Strength to Strength welcomed Brandon Byler to discuss God’s kingdom and earthly kingdoms, specifically American politics, and how followers of Jesus should relate, especially in a hotly-contested election season.
In this meeting we’d like to consider several questions: Why have Anabaptists typically shunned national, political involvement? What sort of attitude should we have toward American leaders at all levels of government? Does the Bible give us any guidance for interacting with those in authority? Is there anything Anabaptists can legitimately do to influence the direction of nations?
An interactive question-and-answer period follows.
Recommended: YouTube video: “The Kingdom of God” by David Bercot
Brandon and Heather Byler live in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania where they are members of Shippensburg Christian Fellowship. They have five children: Kaitlyn, Hudson, Meghan, Brittany and Kenzie. Brandon pastored a Brethren in Christ church for ten years before he was married. He is currently employed in construction work.
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Transcription:
Introduction
Grace to you and peace be multiplied through Jesus Christ our Lord.
I first registered to vote when I was in my late teens or early 20s. And I voted in several American, presidential elections. During a good bit of that time, I also pastored a church as a single man. All through that experience, I tried to keep from engaging in charged rhetoric or endless debates. I wanted to be a good Christian, a good American, and of course, a good pastor. I was paid part time in the pastorate which gave me quite a few day time hours to read the newspaper and visit people when I wasn’t working a part time job. I also began spending quite a few hours listening to talk radio—Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, but mostly, Rush Limbaugh. I had listened to Rush off and on from my late teens and enjoyed his insights and entertaining style. Every election was the election to end all elections. The year was 2012 and the showdown was between Mitt Romney and Barak Obama. Election day came and I went to the polls to vote. Frankly, the voting itself only took maybe ten minutes of my time. Just a small matter. I felt good all day. Romney was up in the polls; it appeared that he was headed for a landslide win. Later in this message I plan to share with you what transpired in the following 24 hours and how that shaped my view of political engagement.
The title of the talk this morning is “Kingdom Pilgrims and American Politics.”
In my mind, Kingdom Pilgrims are Christians who submit to Jesus’ reign and rules in a very literal, practical way. And while there are many Kingdom Christians in the world, my focus is mainly on those of us who identify as Anabaptists—not anti-Baptists!—but A-N-A, Anabaptists. These include people like, Mennonites, the Amish, the Hutterites, some Brethren groups and others. So, we’re looking at the matter of political involvement, for example, voting, from an Anabaptist perspective.
At the outset, I offer several qualifiers for this talk: First, we should acknowledge that a small percentage of conservative (= careful living) Anabaptists have voted, going all the way back at least to the 1800s. These would include some Brethren, some Amish, some Hutterites and some Mennonites. Among the most nationally known of these groups, the Amish, that number has never been more than perhaps 7-8% in some communities. In most communities, it is precisely 0%. And according to Amish researcher Edsel Burdge, the percentage of Amish who actually vote peaked out in the George Bush years and has declined since then. In most Amish communities the number of voters is 0%. Furthermore, my sense is that in most conservative Anabaptist churches, the national voter activity is also 0%, and I’m very glad about that. Secondly, we’re talking about national politics. Governing the local church is also a political endeavor since the word “political” simply has to do with how organizations are governed. And many of our churches do use a voting system as part of that governance and that is not a problem. The third qualifier is that this message is both descriptive and prescriptive. Descriptively, I’m sharing with you things that conservative Anabaptists have done and do, generally, as a group. Prescriptively, I’m sharing things we should do more of.
