The Lord came into my life over 20 years ago, and politically I am usually very apathetic. Now the Lord has generally taken the attitude that I need to follow Him. Indeed, when it has come to voting, He often has told me to just vote for Him. Yet not always. I remember when He made me go and vote for Bush, as if it would make a difference. I live in California and Bush was never going to get anything from my vote. It was Florida that made the difference then. Still, what I do, or try to do, is what the Lord tells me to do. I think even then, the point that He was making was that He could control things when He needs to or has a plan.
Over the years since then, He has pointed out a couple of important things to me. One is found in this verse:
1 Sam 12:14 “If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God.
The above is extremely important!! The point is that if we listen to the Lord and do what He asks of us, then He will make sure that our leader (King or President) will also listen to Him. Of course the opposite is also true:
1 Sam 12:15 “If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
So it is that we get a vote - but that vote is casts with our ears!!
Are we - as both individuals and as a nation - going to turn to the Lord and listen to Him or not?????
Now though I have been rather apathetic, concerning politics, over the years He was telling me that a day would come when that would change, and I remember the day it came.
It was a very specific day like many others, when I was walking and talking with Him. He told me, "Karl, I don't want you to go and protest."
I instantly wondered about that statement of His. I never did that kind of thing. This was when covid was starting to shut things down in places, and I had heard of a protest in Huntington Beach over the beaches being closed to surfers, and I used to be a surfer and lived in Huntington Beach. So I found that interesting, because knowing about surfing I knew that could hardly be a place covid would be transmitted. Surfers don't want to be next to other surfers while surfing, and expect for the pier, Huntington is miles of long sand beaches. And with the salty mist in the air and the natural distance between surfers, you didn't need to command them to keep their distance and it would have been a hostile environment to most germs or virus, I would think. Anyway, I wasn't going to join that anyway.
Still, that was the first protest right before all the BLM protests started. So though I would not have gone to them either, I still had a very personal commandment from the Lord to not go to them even if I had considered it, simply because I listen to the Lord and walk and talk with Him.
So what was He telling others?? Did they even listen to Him???
He could have told them to all protest and told me different. I am not pretending to be Him, but I doubt it. He is wise, and in fact Wisdom is a name in the Bible for His Holy Spirit through whom He talks to us. And were those protests, especially at a time when we were also telling people to keep their distant the wise thing to do? It seems more like they were the rebellious thing to do, especially at that time. And in California, we didn't have a problem with closing down churches then, but we did have a problem closing down protests. Which is to say we could throw away the constitutional right to gather for religion, but it was ok to gather to protest at the same time.
Face it, as a nation we are not listening to the Lord, so things are not going good for us!!!
So what do we need to do to correct that situation? Is it more protests, more making loud complaints about what is happening - or is it each of us turning back to the Lord Jesus Christ and listening to Him???
I'm not blind and I can hear from Him - and I know what He tells me. He tells me things like, "Karl all these things have to happen!"
'So why do they have to happen', I ask of Him - And of course the reason they have to happen is that we His people do not listen to Him!! That has always been the reason they have to happen.
Ps 78:34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,
And returned and searched diligently for God;
WE don't think to seek the Lord when things are good, we seek the Lord when things turn bad - so things have to turn bad - but how bad are we going to let it get before we His people, (Christians) actually turn back to listening to Him?
So it really is about voting with our ears!!!
Over the years since then, He has pointed out a couple of important things to me. One is found in this verse:
1 Sam 12:14 “If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God.
The above is extremely important!! The point is that if we listen to the Lord and do what He asks of us, then He will make sure that our leader (King or President) will also listen to Him. Of course the opposite is also true:
1 Sam 12:15 “If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.
So it is that we get a vote - but that vote is casts with our ears!!
Are we - as both individuals and as a nation - going to turn to the Lord and listen to Him or not?????
Now though I have been rather apathetic, concerning politics, over the years He was telling me that a day would come when that would change, and I remember the day it came.
It was a very specific day like many others, when I was walking and talking with Him. He told me, "Karl, I don't want you to go and protest."
I instantly wondered about that statement of His. I never did that kind of thing. This was when covid was starting to shut things down in places, and I had heard of a protest in Huntington Beach over the beaches being closed to surfers, and I used to be a surfer and lived in Huntington Beach. So I found that interesting, because knowing about surfing I knew that could hardly be a place covid would be transmitted. Surfers don't want to be next to other surfers while surfing, and expect for the pier, Huntington is miles of long sand beaches. And with the salty mist in the air and the natural distance between surfers, you didn't need to command them to keep their distance and it would have been a hostile environment to most germs or virus, I would think. Anyway, I wasn't going to join that anyway.
Still, that was the first protest right before all the BLM protests started. So though I would not have gone to them either, I still had a very personal commandment from the Lord to not go to them even if I had considered it, simply because I listen to the Lord and walk and talk with Him.
So what was He telling others?? Did they even listen to Him???
He could have told them to all protest and told me different. I am not pretending to be Him, but I doubt it. He is wise, and in fact Wisdom is a name in the Bible for His Holy Spirit through whom He talks to us. And were those protests, especially at a time when we were also telling people to keep their distant the wise thing to do? It seems more like they were the rebellious thing to do, especially at that time. And in California, we didn't have a problem with closing down churches then, but we did have a problem closing down protests. Which is to say we could throw away the constitutional right to gather for religion, but it was ok to gather to protest at the same time.
Face it, as a nation we are not listening to the Lord, so things are not going good for us!!!
So what do we need to do to correct that situation? Is it more protests, more making loud complaints about what is happening - or is it each of us turning back to the Lord Jesus Christ and listening to Him???
I'm not blind and I can hear from Him - and I know what He tells me. He tells me things like, "Karl all these things have to happen!"
'So why do they have to happen', I ask of Him - And of course the reason they have to happen is that we His people do not listen to Him!! That has always been the reason they have to happen.
Ps 78:34 When He killed them, then they sought Him,
And returned and searched diligently for God;
WE don't think to seek the Lord when things are good, we seek the Lord when things turn bad - so things have to turn bad - but how bad are we going to let it get before we His people, (Christians) actually turn back to listening to Him?
So it really is about voting with our ears!!!