Over the last few days it has been my privilege to be on conference calls with a number of pastors from across the country. We have prayed together that somehow, by God’s grace, the Lord would send another spiritual awakening to our land. I believe 2020 will be a pivotal year for our nation and, more than ever, we need divine intervention!

While I do not believe that the answer lies in politicians and government, I am convinced that God’s people must take their place as Christian citizens. Our country needs salt and light, grace and truth. Yet many believers are content to be spectators instead of participants. They are absent when they are needed most.

Our friend, Chad Connelly, with Faith Wins, recently shared some shocking truth with me:

According to the most prolific and well known Christian pollster, George Barna, there are some 82 million people sitting in church pews in America each Sunday. Sadly, only about 30 million or so vote in a typical election. Despite the different definitions used for the “Evangelical” or “Christian” voting constituencies, ALL polling services in America agree that somewhere BETWEEN 40-50 million people sitting in churches DO NOT vote in the typical election! That is a horrifying fact given that we as Christians have an obligation and responsibility to vote, engage, and be salt and light in our culture. Clearly, we have failed in that in many ways. If you or your congregation have ever been grieved or even frustrated at the attacks on religious liberty, the death of millions of innocent babies through “legal” abortion, the assault on God’s definition of marriage, the aggressiveness of the militant homosexual and transgender constituencies…the list goes on and on…we have to recognize that WE have the power to change all of that with our involvement. 
To put our potential influence in perspective,  our NON-voting numbers are GREATER than four of the major and most reliable voting constituencies of the left combined!

What can we do?

• God commands that “first of all” we must begin with prayer. Read 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and see how God connects our intercession with the needs of a nation, the peace of God’s people, and the salvation of souls. Lord, teach us to pray! It was John Bunyan who said, “We can do more than pray after we have prayed but we can do nothing until we have prayed.” Pause now and pray for our leaders, our churches, and a move of heaven in our generation.
• Believers can exercise their right and responsibility to vote. We must not raise our voice to complain about the condition of our nation if we will not use our voices to advance the cause of truth. Byron Foxx and the folks at God Bless America have recently launched a new website that may be used in churches and communities. GodAndCountry.me provides resources for Christian citizenship but also provides a way that anyone can register to vote in 2 minutes. If you are not registered to vote please take a moment and do so now!

Christian citizens must not be absentee when it comes to issues of righteousness. We are eternal citizens of another country (Philippians 3:20), but called upon to be good citizens of the land where God has graciously placed us now (Romans 13:1,7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:11-17). Read what God told Israel to do while they were living in Babylon in Jeremiah 29:5-7. The Lord’s remnant can make a difference in a wicked day!

It is time for Christian citizens to stand up and speak out. This is not about an election – it is about the direction of our country. May God help us all to be counted present and to make our influence count.