We're All Tired

I have voted in every presidential election for the past forty-six years, but I have never been as involved, as concerned, or as exhausted as I am this year. I have written about the importance of this election, not only for this generation but for all generations to come. I have prayed numerous times each day, and I have fasted until I feel drained. Frankly, I am ready for this to be over.

Monday night after the final debate I felt an enormous sense of relief. I wanted to shout, “It’s over!” and forget about the election until I go to vote on November 6. I suspect that a huge number of Americans feel as I do and are ready to put their feet up and relax a little. However, whenever I am tempted to slow down, I remind myself that now is not the time to quit.

I am reminded of a story I heard many years ago about a young woman who wanted to swim the English Channel. She prepared herself in every possible way. She practiced until she was in optimum physical condition. She ate a restricted diet which was designed to prepare her for the ordeal. And when the day came for her to attempt the swim, she covered her body in heavy grease to protect her against the cold water.

Since the shortest distance across the English Channel is 21 miles, she had carefully mapped the route to make certain that she followed it exactly. A boat followed alongside her as she swam so that if she encountered trouble her trainer could rescue her. In addition, he furnished her with liquids to keep her hydrated. At first, everything went well, but after many hours of enduring the hardships of such a swim, even though she had completed twenty miles of the twenty-one mile course, the woman called to her trainer, “I am exhausted. I can’t finish.”

“Yes, you can,” he called back. “You can make it. Don’t stop now!”

“No,” the young woman persisted. “I can’t. If I go on, I’ll drown.”  And against the advice of her trainer, she turned around and swam back to the point where she had started!

We have only thirteen days to go before we cross the finish line. If we stop now, we will, in effect, be turning around and swimming back to our starting point. We are tired, but this is not the time to slow down. We have worked far too hard to stop short of our goal.

As we come into this final stretch, I want to encourage you to continue to do everything you can to make certain that we take our country back, and I want to remind everyone of what Paul says: So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, and mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet so that those who follow you, though weak and lame, will not fall and hurt themselves, but become strong. (Hebrews 12:12)

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her newest novel, The Chosen, is available on Kindle and  in paperback. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net  or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

Brother, Can You Spare a Minute?

The 1930s gave us a decade of the worst depression this country has ever experienced. Most of us are too young to remember The Great Depression, but all of us have heard stories about the joblessness, the homelessness, and the soup lines that defined that period of American history. Middle-class families were suddenly plunged into poverty and were destined to roam the country looking for work.

During the 1930s, the song Brother, Can you Spare a Dime? became an instant hit because it highlighted the plight of the middle-class American who begged on the streets in order to put a little food into his stomach. The newly created class of Hobos hopped off trains and knocked on people’s kitchen doors asking for whatever the housewife could spare. Even then a dime wasn’t much, but for those in need it just might make the difference between starvation and survival.

Eighty years later we find ourselves living in the twenty-first century version of the great depression. Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, and their futures at a rate that far exceeds anything we would have imagined only five years ago. In the 2012 remake, the soup lines are gone and families who have lost their homes and jobs are not begging on the streets; they are barely scraping by on a government issued check, but like their 1930s counterparts, they have little hope for the future.

However, the pleas for money have not disappeared. In the 2012 remake virtually all Americans who have access to a telephone, the Internet, or the U.S. mails are inundated daily with requests for money. We are told that if we can get ten dollars to some organization or another within the next 24 hours, they can stop a certain piece of legislation from being passed, or they can get a particular political candidate elected or defeated, as the case may be. The trick is that the money must be delivered in a specific minimum amount (of course, more is always better, but the minimum will do) and it must be delivered within a specific short period of time.

Today, I join the ranks of those who are asking Americans to give so that our country can be saved. However, I am not asking you to give money to turn this country around. My question is this: Brother, can you spare a minute? If you are willing to donate a minute to save our nation, here is how your minute will be used:

Your minute will be bundled with the minutes of tens of thousands of other Americans who have become a part of the If My People, 2012 call to action that is taking place right now and will continue through the election on November 6. However, please do not send your minute to me—do not even send your minute to Joel Rosenberg, who is one of the organizers of the event. Send your minute directly to God. Here is the way it works:

Many thousands of Americans are setting aside one minute every evening from now through the election to pray for our country as instructed in II Chronicles 7:14, If my people, which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.

