“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
—Psalm 33:12
If you’ve already cast your ballot in this year’s election, please keep this process and our country in prayer. If you haven’t voted yet—and are debating sitting this out altogether—keep reading. This article is for you.
Just the mention of politics may make you squeamish, particularly during an already chaotic 2020. But what if voting is more than just a patriotic exercise? What if it’s an opportunity for believers to do something to expand God’s kingdom?
Pastor Tony Evans believes God is calling His committed followers “to the next level.” Christ followers must pray but also partner with God for the healing of our land, Evans said during the kickoff sermon of his Kingdom Voting series.
“If we’re going to see Him intervene, inject Himself in the affairs of a collapsing society, of a devastated nation, then we’re going to have to return to Him not in concept nor by simply throwing His name around. Everybody says pray. Everybody says they have faith in God. It’s hard to make it too far in our culture without a belief in God. That is not enough,” Evans said. “God has policies. But it’s only as we embrace His person and His policies that we will experience His presence in healing our lives, our churches and our nation.
“The closer the God of the Bible is to the individual, the family, the church and the society, the more ordered and less chaotic it will become.”
>>Free Election Resources: 30-day prayer guide & Decision magazine’s digital election guide
‘We’re at a Crossroads’
It’s the responsibility of Christians, Evans argues, to know God’s policies and represent them unapologetically if we want to see order replace the chaos.
“The Bible is pregnant with politics,” Evans said during his second sermon. “From Genesis to Revelation, you see God all up in politics. Setting up governments, taking down governments, giving laws, judging law breakers. He’s all up in politics and nations.”
But everything is so messy, right? Forty million evangelicals sat out the 2016 election for a variety of reasons, and Cissie Graham Lynch said a big one had to do with a lack of love for either candidate.
Lynch, Franklin Graham’s daughter, said during a recent Non-Essential? conference that voting has more to do with honoring God than adoring a candidate.
“We cannot afford to sit this election out,” she said. “Once again we’re at a crossroads, and who governs us has never mattered more. It is essential.”
>>Watch: Cissie Graham Lynch’s message at the Non-Essential? conference (1 hour 3 minute mark)
Franklin Graham continually implores Christians to pray and vote. From 2016 to this past January, he has encouraged believers through his Decision America Tours to go to the polls. Last month, he held a Prayer March in Washington D.C.
Graham recently called for a day of prayer and fasting around this year’s election.
“Many areas of our country are in chaos,” Graham posted on his Facebook page the morning following the first presidential debate. “People are so divided. The coronavirus has attacked almost every country in the world, with no end in sight.
“But God can deliver us, if we call upon Him, turn from our sins, repent and put our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. May we continue to pray for those in leadership that God would give them wisdom and direction. And we need to pray for all aspects of the upcoming election.
“The Word of God says, ‘Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:22).”
The Most Important Question
Believers should keep that in mind—that no matter how hopeless the scenario, the highest authority isn’t a human being.
“Jesus holds the highest office and not just in America, not just on planet earth but in all the universe,” Anne Graham Lotz told believers prior to the September 26 Prayer March. “And not just for four years or eight years but forever and ever and ever. So today when you pray, you remember that you’re appealing to the highest authority there is.”
Prayer is essential, and so is education. Billy Graham, in 1952, said, “I think it’s the duty of every individual Christian at election time to study the issues, study the candidates, then go to the polls and vote.”
Evans echoed that sentiment. The most important question Christians can ask, he said, is “Who does God want me to vote for?”
Don’t get wrapped up in the man-made party systems, Evans said. Be a Kingdom voter.
“A Kingdom voter is a Christian—a serious Christian—who accepts the responsibility and takes advantage of the opportunity to participate and partner with God to expand His rule in society through civil government,” Evans said.
“The Biblical role of civil government is to maintain a safe, just, righteous and compassionately responsible environment for freedom to flourish,” he continued. “That’s what you vote for because God created government. You leave God out of government and it becomes something other than what it was created to be. Just like when you leave Him out of your life and any other aspect of your existence.”
