Election Results

God works in all things (even in bad government).

1 Peter 2:13 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.

Romans 13:1-2 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

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You think your government is bad? Bad government is all over the Old and the New Testament, most of the people that have the opportunity to read this blog post will be in a country that gives them a better situation in life than the people that are mentioned in the Bible.

Remember the favor that the Israelite's enjoyed when they first arrived in Egypt? It didn't take long for it to disappear after Joseph's death. God allowed an oppressive government to rule his people and bring them great harm even though there isn't any indication that God's people deserved any of it. 

Hundreds of years earlier God told Abraham that it was going to happen, God allowed a paranoid, evil dictator to oppress his people as a part of a bigger plan that they probably didn't know about.

We forget that God's people in the Bible seldom knew as much as we presume to know about what God is doing and we are pretty sure that our point of view of God's story is what really matters. But each of us are such an incredibly small part of the whole story so it is pretty arrogant to assume that we know much about God's timetable.

The New Testament scriptures listed above are easy for Americans to read but application is not going to happen very easily, especially when another election is approaching, which seems to be always.

We forget that Peter and Paul wrote those scriptures to respect and pray for the Roman government that was so harsh to them. We are pretty sure that it is the end of the world if our candidates do not win.  

God is in control and his purposes will prevail even in bad governments. Maybe he sent them to judge us or just maybe we won't ever know why he allowed us to live under bad government. 

Daniel 2:20-21 “Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.

We forget that this world must get much worse off before the end of time. I am not predicting that the end of the world is here if my candidate doesn't win but at some point the badness of our world will never turn around and improve.

Jeremiah 29:7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.”

We are ambassadors in a foreign land, we are here to persuade and influence the government and the people of this land but ultimately we cannot force them to behave a certain way. We should strive to make things better in this world but we cannot force people that live in the kingdom of darkness to live like children of the light.

When things don't seem to be going the right direction remember, things are going in the right direction, according to God's purpose and plan.

Playing Well With Others

Authority, everybody likes to have it and nobody likes to yield to it.

1 Peter 2:13-14 For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

1 Peter 2:18 You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.

1 Peter 3:1-2 In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over 2 by observing your pure and reverent lives.

1 Peter 3:7-9 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.

8 Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it.

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Ever since the Garden of Eden, Satan has tempted us by questioning authority, he lied about God and Adam and Eve began to wonder about God's intentions and whether the rules that he gave them were fair. God's commandments have been questioned every moment of everyday ever since and we see the consequences all around us but we still want to live life our way.

Accepting authority and being submissive is required of every child of God, it is necessary in our relationships, starting with God and going down the line to every other relationship that we have. From government, the work place and our family, there is an order that God designed to help us live together in harmony.

We see the idea of submission demonstrated in the Trinity, all of them working together in unison, each of them fulfilling a role and each of them bringing glory to the other and doing what is beneficial to the Trinity.

✔ Jesus sought to bring glory to God the Father. (John 15:10)
✔ Jesus willingly died for us. (John 10:17-18)
✔ The Holy Spirit gives Jesus glory. (John 16:13-15)
✔ God the Father gave glory back to Jesus. (John 8:54, 17:24)
✔ The Holy Spirit didn't refuse when he was sent to us. (John 14:26, Acts 1:4-5)

Too bad we do not get to enjoy this oneness and cooperative spirit from the people that we relate to.

Philippians 2:3-8 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Jesus is our ultimate example of submission and looking out for the needs of others. Deserving glory and honor yet he came to us selfless and humble to take care of us. We all need to follow Christ example and look for ways to bless others.

I need to yield to authority, give up my own authority and be submissive to others in my country, my workplace and with my family and friends. 

Related articles

• Pleasing God Even In Suffering (diggingtheword.blogspot.com)
• Privileges Of God's Children: Union With Christ (diggingtheword.blogspot.com)
• Father Of Lies (wisdomhunters.com)

Our Commander In Chief

Do you know who is in control?

Psalm 66:7 For by his great power he rules forever. He watches every movement of the nations; let no rebel rise in defiance.

1 Peter 2:13-17  For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority, whether the king as head of state, 14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.

15 It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. 16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. 17 Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.

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God was the first authority, he had the power to create and decide what should be and where it should be, it was his choice to put a galaxy over there and a mountain there and where the oceans were going to be. As soon as God created man he shared some of his authority, the organization chart was very simple, God had authority over man and woman and they had authority over the physical creation in the garden. (Genesis 1:28)

Government in its purest sense is supposed to create harmony and unity among us, we have restraints that we submit to in order to keep the peace, so that we can all get along. Of course it isn't a perfect entity, the government is affected by our sinful state and it often fails to make our world a better place.

Hebrews 13:14 For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

We may not always live in a country that is tolerant of Christian values, but we shouldn't let that get us down, most of world history has proved that government is usually not going to care about such things. If the government moves away from Godly values it shouldn't surprise us or get us down.

The good news is that I don't have to look to the government or any other authority besides God for my joy and peace of mind. The child of God can live through good government or a hostile dictatorship knowing that this is just a stop over on our way to our permanent residence in heaven.

While we are here we need to influence the darkness. It may be with a vote for candidates that promote moral values or for running for public office or it may be to try and persuade law makers to create laws that are in alignment with Biblical values.

Pray for our leaders

1 Timothy 2:1-5 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

We need to do our part to make the world a better place, if our lives are pleasing to God then they will be appealing to society, if we are caring for others and loving like Jesus did then the world will want to know what makes us different.

Pray for everybody and especially the people that have authority over you, we need to get down on our knees, it's the best way that we can have a positive influence on our culture.

Philippians 2:10 At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

It may not look like it but God is still in control and some day the entire world will bow down to his authority and his children will live in peace and harmony for all of eternity. Until that day comes we need to do all that we can to influence the authorities that we live under for good.