NOVEMBER 5TH...NOW WHAT?????

Greetings citizens of the United States...and citizens of the world. If you woke up this morning and you were breathing...raise your hand.

Yesterday...millions of people were exercising their rights as Americans...to cast their vote for who they thought should be the 44th President of the United States. After two years of campaigning...finger pointing...lies...speculations...promises...plans, from each side of the political spectrum...it has come down to one man. That man is Barak Huessin Obama. He is now the president elect. One group of people are in despair...the other group of people are elated. The question is...as a believer in the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus the Anointed One...NOW WHAT?

Many people fear that this is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it. Others look at this time as the birth of new beginnings...a dawning of a new age...a shift in the lines that have been drawn in the sand throughout the ages. To some...hope is dashed...while others hope is come alive.

But the question still remains...NOW WHAT? If you disagree with the politics that are now represented...what do you do as a believer? Oh...by the way...there are believers on BOTH SIDES of the spectrum.



In a previous Rambling...we talked about how we are to respond to kings, governors, masters... especially the UNREASONABLE ONES. We saw that Jesus led the example for us to FOLLOW IN HIS STEPS...who (1) committed no sin (2) no deceit found in his MOUTH (3) did not REVILE in return to his REVILERS (4) uttered NO THREATS while SUFFERING (5) KEPT ENTRUSTING HIMSELF to Him who judges righteously. (I Peter 2:17-25)

We also saw in the previous Rambling...that first of all...that (1) entreaties (2) prayers (3) petitions
(4) thanksgivings...be made ON BEHALF OF ALL MEN. This includes (1) kings (2) all who are in authority. The reason for entreating, praying, petitioning and thanking being made on behalf of all men (aka intercession)...that we may LEAD A TRANQUIL AND QUIET LIFE in all godliness and dignity. In the sight of God...this is (1) good (2) acceptable. God desires ALL MEN to be (1) saved
(2) to come to the knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:1-4)

The natural REACTION to change that we don't like...is to grumble, complain, open our MOUTHS and spew venom. IF we are to follow the EXAMPLE of Jesus....IF we are to follow IN HIS STEPS...then at the minimum...we need to watch out for what we SPEAK.

One of my favorite PRO-VERBS (Positive-Action)...is Proverbs 30:31. "If you have been foolish in exalting yourself or if you have plotted evil...PUT YOUR HAND ON YOUR MOUTH. For the churning of milk produces butter and pressing the nose brings forth blood (cause and affect)...SO the CHURNING OF ANGER....produces STRIFE."

The mouth is the churn...anger is the milk...talking/complaining/griping is the agitator...and the product or butter is STRIFE. The solution...PUT YOU HAND ON YOUR MOUTH.

Abraham Lincoln...in A Proclamation For A Day Of Fasting and Prayer...declared:

"We have been the recipients of the choices bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nations has ever grown. But WE HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD. Intoxicated by UNBROKEN SUCCESS...we have become SELF-SUFFICIENT to fell the necessity of redeeming grace, TOO PROUD...TO PRAY...TO THE GOD WHO MADE US."

In Derek Prince's book...SHAPING HISTORY THROUGH PRAYER AND FASTING...Derek calls us to corporate and individual praying and fasting...to be used as a tool to SHAPE HISTORY. For those who do not believe in God...we are either self-made or on a cosmic roller coaster ride...but to us as BELIEVERS...there is a God...and he uses fallible human beings. The key to this is not the prayer or even the fasting...but the HUMBLING OF OURSELVES...and yielding our ARROGANCE to God. So the question is...NOW WHAT?

This year is 2008...back in 1999...there was the anticipation of the coming year of 2000 as something significant. It was a new millennium...to some the end of the world...to some new beginnings. There was a little glitch in the system called Y2K. This was a computer problem...where dates were recognized by the last two numbers ie. 1998 would be 96...97...98...99 but the next numbers would be 00. Yikes...the world as we know it would fall apart...because of all of the computers crashing and sending us into a tailspin. People began to prepare and hoard...and were motivated by FEAR. The Y stood for year the K stood for kilo, so Year 2000. This was also know as Millennium Bug, Y2K bug, Computer Bug.

Well...the Apocalypse did not happen...the world did not fall apart...and life went on.

