God is in Control! But What About Your Part?
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Romans 13:1-2
Understand this, God is in control! It is He who determines the outcome of everything. Although He has that power it does not mean that you are a preprogrammed robot, you have choices, and you can exercise those choices. But know this, the choices that God makes for you are always for your good, even if that choice causes you to get hurt or suffer lose. Because out of that choice you will have learned something.
That brings me to our topic: God is in Control! But what about your part?
Today, I’m going to do something that I’ve never done. I’m going to address the election from the pulpit. I’ve heard it said that there are 2 things you should never talk about RELIGION (I’ve pretty much blown that one) and Politics. So, I figured why not be 2 for 2. As Christians our faith should inform every area of our lives. Right? We are to be informed and led by the truth of God’s Word. That is our part, whether we do that or not. Because God gave us free will to make these choices…follow His word or not.
Therefore, we study the bible, to know the truth. And when we know and apply His truth to our lives we are blessed.
Selecting government leaders has very serious ramifications. When selecting government leaders to oversee the largest business in the US and the most powerful nation in the world, please keep in mind the following:
It is not a popularity contest!
It is not a beauty contest!
It is not like choosing a favorite movie star!
It is not like choosing a favorite ball team!
It is not about picking a celebrity!
It is not about a candidate’s eloquence in speech!
It is not about ethnicity!
It is not about who will give you the most benefits!
It is not about your personal preferences!
It is not about your ancestral family loyalties!
What is it? The United States Constitution Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 gives the oath of office for the President of the United States as follows: "I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
This means it is imperative that we carefully and prayerfully select the candidate who will best preserve, protect, and defend the US Constitution. Therefore, you should select the person who has demonstrated the most appreciation, commitment, and regard for the Constitution. Which candidate most closely believes in, adheres to, and supports the standards and values established by the Constitution? Considering the magnitude of the office, you should select the person who is most qualified to oversee the biggest business in the world, yes, the United States of America is a business; and manage personnel for the largest employer in the US. This person must understand economics and finances to make wise business decisions. It is also essential to pick the person who has the most wisdom and experience to make responsible decisions regarding national and international calamities.
Although we seemingly vote for an individual for the office of president, we are in fact voting for the party that the candidate supports. So, not only do you get the candidate’s personality and characteristics, but you also get the political party they support as well.
Clearly, the selection of a nation’s leaders is vitally important, and that is why the Lord God Almighty instructs us to pray diligently and take the election process very seriously, as given to us in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. God is in Control! But what about your part?
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
Are you looking for the perfect leader? Well sorry, you will not find one, at least not in this world. But then you’re not perfect either, for all have sinned, missed the mark of perfection, and come short of God’s glorious standard (Romans 3:23). So, in a sense, we are not qualified to truly pick our world leaders, apart from us doing it prayerfully looking for God’s direction. There is only one perfect leader. His name is Christ Jesus (Hebrews 5:9). He does not require your vote. His Word is settled in Heaven. King David acknowledged this in his prayer to God in 1 Chronicles 29:12.
Both riches and honor come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand it is to make great And to give strength to all.
China had done extensive research as to why America has had such a powerful influence economically and otherwise in the world. They concluded it was because of our long-standing foundation of faith. Sadly, as we move away from our foundational faith the opposite begins to happen. Listen, when the truth of God’s word is applied properly it brings blessing.
It is due to our inability to seek God that we make some many wrong choices. For example, God wanted to give the Children of Israel a king, now God had a king in mind, but the people desired someone else, someone who looked and acted like the kings of other nations. The people failed to realize, or possibly didn’t care why God wanted to pick their king…God wanted to give them someone that no other nation had, someone who would follow God’s leading, someone who would put the needs of the people before their own. God wanted to give them David, and yes, he had some faults but like I said, no one is perfect. So, God instead gave them Saul, the kind of king the people wanted. And the Bible tells us that Saul did not seek God during his time as king.