My main thrust this morning is this: [IM] Rejecting political activity frees us for Kingdom productivity. [Repeat] To bolster this claim, I’d like us to consider three angles. First, I believe we need to…
Consider Our Margins
Definitionally margin is “The edge defining inclusion in or exclusion from a set or group (figuratively). The boundary line or the area immediately inside the boundary.”[1]
Here’s the reality: While there are many nations in this world, there only two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light. The kingdom of the evil one and the Kingdom of God. To that end, we can only have primary citizenship in one kingdom at a time. Jesus was constantly talking about the Kingdom during His time on earth. In fact, one of the last things He told His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion as documented in Luke 22:29, He said, “…I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me,” During His trial, Jesus plainly told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36) After His resurrection, Luke reveals in the book of Acts that Jesus spent 40 days showing Himself to His disciples and, “…speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
So, what happens when we turn from Satan to Jesus? In Colossians 1:13, Paul notes that after we’ve repented, God “…has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” There is no person on earth who has dual, spiritual citizenship. This means there is no one who is a member of the devil’s kingdom and God’s kingdom at the very same time!
Now, the reality is each of us is probably a citizen of an earthly kingdom. Perhaps you have dual citizenship in two earthly kingdoms. We can hardly live without earthly citizenship. But we can choose which citizenship is our dominant and predominant one. We cannot be an earthly citizen and a heavenly citizen in the very same way with the very same weight at the very same time. Only one nation at a time can have our ultimate allegiance and shape our ultimate identity.
Paul states clearly in Philippians 3:20 that, “…our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
If our dominant citizenship is in heaven, how does that truth impact those of us who embrace it? It turns us into strangers and pilgrims. We’ve read this in Peter’s plea in his first epistle, “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;” (KJV) A stranger is someone who doesn’t quite fit in. It changes our orientation toward those around us. Have you ever been in a restaurant or the grocery story and felt uncomfortable, like you just didn’t belong somehow? If that feeling comes from your heavenly citizenship, you are in good shape. That’s the margin or boundary the Holy Spirit has put within you. A pilgrim is one whose orientation is toward what lies ahead. He or she is going somewhere.
While we are strangers and foreigners according to the world’s system, we are friends and family to God and His people. We belong to God’s Kingdom. Paul says in Ephesians 2:19-22, “…you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Notice that our dominant identity is fellow citizenship “with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Something as small as voting is extremely dangerous because it blurs those boundaries or margins and encourages us to forget our stranger and pilgrim status toward the world and our citizenship with God’s saints. As a political voter it’s easy to begin asking ourselves, “Am I a Christian American or an American Christian.” They sound similar but I assure you, there is a world of difference, no, a kingdom of difference between the two!
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about being ambassadors for Christ (v.20). Each of us as believers is a representative—not of an earthly kingdom, but of the heavenly kingdom that is both now and not yet. Just as it would be illegal and criminal for an ambassador to another nation to engage in the politics of that nation, so it is even more grievous and wrong for Christians representing God’s Kingdom to try meddle in the political affairs of an earthly nation.
National politics tends to involve at least four things:
- Coercion – the kingdoms of this world use force. The Kingdom of God is not about pressure but about persuasion. The Holy Spirit does not coerce the resistant. Rather, He calls the receptive—and we ought to do likewise.
- Compromise – A friend of mine [Marlin Spicher] posted a statement from John Coblentz on WhatsApp last evening, “Sacrifice is giving up the lesser for the greater. Compromise is giving up the greater for the lesser.” Of course, there is good and bad compromise. Politics tends to take everyone and every issue to the lowest common denominator.
- Conspiracy – In almost every government, truth is suppressed or withheld at some place or another.
- Corruption – There is a constant pressure within the political system to turn the good person into a corrupted person. To take honest intentions and turn them into dishonest choices.
- Contention – Voting and politics is naturally about choosing sides. This contention is highlighted in the current, polarized American landscape.
Coercion, compromise, conspiracy, corruption: This is why we need to maintain a strong stance against national, political involvement. This is not about building walls for the sake of purity, rather, it’s about maintaining margins for the sake of clarity and reality. Nobody is helped, least of all the people of Satan’s kingdom, when believers blur the lines between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God. It is time to retrace our boundaries, it’s time to refresh our margins.
Once we are clear on the Two Kingdoms, we are then free to provide the help the world needs.
Secondly, I’m calling us to…
Consider Our Mindset
[Mindset, “A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.”]