Bruce Cockburn...at that time had a song called THE LAST NIGHT OF THE WORLD. The picture is the set list of one of Cockburn's concerts I attended. See toward the bottom on the left side...the song LAST NITE. Also the song If I Had a Rocket Launcher...and my personal favorite...NIGHT TRAIN.

LAST NIGHT OF THE WORLD

If this was the last night of the world
What would I dooooo
What would I doooooo that was DIFFERENT
Unless it was champagne with you

NOW WHAT? What are you going to do differently?

Charles Wesley...brother to John...and one of the founders of the Methodist Church...had the habit of tending to his garden. Someone once quizzed him about what would he do if he knew Jesus was coming back today. His answer was that he would do what he does everyday. There would be no significant changes. He would tend his garden, write songs, be a Christian.

So the question is ....NOW WHAT? What are you going to do...that is different from what you were doing on November 4th?

As Americans...we have the right and privilege to voice our opinions. We have the right to vote in representatives. We have the right to disagree. Our country was founded on disagreement with a government...and led to an American Revolution. So most definitely we can continue to voice our opinion of what we feel is right or wrong. We can be passionate about what we believe...HOWEVER...we have to not let our PASSION BECOME OUR GOD.

For me...I sense a need to focus not on the OUTCOME...but on the INCOME...of my own personal life. I will still SPEAK OUT...but only after I have humbled myself...after I have prayed...after I have fasted...after I have prayed for those that are unreasonable and only after I have put my hand over my mouth IF I would be churning evil and strife.

In the days of the Jesus Movement there was a musical experience in worship and intercession called IF MY PEOPLE. It was a call to God's people to prayer for this nation and this world. It was based on II Chronicles 7:14


"And IF MY PEOPLE...who are called by My name...HUMBLE THEMSELVES...and PRAY...and SEEK MY FACE...and TURN from their WICKED WAYS...THEN...i WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN...WILL FORGIVE THEIR SINS...and WILL HEAL THEIR LAND. Now My Eyes shall be open and MY ears attentive to THE PRAYER OFFERED IN THIS PLACE." (II Chronicles 7:14,15)

That was the prayer...now what about the fasting. Well...you can do without food...but it is not a fast but a diet. A true Biblical Fast...that will change history...is found in Isaiah 58. As we pray let us act out the fast: (1) loosen the bonds of wickedness (2) undo the bands of the yoke (3) let the oppressed go free (4) break every yoke (5) divide your bread with the hungry (6) bring the homeless poor into the house (7) See the naked and cover them (8) don't hide from your own flesh. The cause and effect of this kind of FASTING...is (1) your light will break ou t like the dawn (2) your recovery will speedily spring forth (3) your righteousness will go before you (4) the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard (5) you will call and the Lord will answer (6) you will cry and He will say HERE I AM. The CONDITION is...
IF...lyou remove the yoke from your midst and the pointing of your finger and speaking wickedness and IF you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of teh afflicted...THEN your light will rise in darkness and your gloodm will become like the mid-day and the Lord will CONTINUALLY GUIDE YOU and SATISFY your desire in scorched places, and give STRENGTH to your bones...and you will be like WATERED GARDENS...and like a SPRING OF WATER whose WATERS DO NOT FAIL. And those from among you will REBUILD THE ANCIENT RUINS...you will RAISE UP THE AGE-OLD FOUNDATIONS...and you will be called the REPAIRER OF THE BREACH...the RESTORER of the streets in which to dwell. IF because of the sabbath, you TURN YOUR FOOT from doing your OWN PLEASURE on My holy day...and call the sabbath a DELIGHT...the holy day of the LORD HONORABLE...and shall honor it...DESISTING FROM YOUR OWN WAYS...from seeking your OWN PLEASURE...and speaking your OWN WORD. (Isaiah 58:1-14)

WOW...what a powerhouse...praying and fasting that brings about POSITIVE ACTION instead of GRUMBLING AND COMPLAINING.

WHAT NOW? Make Christ the Center of your life...Study the Word...Pray...Fellowship with other believers...and continue to Witness the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus. Put your faith and trust in your healer, supplier, righteousness, peace, banner, shepherd, etc.

Love and Hopeful Kisses
Rodney "Jesus is Lord" Boyd