THY kingd*m come, THY will be d*ne

We will be voting for a new leader soon. I wanted to remind us all that God will hear a humble heart and will continue to bring healing to our land. Our country can be unified too! We can make a difference in the choices to come. In case we are oblivious and lest we think we are fine - no need to worry. I wanted to share this:

Judges 2:11-12, 14 And the people of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods of the peoples round about them and bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel..

There are some who think God is mean and cruel. Think about that. Any choice we make has a consequence. We cannot avoid the natural consequences of our choices. Maybe we can for a season, but it always catches up with us in the end. God had shown up for Israel many times and proved He was there for them and proved He was on their side. But they still went their own way. God can perform miracles in our lives. God chooses to when the benefit is eternal. He is far more concerned with our character than performing for us. So, when we reject Him and when we do not turn to His ways for our lives. We will face consequences.

The Israelites had God looking out for them, and even when they rejected Him - He was still listening and longing for them to turn back to Him. God cannot tolerate or allow our rebellion. Our choice to rebel ALWAYS brings separation between us and Him. It is the consequence. If you jump up, off of the roof of your home, the natural consequence IS that you will fall down. It doesn't matter if you intended to jump UP - you WILL fall down. Natural consequence!

Judges 2:16 - 17 But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them. And yet they did not listen to their judges..

I say all of this to say, that God gave the Israelites judges to judge justly. They were not satisfied with honest judges. They then cried out for a king. God so granted their request. God was their king but they wanted a king like the others. So he obliged. Sometimes we get what we ask for, even when it isn't God's choosing for us. He isn't cruel, He is wise. When my daughter asks for something she wants (but she doesn't see the harm in it), I tell her no sometimes but their are other times I give her what she asks. The lesson is often more memorable and lasting if she experiences the consequence of the request rather than me constantly guarding her every choice.

So, for example - If she doesn't willingly share her toys with her brother when he asks her to share, there are times I will let her say no! I won't FORCE her to share, the benefit would be temporary. Then (it always happens) my son will have a toy she wants to share. She will ask him to share with her and he will say 'no'. She comes running to me to say 'Mom, JB is not being a nice friend. He will not share his toy with me.' I then remind her that she refused to share with JB too. I tell her how JB probably felt the same bad feelings she is feeling when he refused to share. I tell her she is allowed to have special toys she doesn't have to share, but she should be willing to share her other toys with JB (if she wants him to do the same). She then realizes I am not a dictator barking rules at her, she realizes the BENEFIT of my suggestion. It sinks in and she chooses to share with her brother.

That is how God works too. He does allow us to have exactly what we ask for (or even give us the less desirable scenario when we don't really care either way) just to show us how important those matters are. To remind us that every detail of our lives DOES matter. He wants to give us good things. Sometimes we are not mature enough for the good, or sometimes we don't even want the best He is offering. We may be spoiled brats who don't care enough to even care. Bottom line is He does care and He wants to be in our day to day lives. He wants us to come to Him with our prayers. He has the answers.

We are voting for a new leader in about a year. What better time than now to begin praying for God to give us a godly leader. 'A man after God's own heart.' The one He sees best and not the one we so choose (based on our personal checklist). Pray now for our future President. We need to seek God's direction on this, or we may go our own way, or even go the way of the others. (The others being those who are opposed to anything being God's way.) The worst case scenario is to not care, to do nothing and to just push a button randomly.

I don't know who I will vote for yet. Thank God I am not voting tomorrow. There is time to listen and learn more about the candidates AND, God can lead me in that journey if I allow Him to do so. He knows all of the candidates and He knows the best one in the mix. I have seen numerous news bits on the candidates lately; I am as unclear now as when they first began the process. I can remain aware, I can pray and I can seek out information. That is the least that I can do! So today I remind you to consider this year ahead of us. Prayer does reach God and through prayer we can let Him know that we want "Thy kingd0m c0me, thy will be d0ne. In earth as it is in heaven." (God ALWAYS chooses best!)

Let it be so!