When you think about national politics and political leaders, what is your gut response? Do you have any sort of mental reaction? When I say, “President Biden, President Trump or even, Vice President Harris” whatever comes to mind reveals your mindset or mental attitude toward national politics.
Now let’s be honest, national politics and political thinking are everywhere—especially during an election season. Which feels less and less like a season in this nation and more like an American way of life! So, it’s almost impossible not to have some thoughts and feelings about these matters. And to be candid, there is a bit of an allure to many parts of the election process for “some” of us. I think there are several reasons why we tend to be drawn in to “the system.”
- Curiosity—we have a natural desire to know things. How will this dog fight turn out?! Besides, the choice of leaders and the choices leaders make does impact our lives.
- Competition—some people, maybe men especially, but some women too (you know who you are!) are captivated by an intense game. Dutch Blitz anyone?!
- Comfort—We want to keep our comfortable lives. Besides, voting feels a lot more tangible and easier than other things we could or should do.
- Control—God has designed us to rule. Right from Genesis 1, we’ve been given the mandate to develop and maintain order.
- Concern—We feel anxious about what might happen if we don’t do “something.”
I’m not condemning curiosity about local and national happenings. There is however a difference between getting caught up on the news and getting caught with the news! The risk is that too much listening and watching can become a form of armchair political activity.
Which leads to a bigger danger: Political activity leads to political captivity.
I referenced this thought in my opening illustration. You’ll recall that I voted in a number of presidential elections… [Illustr.—I speak as one who knows that constraint. I first registered to vote when I was in my late teens or early 20s. And I voted in several American, presidential elections. All along the way, I tried to keep from engaging in charged rhetoric or endless debates. I wanted to be a good Christian and a good American. At the time, I was pastoring a church and I spent quite a few hours listening to talk radio—Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, but mostly, Rush Limbaugh. Every election was the election to end all elections. The year was 2012 and the showdown was between Mitt Romney and Barak Obama. Election day came and I went to the polls. Frankly, the voting itself only took maybe ten minutes of my time. Just a small matter. I felt good all day. Romney was up in the polls; it appeared that he was headed for a landslide win. And then the unexpected, President Obama surged ahead and reclaimed the presidency at what seemed the last moment. I was in shock. The next day I tuned in to my hero, Rush Limbaugh to see what sort of consolation he might offer. He had nothing to say. I count that experience as a turning point in my understanding of the two kingdoms. It’s also important to note that during that same time I was listening to messages by John D. Martin about the Kingdom and David Bercot about what the early Christians believed, and those inputs were also changing my mindset. I was seeing the original margins for what they had been historically and for what they should be in our time. After the 2012 experience, I have never engaged in national political voting again. But I did gain some valuable lessons over that time.
One of the most surprising lessons I learned is how subtly a little choice like voting can highjack one’s emotions and change one’s values.
I cannot tell you chapter-and-verse that voting is wrong. I’m not here to say that you cannot be a Christian and vote. I’m saying that Kingdom living and national voting cannot be completely reconciled. It is virtually impossible to say I am fully allegiant to Jesus’ Kingdom while dabbling in the kingdom of this world. This inconsistency happens because you cannot complete or consummate the relationship you are implying by engaging in the national political process. Especially as Kingdom Christians who will not fight or serve the President as the Commander-in-Chief that he is.
Anything that makes us more citizens and patriots rather than strangers and pilgrims is leading us in the wrong direction. Please check your heart!
Furthermore, as defenseless Christians—which is another identity marker of Anabaptists—national voting is a means of using force to try to get our way. And it’s choosing leaders who will also use force to accomplish the national objectives.
Now those of us who have never voted or who no longer engage politically, before we get too smug, we should do some soul searching. Anabaptists have been described as “non-voting Republicans.” Which is funny, but there is more than a little uncomfortable grain of truth there.
But it is here that the message takes a much more positive turn. For all this talk of margin and boundaries and the difference between us and the world system, what we as Anabaptists and Kingdom people bring to the table is good news for all men!
Rejecting political activity frees us from political captivity.
Rejecting political activity frees us from emotional receptivity.
And of course, the main point I’m trying to drive home [IM]: Rejecting political activity frees us for Kingdom productivity. While it’s true we are not of this world, it is also true that we are for this world. The same God who said “Love not the world” is revealed as “so loving the world that He gave His only Son.” The best thing that can happen for any nation is for the inbreaking of the Nation of God.
We need to refocus our mindset our in several areas. One of those is in the area of…
- Authority
It is important for us to have a healthy and respectful view toward authority—especially in this anti-authority age. It’s quite possible that we’ve been led astray by that line in the American Declaration of Independence which states, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”[2] I’m not criticizing that philosophy but critiquing it. Where do national and international leaders get their authority? If someone doesn’t like the U.S. President and even voted against him, can he rightfully say “not my president”? Even within the conservative Anabaptist realm we have a thought running around that Paul didn’t write Romans 13 about government authority under the tyranny of Nero. And that if Paul had written Romans when Nero was in control, the apostle wouldn’t have written Romans 13! This of course, is nonsense. Jesus tells us where authority comes from when He made His brilliant reply to Pilate in John 19:11, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” Naturally, Paul agrees with Jesus, by what we see in Romans 13:1-7, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” Governments don’t derive their powers from the consent of the governed, they derive them from the God of the Universe! Perhaps we should refocus our mindset about authority.
Secondly, let’s refocus our mindset on…
- Respect
This has to do with our interactions toward all people—both talking to them and talking about them. A little kindness and civility toward all men will go a long way in our Kingdom witness! Do we disagree completely with certain people? Definitely. Do some people have bad ideas, wicked policies and evil intentions? No question. The point is this: We are not called to respect all ideas, but we are called to respect all men as made in the image of God. The powers of this world have a way of objectifying people—turning them into mere objects—whether through wealth, lust or power. Those who objectify people politically want us to see half the nation as enemies to be defeated or ignoramuses to be dismissed. Not the Kingdom Christian. We are called to humanize people, to see every human being as the person they are and as the person they could become. We see every human as made in God’s image with a never-dying soul that will exist somewhere a hundred years from now! I think this was the apostle’s idea when he wrote in 1 Peter 2:17, “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” Modern, American political involvement tends to break all four of these commandments at once! It dishonors people, divides the brotherhood, disregards God and disparages the king! But there I go becoming negative again! Can you imagine an entire group of people—Kingdom people—demonstrating a mindset of honor toward authority and respect toward all people?
So, we’ve examined our margins and mindset. This brings us to our third and final angle where I’m asking us to…
Consider Our Methods
As Kingdom people, we tend to have a propensity for action. We want to do something. And that’s good! We simply need to evaluate our methods and make sure they line up with the desired result. In the Kingdom of God, the way something is done is as important as the why something is done. The means and ends need to match. The end does not justify the means!
So, what is the best thing for Anabaptists to do? We don’t vote, go to war or do politics. What do we do? Like every other human being, we want to exercise influence and effect change. Well, the Kingdom options are brilliant, beautiful, and accessible. These political alternatives are amazing in how they steer us clear of the five political hazards I mentioned previously: coercion, compromise, conspiracy, corruption, contention.
First, the main thing we’re called to do is
- Seeking [first the Kingdom and God’s righteousness]
We’re probably very familiar with Jesus’ command in Matthew 6:33 to, “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” But what is righteousness?
