Are you going to be voting this year?  It’s a big year for our nation, and a very important one.  I’m greatly concerned for our nation because evil is becoming the norm.  We have a big responsibility to play in our nation’s future.

We may not be holding office as the president, a senator, or even a county commissioner, but we still are called to a great purpose.  We should be concerned for the future of our nation because it is also the future of our families, our children, and millions of unborn lives.

There are two things that I wanted to talk about today that you can do.  Even if you are not old enough to vote, you can pray.  Let’s start praying, if you don’t already, for our government, local and national, that God’s will would be done, even through men that don’t fear him. There are many examples of how He used leaders in the Bible, that didn’t fear Him to accomplish His purposes for the nation of Israel.  Pray for the courage, wisdom, and resolve of the politicians that are Christians that they would fight for what is right.  We can pray that God will raise up modern-day heroes like William Wilberforce that will defend and fight for the truth, freedom, and life.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;” 1 Timothy 2:1-3

The second thing that you can do is vote.  It’s the system that our founding fathers set up so that we the people decide who’s in office.  You may not be old enough to vote yet, but if you are, it’s too important to ignore. Yet that’s what so many young people are doing today.  In 2014, more than half of the population of US citizens over the age of 18 didn’t vote.  In the 2014 congressional elections, only about 23% of people ages 18-34 age voted.  That means almost 3/4 of them didn’t vote.  You might feel that you’re one vote doesn’t count, but if everybody said that….nobody would vote and make a difference.  Sometimes Christians don’t want to vote.  They don’t want to get involved and have the chance of participating in a wrong decision, or they are too busy.  It is really easy to get busy with the things of life and forget about important issues.  It’s also a true difficulty deciding who to vote for sometimes.  I want to do the right thing and not give my vote to a candidate that would ultimately make bad decisions.  I would never want to encourage you to do something that is not honoring to the Lord, but if it is wise to vote, let’s make ours count!

Even though George Washington wrote this over two hundred years ago so much of it still seems applicable to today:

“The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own. . . . The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. . . . Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world—Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble actions.”   – General order issued by General Washington, July 2, 1776.

“Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.  Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.” Psalm 9:19-20

What do you think about voting and it’s importance?