A Call to Prayer and Action

My new book God, Trump and the 2020 Election releases in mid-January. My feature earlier in this issue gave an overview of what is at stake for Christians in this election. As we enter a new year and a new political season, the body of Christ must focus on prayer as never before.

The Bible says to pray for those in authority so we may live quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness (1 Tim. 2:2). Elsewhere it says that “if My people … will … pray … and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chr. 7:14). It’s hard to document and measure spiritual things, but millions of people have been praying in groups large and small, believing for a shift in the very serious situation in America.

One “prayer warrior” named Mary Colbert started the daily “National Prayer Call” in 2016, making her one of the earliest voices urging believers to pray for President Donald Trump. The movement she started has not diminished since Trump’s election. (Mary is a good friend of mine and the wife of Dr. Don Colbert, one of our most successful authors. You can find out more about the prayer calls at marycolbert.us/nation-builders-prayer-host.)

Recently Mary had a powerful insight, as I explain in my book, about what it means for believers to “turn from their wicked ways,” as 2 Chronicles 7:14 states, so God would “hear from heaven and … heal their land.” The answer comes during the parable of the talents, in which three servants are given talents. Two servants invest their talents and are called “good and faithful.” But the third servant, fearing he’d get in trouble if he lost what he’d been given, does nothing. The master calls him “wicked” (Matt. 25:14-30). Mary believes that Christians who “do nothing” because they fear being ridiculed as politically incorrect are “wicked” and must repent.

“The Scripture says, ‘You wicked, lazy servant’ [Matt. 25:26, NIV], so literally in God’s eyes, the wicked and lazy are synonymous,” Mary observes.

As it is often said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

I believe Mary’s focus on the 2020 election is important, including her new strategy to pray for the Democratic Party—a party many white evangelicals have given up on, as is evident by 81% of them voting for Donald Trump in 2016.

One day in prayer, Mary says she felt the Lord tell her that He set up a two-party system—Democrat and Republican—for a balance of power. The reason, she believes, is that if one party had absolute power, it would be absolutely corrupt. And while God favors neither party, one has drifted from godly principles and gone so far as to even take mention of God out of its platform.

Yet there are righteous Democrats such as Fernando Cabrera, a non-denominational pastor from the Bronx who has been on the New York City Council for 10 years and is running in the Democratic primary against Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an avowed socialist. In November, I interviewed him for my podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. This year I’ve had a total of more than 2 million listeners, and that episode was among the most popular.

In 2019, Mary began to pray for righteous people in the Democratic Party who will stand for biblical values. Impossible? It may seem that way, considering the way my book documents how the Democratic Party has almost gone off the rails. But Mary believes God wants believers to pray for the Democratic Party.

The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26, MEV). So we can pray, but we must work and vote too. God’s people are called to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). We must be like the gentle Jesus even as we fight battles for the soul of our nation.

So I encourage you to get registered to vote if you haven’t already and to encourage others to do the same. Get involved in your local community and help turn the tide. I believe there is still hope for the future. But we must act now. None of this matters if you don’t vote.

Other generations rose up to meet the challenge. The question is, will we? We cannot assume that others will do it. The point of my book is that Trump can’t win without our help. Each of us must do our part. God demands no less.

Stephen Strang is founder of Charisma. He believes God, Trump and the 2020 Election (Charisma House), available wherever Christian books are sold, is his most important book. Listen to his new podcast by the same name on the Charisma Podcast Network.

CHARISMA is the only magazine dedicated to reporting on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of believers around the world. If you are thirsty for more of God’s presence and His Holy Spirit, subscribe to CHARISMA and join a family of believers that choose to live life in the Spirit. CLICK HERE for a special offer.