In considering Noah and Abraham, who were both righteous men, “Bruce Waltke notes, righteousness connotes “behavior that serves the community according to God’s norms… and establishes the well-being of the community.” [He also] states that the righteous are those who “are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage others.”[3]
So, seeking first God’s Kingdom doesn’t end in seeking, it ends in…
- Serving
Jesus gave this summons to His disciples on the night of his arrest, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ [friends of the people – NLT] 26But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26)
If we are known as anything, we should be known as strangers and pilgrims who serve. We can avoid political involvement, but then take all that extra time and money to serve our farms, homes and businesses—in other words—serve ourselves! That is neither Christlike nor Scriptural. For one thing we are called to…
- Serving leaders
1 Timothy 2:1-4, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
We serve the leaders in three main ways: praying, paying and obeying. We pray for them. We pay our taxes and we obey the government laws. And Paul doesn’t give any qualifiers about these commands. He doesn’t say we have to pray, pay and obey only if the leader is a decent person! [Illustr.—I think it was sometime during Barak Obama’s second term as president. I’ve already told you I voted against him in the election where he was up against Mitt Romney. So, there’s no question I disagreed profoundly with many of Obama’s policies and ideas. However, I did try to pray for him as commanded by Scripture—and I continue that practice to this day. Anyway, one night I had a vivid dream that I got to meet President Obama. Now mind you, this wasn’t particularly something I was hoping would happen! But what stuck out to me in the dream isn’t anything he or I said—I don’t recall that we said anything. However, I looked at the president and in that moment, I felt the weight of the nation that he carried descend on to my person—and I wept for him. I’ve never had an experience like that before or since. But it humanized a man who had been dehumanized in my mind because of my involvement with news media and talk radio.] The power of obeying the New Testament command to pray for leaders whether you like them or not, agree with them or not, may well be more about what it does in you than what it does in them! Pray, pay, obey. Secondly, as salty strangers and powerful pilgrims we should be seeking the good of the nation by…
- Serving our neighbors
Real people are affected, frustrated, and hurt by government policies. As “the quiet in the land” it is important that our neighbors see us as people who care about them and about the land. I think we need to get some “skin in the game” by giving to needs, helping in disasters and taking in the disadvantaged. And that is something Anabaptists have tended to shine in—disaster relief.
When we meet neighbors and others who express political fears and frustrations, I think we should listen sympathetically. And I’m not talking about being fake or disingenuous. We really should really care about people and their problems. If you don’t really care about people, you better check your connection to the King—it might have gotten disconnected.
We ought to be seeking the good of our neighbors, our communities and yes, the nation through which we are making our pilgrimage. Jesus told us that the way to lead best is to serve most. Thus, we’ve been commissioned to serve those around us. Every nation on earth that has Kingdom people in it should be better off because of our presences in those societies.
For young people especially, but all people can cash in on this, I encourage you to…
- Serving Ahead
This has to do with developing a pattern of life that involves serving others. A formal way to do this is to enter a program called CASP, C-A-S-P, which stands for Conservative Anabaptist Service Program. In case there is a military draft again, certain conservative churches developed this program as an alternative means of service. It is recognized by the Selective Service and should provide cover for young men in the event that a national draft is ever reinstituted. This is an opportunity to work in disaster relief and forestry programs as a way to demonstrate to the nation, “We want to serve the country in a helpful, upbuilding manner.” Girls, I don’t think you’re off the hook. It looks likely that women will be drafted into military service at some near time. Why not go ahead and develop a track record of public service now as a means of demonstrating your stranger and pilgrim status? In the latest issue of Grace Press News (August 2024), a conservative Anabaptist literature agency, they talk about the pressures that Christian brothers in Russia are facing. With the war against Ukraine raging, many Russian men are being pressured to serve in the military. Grace Press says that “One report tells us that those who were faithful in time of peace and served two years of alternate service in lieu of one year of military training are now exempt from military service.” This might not be true of all the Russian brothers but apparently “the typical church member lives in peace and has many freedoms similar to what we have in America.” Why not consider investing a year or two of your life in voluntary service in a local or foreign capacity? You, young person will be the lifelong beneficiary of such a labor of love.
So, we’re called to serve the leaders, to serve people in love, to serve ahead. Is that it? Is there more we can do? Yes, there is more. The genius of the Kingdom is that it works through
- Serving subversively
A lot of times when people talk about subversion, they mean overthrowing the government or destroying the established order. That’s not what I’m talking about. My idea is more that our Kingdom weapons can be used “to cause to serve a purpose other than the original or established one: commandeer or redirect.”[4] The greatest subversion in history is when God took Jesus’ death which the princes of darkness meant for ultimate evil and subverted it into ultimate triumph through the resurrection of Jesus!
The genius of Kingdom methods is how they exercise control and effect change without feeling coercive or violating free will. Have you ever thought about how God, the most Powerful Person in the universe, rules the universe in a way that doesn’t feel controlling? That’s amazing because He’s amazing!
Thankfully, the Kingdom of God is about initiating and inviting, not commanding, and controlling. We don’t coerce people; we seek to woo and win them. And that’s a lot more fulfilling than forcing something from the top down or the outside in.
As strangers and pilgrims, we are in the paradoxical place of having very little control on earth but at the same time having access to all authority in heaven and on earth! As we submit to the commands of Christ, we can subvert the plans of Satan and turn them to Kingdom good. Here are three things we can do:
We can pray, we can fast and we can give. Of these three, which one do you think Anabaptists tend to be the best at? I would tend to think giving. Giving looks like losing money, but in the economy of God it’s actually investing it for future return—the only money you’ll see again! Satan subverted.
The other two are also quite important. Fasting is a powerful way to enter into the needs of others and to remind ourselves to lift certain needs up to God. I really think that in a society like the American society, it would do us well to refrain from food for a meal or several and take that time to pray for the needs of the nation and for God’s Kingdom to flourish. [Illustr.—My experience with Max in 2016. If there is time.] [I’m inviting you, wooing you, to join me in fasting and praying for the nation, each Wednesday lunch in the month of October.]
The amazing thing about praying, giving and fasting is that while they are the most powerful weapons in the universe, they typically seem to be the least threatening to kingdom-of-this-world people! Perhaps this is because it is power-beside and power-under rather than power-over, like the nations of this world.
Prayer is likely our most powerful, and perhaps least used weapon. I really think the devil knows and fears the power of united, corporate prayer. And he’s doing everything he can to get us to trade it in for substitutes. If I were the devil I’d say, “Here, give me that worthless nuclear bomb, I have this fancy bb gun to trade you!” Choosing political involvement over prayer really is pretty much like that tradeoff. The one is majorly powerful and the other one is, well, not so much.
What should we pray? There is a verse in Psalm 33:10 that I have come to really appreciate, “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.” In addition to praying for the leaders of the nation, I also pray that God would bring to nothing the counsel of the ungodly. That lies would be exposed and fail and that truth would prevail. I also pray that God’s Kingdom would come and His will would be done, in my wife, in our marriage, in our children, in our parenting, in our family, in our extended family, in our church, in every church whose candlestick is in heaven, in every nation, on earth as it is in heaven. In praying for the counsel of the ungodly to come to nothing, I’m not pretending to know who the ungodly are or what wicked schemes they are planning. And I don’t have to know it. All that matters is that I’m taking it to the only Person in the universe who does know and Who can do something about it. That is subversive praying! And that is what we’re free to do.
Conclusion
In closing, I trust you’ve caught a glimpse of the opportunities we Kingdom people have to effect beautiful, lasting change through seeking first the Kingdom of God and serving leaders and neighbors. Being part of the nation of God, we are trans-national and get to serve and subvert—turn to Kingdom advantage—the designs of the devil for the nations of this world. Remember, rejecting political activity frees us for Kingdom productivity.
Prayer for Political Leaders
(1 Timothy 2:1-4)
Dear God, thank You for the peace and stability You have granted us. Please move upon the leaders of this nation and help them recognize the responsibility they have before You. I pray for President Biden, Vice President Harris, the Supreme Court justices and all judges across this nation. I pray also for the representatives and senators, both state and national. I lift the governor, the county commissioners, the township supervisors, and all who are in authority, to You. Help them to lead in such a way that we may live quiet and peaceable lives. I pray that You would bring to nothing the counsels of the ungodly (Ps. 33:10), foil the plans of the evil one and let truth prevail. In all these things I pray Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in this nation and in every nation on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
[1] Power Thesaurus app, “margin.”
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consent_of_the_governed
[3] Bryan, Steven M.. Cultural Identity and the Purposes of God (p. 103). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
[4] Free Dictionary app by Farlex, “subvert.”