The event calls for us to set aside one minute every evening so that we will all be praying at exactly the same time. Those on Eastern Standard Time pray at 9:00 P.M., those on Central Standard Time pray at 8:00 P.M., those on Mountain Standard Time pray at 7:00 P.M., and those on Pacific Standard Time pray at 6:00 P.M.  We are to ask God to forgive our sins both individually and as a country, to ask Him to heal our land, and to ask Him to send revival to our nation. We are also to pray for the upcoming election. This idea is so simple that everyone can take part. Even a child as young as three years old can put his little hands together and ask God to heal our land.

I hope that you and your family will join us in this effort. I believe that it is a great privilege to live in a nation where we can participate in events such as this one, and I am honored to be able to send my minute bundled together with those countless other minutes so that our land can be healed.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother. Her newest novel, The Chosen, is available on Kindle and  in paperback. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.

 

Be Careful What You Pray For

Christians know that the Bible tells us to pray for our leaders: Pray…for kings and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord. This is good and pleases God our Savior, for He longs for all to be saved… I Timothy 2:2-4.

Clearly, God wants everyone to be saved, and it is always right and good to pray for salvation for everyone. I cringe, however, when I hear Christians pray for God to bless ungodly leaders. When people are being blessed, they almost never change their lives or their actions. Do we really want the ungodly to continue in positions where they rule over us and continue to do those things that dishonor God and bring us suffering?

The United States of America is the most unique country in the history of the world. God has given us a form of government that is superior to any other, and our Constitution guarantees us many rights so that we can live without fear of falling victim to various practices that are common among governments of other countries. Part of the uniqueness of this country is that we were among the first that allowed its ordinary citizens to elect those who govern us. We have never been subject to a king who recognizes no authority other than his own. From the beginning we have elected our leaders. This is a privilege that carries with it great responsibility, but when it is done right, the results are that we are able to live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the lord.

Psalms 125:2-5 says, Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects His people. For the wicked shall not rule the godly, lest the godly be forced to do wrong. O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are right with the Lord…. And let Israel have quietness and peace.

This sounds harsh to our politically correct ears, but we can learn much about how to pray for our leaders by reading God’s Word. It is true that when the wicked rule the godly, the result is that the godly are treated brutally. Certainly, we have the current examples of Christians being imprisoned in middle-eastern countries solely because they are Christians. They are tortured and, sometimes, executed simply because they refuse to deny Christ. It is not God’s will for His people to be subject to His enemies because in those circumstances the godly are often forced to make the choice of whether to suffer and even die for their faith or to do wrong. 

When praying for our leaders remember these points:

• First, we live in a country where it is both our duty and our privilege to vote. Therefore, even as we pray, we must make a commitment to vote for the best candidates. Sometimes voting for the best candidates is as simple as voting against candidates who have proven themselves to be the wrong choices.
• Second, we must pray that God will remove from office all of those who do not honor Him and govern according to His precepts.
• Third, we must pray that God will give us men and women who will do exactly what he has put them in office to do and that He will give them wisdom and good judgment.
• Fourth, we must pray that our nation will return to God and become the country that He created us to be.
• Fifth, we must pray that we will be able to live in quietness and peace.
• Sixth, we must pray that God will grant quietness and peace to Israel.

We have only a few more days until the election. I hope that all of you will join me in praying daily for our nation and for our leaders so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord.

Read Joyce's new novel The Chosen free on Kindle October 3rd through October 7th.

Joyce Swann is a nationally-known author and speaker. Her own story of teaching her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees before their seventeenth birthdays is retold in her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother Her newest novel, The Chosen, is available on Kindle and  will be available in paperback October 1. For more information visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup