“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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

I rarely publicly weigh in on political issues on this blog. It’s just not my thing. But the closer we get to the second Tuesday in November, the more desperate we seem to be getting in regard to who will take our country over for the next four years.

I look at my Facebook news feed and see snarky posts about our current President, and see scathing remarks about his opponent. All by people who claim Christ as their Savior. We repost information that we have no way of verifying the validity of, all in hopes of swaying our Facebook wall gazers to vote our way.

Many Republicans think they have the corner on the faith market. No way could a Christ follower be a Democrat. Are you sure about that? Many Democratic party members think Republicans are all close-minded white people who don’t have a clue. Are you sure about that?

I know there are real believers on both sides of the aisle. Being allowed to have and voice differences of opinion is part of what makes this country so great. But with those freedoms comes the responsibility of knowing where the line of appropriateness is, and having the good sense not to cross it.

The pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, Rick Warren, had planned to host another “civil forum” between the two candidates before the election, but cancelled it saying,

“I’ve never seen more irresponsible personal attacks, mean-spirited slander, and flat-out dishonest attack ads, and I don’t expect that tone to change before the election,” Warren said, “It would be hypocritical to pretend civility for one evening only to have the name-calling return the next day.”

The line has been crossed so many times during this election season, I’m not sure we even know where it is anymore.

Author and Pastor Max Lucado, of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio is calling all Americans to 40 days of prayer to start on September 28. Lucado shared that,

 ‎”We forget that what really matters is not who’s in the White House, but who’s on the throne.”

Who is on the throne? When we slander a candidate, we are. When we post snarky comments about our President, we are. When we pray for our candidate to be put into office, our will be done, we are.

Our example in Christ is that we pray not that our will be done, but that God’s will be done.

I can pray for my candidate to be put into office, and you can pray for your candidate to be put into office. But when we pray for God to put HIS candidate into office, we will all benefit… regardless of political party.

It’s time for our country to pray, not that our will be done, but that His will be done. Our country faces some God sized problems and yet we still believe we can overcome these problems if we just get the “right” person into office. It’s time we get up off the throne and let God have it back. We can know the words of our candidates, but only He can know their hearts.

This will only be successful if we pray as one people, indivisible, under God. We would not have a country had He not orchestrated its birth, and we will not continue to have one if He is not at the helm once again.

There is time. If we pray.