Peace: The Benefit of Being a Citizen of Heaven

A Prayer in the Middle of Political Unknowns

Father, you are so good and so kind. You perfectly timed my reading in Daniel today. He lived through king after king, reign after reign. Leadership that was humbled by you and your wisdom and your might. Leadership that mocked you initially and then praised you in the end. And Daniel, your servant, was both saved and honored through all the turbulence these leaders left behind in their wakes. He walked in the peace of God even when threatened with his life multiple times by his government. Why?

 “Because he trusted in the Lord.” 

Yes, he had a part to play. He wasn’t passive. He fasted, he prayed, he stood firm in trusting you regardless of the political threats of the day. And he rallied his brothers to cry out for mercy as well. He committed his way to you and trusted in you and you acted on his behalf. 

And I have full confidence and peace that you’ll do it again. 

I haven’t prayed for one candidate to win over the other. Instead, I pray you show yourself and your loving kindness and pour out your wisdom to both candidates. I repent for the innocent blood shed on our land and pray for mercy. I ask that you heal our land. I pray for revival. I ask for undeserved grace.

We call out for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth, in our country, in our county, as it is in heaven.

This year, it’s the amendments that have put a fear of the Lord in me. Definitions of God-created things are now trying to be written by the hands of man. Voting on what is family, what is marriage, what’s a parent’s authority, what is right to life.

 But you’ve heard our cries for mercy. We’ve gathered for years together to pray and repent and call on your name.

So it’s surrendered, and I trust in you. 

We do our best as citizens on earth, to do our part, to fast, to pray, to think, to vote, and ultimately to stand firm in your kingdom. But I’ve been marveling at the deep peace you’ve given me. I’m not afraid of the days to come because you are with me. It’s your rod and your staff that comfort me, not the rod and staff of leadership of mankind. 

And yet, mankind is something else that gives me peace. For decades, no matter whose been steering the ship and spending the dollars and prioritizing what goes on the news, the people of America are still giving, loving, generous and kind. Neighbors still look out for each other, regardless of skintone or size of wallet. Strangers still lend a hand. They jump out to help push a stalled car off the road. They buy coffee for car behind them. They shovel snow for the neighbor. They muck flooded houses for the stranger. They help each other move boxes and couches. They volunteer to fight fires and search for the lost. They adopt the fatherless. They repair what’s broken for the widow. They buy meals for the hungry and sit with the lonely.

 Sure, I’ve lived in neighborhoods where this didn’t feel true. I’ve also lived in neighborhoods that felt like family. The imperfect kind of family that cares for each other and looks out for each other, even if personality or ideology doesn’t agree. 

Since I was old enough to see it, there’s been both a self-hatred and a pride that plagues Americans. 

Though America’s imperfect, I’ve always loved her.

 She opens her arms and gives what she can and she looks out for her brother. 

Yet, we have no goodness of our own that’s good enough to save us.

But remembering still comforts me. To remember what I’ve seen. The self sacrifices I’ve witnessed with my own eyes. I try to remember them when the news tries to write a different script in my mind.

Often, when another loss or tragedy or trial tempts me to doubt your goodness, Lord, I remind myself of all the times you’ve come through. I think I’m doing that same thing today, but for my country. We don’t know the results yet, but it doesn’t feel worrisome in any way. Because my hope is fixed on you and your unchanging promises and your unconditional love. And neither my fate nor my peace are in the hands of the president. 

Since the beginning of time, you’re the one who puts leadership in place and who takes down leadership. I’ve seen you lead me into situations that brought comfort and ease and I’ve seen you guide me right into the valley of the shadow of death and into my own garden of Gethsemane. You’ve taken my hand and let me walk on water and you’ve also taken my hand and led me where I did not want to go, to take up my own cross in all agony and weakness. 

But no matter where you’ve led me in the past, I’ve never walked alone.

 You’ve never left me. Never forsaken me. And you promise that you’ll always be with me, to the end of the age. I love you, Lord. Thank you for being a God that listens to your children and delights in us as we process outloud and wrestle and wonder and lament and laugh with you. I’m so happy to be your girl. 

In Jesus’s name I pray, 

Amen

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I felt like I ought to share this prayer and journal entry with you today.

Sure, I’m hoping the election will tip the scale one way over the other, especially the amendments, but the election results don’t hold any power over my peace. And this is one of the benefits of being a citizen of heaven. 

If you don’t know the mercy of God nor the peace of God, I invite you to draw near to Him.

He promises that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

He promises that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

When you do, you become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. You become an adopted child of God the Father who takes our shame away and covers us in grace. Who takes our fear and overwhelms us with love that isn’t based on our good deeds or behavior, a love that’s unconditional, one like you’ve never known before. The God who takes away anxiety and gives us this unexplainable peace. If you’ve never had that before, I want that for you today.

All who call in the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.