We have voted, and whether you want to believe it or not, the person who looks like the one who will be our president (although there is some question as to how he got these votes), so here’s what you get:
• You get a Democratic party that wants to violate the first amendment of the constitution, when they call for rounding up people who aligns with Trump, to destroy their careers and possibly jail them
• You get a party that allows and even advocates the interfering of the lives of people who like Trump. Maxine Waters told supporters they should use physical violence against Republicans
• You get a party that wants to rewrite the constitution and pack the Supreme Court, so that the three branches of government effectively become two
o And just in case you don’t think “your little old vote won’t matter anyway” Take a look at this: the 2012 election was determined by 5 million votes. The 25 million Christians, registered to vote, didn’t vote at all. The result? President Obama won again, he nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and her vote cinched the same sex marriage ruling and it became the law of the land. Her single vote
• You get a party that wants to put you in complete and total lockdown. In so doing they have better control of you.
o During the lockdown small businesses will fail, forcing you to shop at places they allow to be open
o Also, this prevents you from going to places you want to go, but are forced to go to places they have deemed appropriate for you
o For this election they controlled where you could or could not vote at, basically forcing you to vote by mail
• You get a party that promises black folks’ reparations, which is a logistical nightmare. This act will do nothing but create family shrift and divisions as they fight over who gets what
• Well, are you aware that OUR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY is coming under assault? They want to deny your faith in the word of God. It’s true, yet this gets very little to no coverage on a lot of news outlets. Let me give you some examples you can investigate yourself.
o An Oregon circuit court judge, Judge Vance Day was persecuted for not wanting to perform a same-sex marriage, even though other judges would perform the service
o In Oregon, Aaron and Melissa Klein were forced to close their bakery. Or face potential fines of $135,000 because they declined to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, due to their faith.
o Florist Barronelle Stutzman in Washington State, who faces professional ruin because she declined to design flower arrangements for a long-time customer’s same sex wedding - she even referred the customer to another florist in area who would do it.
o The Storman Family who own a Pharmacy in Olympia, Washington. They are Christians so have chosen to not carry or sell the abortion inducing drug that goes by the name “Plan B”. Even though there are dozens of other pharmacies in the area that do carry it, still the Storman’s were taken to court for not selling it. After losing in state and federal court, they filed a petition to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• You get a Democratic party that allows for abortions up the birth of the child
• You get a party that subsidizes the deaths of more African American babies than any other ethic group, through their support of Planned Parenthood. A group whose initial foundation was to stop the growth of black babies
• You get a party that will take away the rights of parents to safeguard their child regarding their sexual growth. They want to enact laws that allows children as young as eight years old to decide that they are transgender, forcing the parent to pay for surgeries and medication
• You get a party that will enact laws that make it illegal to say anything negative against homosexuals
Yes, God is in control. However, He has given you, as a citizen of the United States, the responsibility of obeying the laws of the land, and that includes your civic duty to vote for those who will lead this great nation. It also means that as a Christian that you need to vote for those who are upholding the truth of the bible: no abortions, no same-sex marriages, not many genders, and no persecution of the church for speaking the truth. Also, as Christians, we need to remove hatred from our hearts and not having our decisions so deeply grounded in our emotions. It saddened me to hear so many so-called Christians speak of the hate they had for Trump. We are told to hate the sin but not the person.
Sometimes it may appear to be a matter of selecting the best of the worst. As the co-founder and previous owner of BET put it when questioned why he voted for Trump: “I rather vote for the devil that I know, than the devil I don’t know.’ He made a choice, a choice based on the God centric things that have been done under the Trump presidency, fearing that the Biden presidency would be lees that godly.
But at least you are given a choice, which is not the case in many countries. Voting for our leaders is an amazing privilege and awesome responsibility. So, you should have fulfilled your civic duty by prayerfully and carefully voting. You should have chosen wisely following the desires of God, because the future of our nation and the world depends upon it. The wrong leaders can dramatically change a country for the worse. Consider for example: Germany, USSR, China, Cuba, and Venezuela. Therefore, pray that the Lord God Almighty would rule and overrule in the affairs of this nation. Jesus tells us that we have not because we ask not. God is in control! But what about your part? Pray to the Lord that we receive the president He wants for us.
Although the election is not completely baked, and you are being bombarded with messages for you to concede, take it to prayer because God is in control! But your part is to talk with Him and listen to Him so that the outcome does not unsettle you. But make your requests known so that your will becomes aligned with is will.
So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
1 Kings 18:20-21
So, how can we be sure that we are making right choices? How can we be sure we are following God or Baal? First, did you correctly pick the king over your life? Is it you, or is it King Jesus? When we pick King Jesus, we start down a path to make better decisions, when I lean and depend on Him for your everyday choices. There is nothing to big or to small that Jesus cannot help you with.
