effectively for our governments and their leaders.

Let's band together as never before in intercession for all the nations of the world. We are God's people, called by His Name, and we can stand in faith before Him for the healing of our lands.

Again, I urge you. If you haven't already registered to vote, do it today, right now. It is your responsibility as a believer to get involved in the affairs of your country. God wants these great lands of ours, and the only way He's going to get them is through His ambassadors-you and me.

If you've already registered, then come Election Day, make sure you go to the polls! Don't let the affairs of your life sway you from the voting booth. And don't let anyone but the Holy Spirit tell you who you're to vote for. Start preparing yourself now by praying about the candidates and listening for the voice of the Lord.

God has an army marching in this earth. If we band together, we can prevent the wickedness in high places from ruling our nations. The time has come for us, as believers, to be counted both in prayer and at the polls. So let your voice be heard!

We may all come from different lands with different backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common-Jesus Christ is our Lord. And that alone is enough to alter the spiritual complexion of this earth.

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries

About Us

The online ministry of cfaith has been helping people discover faith, friends and freedom in the Word since 2000. Cfaith provides a unique and comprehensive collection of faith-building resources for the worldwide faith community.

At cfaith, you can strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding of the Word of God by digging into the vast collection of teaching articles, streaming audio and video messages, and daily devotionals. No other website offers such a unique and extensive collection of spiritual-growth resources aimed at helping you grow in your knowledge of the Word.

Read More...

 

 

Support Us

Why support cfaith?


(All contributions are 100% tax deductible)


SUPPORT CFAITH WITH ONE CLICK!

For every Internet search you make using
goodsearch, cfaith will receive one penny!

GS Logo 250x38

Contact Us

Business Hours:


Monday—Friday: 9 a.m.—5 p.m. CST
Saturday & Sunday: Closed

Phone:

(763) 488-7800 or (800) 748-8107

Mailing Address: 

CFAITH.com
9201 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

 

Login Form

Please ignore the “Secret Key” field; it is not needed to log in to cfaith.

Login Change Article

Spring360x442
You need to enable user registration from User Manager/Options in the backend of Joomla before this module will activate.