It's difficult for anyone to go through this agonizing election process in our country -- but as Christians, we're so fortunate. Despite all of the confusion and unease, we are never without hope, never without comfort, never without a God in whom we can trust. As hard as these last several days have been, believers can know with absolute certainty that nothing catches God by surprise. We are in His care, and we will continue to be no matter what happens in the days ahead.
Wednesday night, after hearing from so many anxious and concerned friends and supporters, FRC decided to host a special prayer call. It ended up being encouraging not only to everyone who joined, but to many of us as well. All of us need to be reminded of the reassuring words in Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Now, two of those words -- "with thanksgiving" -- I believe are critically important. Regardless of what's happening in America around us, we need to be thankful that we live in a country where we actually have an opportunity to vote and to have a voice in our future. Even though we're wrestling through these things right now, millions of people around the world don't even have the opportunity to experience the anxiety that comes with an election because they don't have any democratic rights. So let's continue to be thankful that we live in a country in which we still have these freedoms -- including the one we exercised Wednesday to bring those petitions publicly to God.
As Pastor Jack Hibbs said, "We all need to remember that heaven has not been moved one inch by what's going on. Heaven is not wringing its hands. God is not peaking over a cloud, fretting about how it's going to go. We need to remember that. As believers, the perspective that we look from is heaven. And the filter is the word of God. It's true that we love our nation. And we should. And God has given us a great nation, and we're not going to surrender this nation."
All of us love, he went on, the miraculous stories about how God saved Daniel in the lions' den and parted the Red Sea and delivered enemies into David's hands. "This is our time. And I want to encourage everyone: do not let your Christianity or your faith be theoretical. It's not going to do you any good if it's theoretical. Our faith is active. It is real. The same God that brought Israel through the water and Daniel through the den is the same God today that's going to bring us through this election." What if, Pastor Jack asked, "God is using this to bring about righteousness in our land? You know, you got to expose evil before you can deal with it. What if God is bringing Donald Trump to a place where it's not just victory? What if Donald Trump's greatest victory is falling on his knees before Jesus in his hands straight up, and God doesn't give the victory until that happens?"
We don't know -- but we know this: God does. And in that, we rest. If you need that reminder, that reassurance, that peace right now, listen to the heartfelt words and prayers of this call.