Prayers Gone Unanswered: Why Movements Like “The Call” Fail

There have been various prayer movements in the United States focused on praying for change in our government, the most popular that I know of being TheCall. I’m sure a lot of young Christians now are probably devastated by the election results, at a loss to explain why God would seemingly ignore their heartfelt prayers.

While some proponents might argue otherwise, the whole point of these movements have been largely to effect political reform. They were overly focused on what was happening with our government, but not what was happening in the churches. In short, we were praying for the wrong things.

Our churches are in complete disarray, deluged with religious fads and heretical teachings, with a community of believers that are more concerned about prosperity than they are about holiness. Whatever the world does, we imitate it at every turn, whether it’s coming up with our own version of “American Idol” or turning our churches into entertainment centers complete with built-in basketball courts and coffee shops. We’ve become so preoccupied with meaningless creature comforts, and through it all we’ve allowed an entire generation of Christians to be deceived by the rampant heresies that have overwhelmed the body of Christ. And yet in spite of all this, we’re holding prayer vigils outside the U.S. Supreme Court building pleading for God to give us more conservative judges. And how has that been working out so far?

Here’s the deal: God is not concerned with our governments so much as He is concerned with His people. And since judgment must first begin in the house of God, our focus should always be on taking care of the church first before anything else, ensuring that we walk soberly, with our minds on heaven rather than on political issues of the day. All the nations are as a drop in the bucket to the LORD of creation anyway, and more notably, the lesson of history has shown us when a remnant of God’s people repent and seek Him with their whole hearts, things then have a way of working out for themselves without any active intervention on our part.

This will soon be an extraordinarily distressing time for Christians, yet I believe it is not intended for our destruction, but rather to encourage us to seek the LORD once again in a spirit of true repentance and broken heartedness. Whom the LORD loves He rebukes and chastens, and He admonishes us all to “be zealous therefore, and repent.”

So for those of you have become disillusioned and even bitter about the direction our country has been heading in, don’t despair. God has not abandoned us, and while we may experience grievous times, it is in those times that we will find true faith and revival.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. – John 16:33

Tags: abandoned, america, christ, christian, Christians, church, churches, country, despair, election, God, government, heresies, holiness, judgment, lord, nation, peace, prayer, prayers, praying, religious fads, remnant, repent, repentance, revival, sin, unanswered, world

Categories: Christians Gone Wild

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12 Responses to “Prayers Gone Unanswered: Why Movements Like “The Call” Fail”

Claudia wrote a comment on November 6, 2008 @ 09:50:pm

Well, you’ve got it spot on. Paul didn’t spend much of his time worrying about which Caesar was in or out of power. He did, however, write a lot of warnings about all the false teachers and teachings going about. That hasn’t changed.

Lincoln Adams wrote a comment on November 6, 2008 @ 11:57:pm

Thanks Claudia.

When I think about this I’m always reminded of Daniel. He was a politician who did the king’s business, but he didn’t change history by organizing rallies or prayer vigils or introducing conservative leaning bills or whatnot. He altered the government of his time because the LORD gave him a dream to interpret and because he was thrown into the lions’ den and survived, circumstances that were both out of his control. It was his faith that saved him, ultimately bringing prosperity not only to himself but to an entire empire.

Isaiah wrote a comment on November 10, 2008 @ 08:48:am

This post gets my vote for “Your Best Post Yet” on this blog.

Very astute observations and great post!

Lincoln Adams wrote a comment on November 10, 2008 @ 12:09:pm

Thanks, don’t expect it to be a habit though. I only have rare spurts of brilliance.

Kat wrote a comment on November 11, 2008 @ 04:27:am

Thank you for this post and the one right before. Both are excellent reminders of where my focus needs to be and to quit getting so discouraged. I have this masochistic tendency to read left of center bloggers like if I understand their motivation better I can change their minds or something. And all it does is depress me.
So, anyway thank you for the reminder. I needed it.

Lincoln Adams wrote a comment on November 11, 2008 @ 11:07:am

@Kat: You’re welcome, and I know how you feel. I live in dark blue land here and the experience can be awful. You feel like you’re the only one who hasn’t gone crazy, while everyone else is licking and drooling over posters of Obama.

They’re all under delusion though, so no amount of logic or reasoning is going to sway them until God opens their eyes.