Last night I found myself quietly waking up around 3am with a desire to Pray for our Country and fellow Americans across our country. Not for Democrats or Republicans or Independents, etc.., but for my fellow Americans, which would be inclusive of all. 

    I was also guided to pray for the elected leadership of the United States with a real compassion and concern for them, their decision making, and where their guidance may be coming from, since I believe many of them move in a direction, that they are personally convinced is the correct way to go...

The following scripture comes to mind;

• if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

        I was also compelled to consider the difference between someone that states that they are a Christian versus someone that really is a Christian. What I mean by this is that some "Talk The Talk" and others actually "follow through with their convictions", within the boundaries of their relationship with the Lord. This doesn't mean that everyone is perfect ( with myself as last on the list ), although it does mean that the "follow through" Christians are focused on a Real Relationship with God. Relationship... A very important word.

• Paul stared at the Jewish council and said, "Brothers, my relationship with God has always given me a perfectly clear conscience." Acts 23:1

        Whether we are an Elected Official or the people that vote them into office, I find that the Bible speaks volumes about how important our relationship should be first with our Creator and Savior, Jesus. With this in mind, If I find that I am about to vote or agree with an "issue" or "person" that has an apposing view to God, then should I not consider possibly "Voting for God", rather than men? Of course this is a rhetorical question for a Real Christian, since the only way to have a Real relationship with God is through obedience and a genuine guidance, by God. After all, He created us and Loves us and wants to guide us through the matters of life.

        To understand God's plan for our lives does require a certain amount of Discernment.

        Discernment is another very important word...

The following scripture comes to mind;

• I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes. Psalms 119:125 NIV

Noah Webster, the Father of American Christian education, who wrote the first American dictionary and established a system of rules to govern spelling, grammar, and reading defines Discernment as:

With the tools of "Relationship" and "Discernment", can we conclude that we should allow ourselves to be guided by a loving God, deciphering what is right and wrong, in God's eyes, and then turn away from "embracing sin" as a way of life?

 Wouldn't this offer us the ability to decide whether or not certain subjects or issues are wrong in God's eyes, and then help us to simply focus our decisions based on God's plum line of right and wrong?

Finally, If we find that someone says that they are a Christian and does not display the "fruit" in their lives that would reflect their commitment, then can we discern that they may not be who they say they are?

Why do I focus on this?

        Maybe it's because I have been surprised in observing some of my fellow "Christians" weigh in with their vote for a politician based on a cultural milestone, rather than investigating their character and ideology or showing support for people that are in opposition to God with bumper stickers in church parking lots or having conversations, during and after elections, that are a complete polar opposite to the views of God, without an ounce of discernment.

        Maybe it's because I feel compelled to Pray for a President and other elected officials, that call themselves Christian, only to do the complete opposite of what a Christian, with a relationship with Jesus, would do.

        Maybe it's because I feel compelled to Pray for the United States of America, the Greatest Free Nation in the World, that has forgotten the reason that it is Free in the 1st place!

        Maybe it's because I feel compelled to Pray for Christians that should know better, but have been "culturally asleep" in their own world as they avoid getting involved in life outside their "Christian Bubble."

Edmund Burke regarded by many as the "father" of modern conservatism probably said it best:

        "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing "

Let's get involved in "Praying for our leaders" whether we think they are doing the right thing or not! As you may know, God can turn the hearts of kings! Let's also praying for each other, that we would remove ourselves from life's bench and get involved in a way that would honor God as we reach out and love on those that would oppose the march of freedom!

When all is said and done, the only question will be is, where was the Christian while this was happening....

Listed below are a some encouraging and illuminating quotes from President Abraham Lincoln:

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." Lincoln Observed: The Civil War Dispatches of Noah Brooks edited by Michael Burlingame (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), p. 210.

"...I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side." The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House by Francis B. Carpenter (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1995), p. 282. Also, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln by Ward Hill Lamon (Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Nebraska Press, 1994), p. 91.

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Ottawa" (August 21, 1858), p. 27.

"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Speech on the Sub-Treasury" (in the Illinois House of Representatives, December 26, 1839), p. 178.

"In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Reply to Loyal Colored People of Baltimore upon Presentation of a Bible" (September 7, 1864), p. 542.

"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?" Lincoln's Cooper Institute Address, February 27, 1860.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume I, "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois (January 27, 1838), p. 109.