By Bunni Pounds

We see things.

We discern things.

We know something is not right.

When we watch the news and see corruption, political games, or injustice in our cities - we shudder.

Our eyes are wide open.

When we look at what has happened in America in the last 10 years or the last 40 years, we shudder.

We see God’s heart for our nation, and we wonder what is happening to the land that we love…..

What is happening to the foundations of truth, kindness, and just laws that we know were sown into the fabric of our nation?

We are worried. We are concerned.

We see lawlessness springing up everywhere, prideful leaders who prop themselves up as the national “saviors”, and our children feeling lost, alone, and overstimulated – full of deception - as they abandon truth.

Why do we see it all? Why do we feel so deeply?

Why do we feel like we are awakened now more than ever to what is happening to the world around us?

Here is why:

Because the Spirit of God is IN us.

If we are Christians and have been born again by the Holy Spirit - then we have the Holy Spirit inside us and the Holy Spirit will “teach” us “all things”  (John 14:26)

When we study our Bible – we find truth and wisdom and our discernment gets heightened. We know deep inside that “things” are not right in our nation.

We are concerned about the generations that will follow us, and we are looking for solutions to our national crisis.

We are awake and know that something must change.

The question then arises – God, what would You have us do?

What do we do with what we see and discern and the things we know are not right in this world?

This is going to sound like a cop out, but it is the most important thing we can do – WE PRAY.

We agree with God’s heart for our nation and the problems in it. We take our burdens for America to the feet of Jesus.

After almost two decades of political activism and political jobs – I have seen many horrible national problems, I have seen few people with solutions, and I have seen what the pressure of carrying these deep national problems can do to individuals. These pressures and burdens can actually consume and destroy well meaning people from the inside out.

As Christians – we should have discernment and should be the ones who are “sensing” what is really happening in our nation, but we CANNOT let those truths – however real they are - eat us up and spit us out.

Anger and fear concerning what we see - injustices, lawlessness, national failures, and worldly corruption can cause us to want to fight back and solve all of it. That is the nature of God in us – the God of justice and the God of order – who wants to restore order; but we can’t solve anything without Him. We can’t overcome and fix it all in our flesh. We can’t do anything without Him, and we can’t carry the burden of it all in our hearts and minds at all times.

Over the years, I have seen sweet brothers and sisters in Christ who I know hear from God and follow God – become consumed by the news of the day, the latest crisis in the nation, and lose touch with the heart of God in it.

God is moving in our nation right now. He is awakening the real church to see it all – eyes wide open. He is calling us to be His hands and feet on the earth and to pick a battle - but it is NOT for us to carry the burden on our own.

Again, we can’t “fix” anything without Him. God is leading us and guiding us in our part in His global plan and our national story together. This journey of being used by Him in this realm takes intimacy with Jesus.

We can’t let the burden overtake us, but we have to still engage with the burden. We are called to engage in hard things like politics, business, education, media – and get our hands dirty. At the same time that we are actively engaging – we need to roll the big burdens onto GOD’s big and capable shoulders. It is a dichotomy that God orchestrates in the Kingdom - He puts us in the playbox to play, but He is the one who is really building His castles out of our weak and fragile designs.

We GET to pray. We get to be a partner in His story. It is so exciting that He lets us be a part.

I love America. I walk beside Members of Congress and encourage them and pray for them. I even ran for Congress at one point – because I felt the burden for the nation and my district so deeply. I know how deep the problems are in many realms and I carry a HUGE burden for America. God called me many years ago as a “missionary to America” and specifically to the government realm and I carry that deep call of God upon my life as an honor and privilege.

But here is the truth - I want us all to hear: I can’t carry the burden of it all on my own. If I try to do that – it will weigh me down with such heavy burdens that I will not be able to move and impact the world around me. God wants to breed joy in my life even in a hostile and messed up world – even in the midst of political involvement.  It does make sense in the natural, but it is how God operates – “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). That is the fruit of the Kingdom of God lived out.

The Kingdom of God is not heavy – it is a light burden. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

I was praying at a church last year and this prayer came out of me that has radically changed me from the inside – I prayed “God, You love America MORE than I love America.”

As I said before - I LOVE America. I want this nation to be as strong and as prosperous as it can be. I want the families of this nation to be strong, the children to be protected and taught well, I want us to be defended and justice to be served rightly, I want lawlessness to stop taking over our streets and government corruption to be exposed. I carry these burdens every day of my life, but when I prayed this prayer that - God loves America more than I love America, I got free.

This burden for the nation that I love is not one that I am to carry. My responsibility is to roll it onto Him.

God has the plans for America in his heart – just like He does for every nation on the earth. “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” (Psalm 33:10-12)

Now we come to the simple command of the Lord for us to pray for all in authority over us, so that we might live a quiet and peaceable life.  

After the Apostle Paul charges young Timothy his spiritual son to “wage the good warfare” he says this important passage for all of us – 1 Timothy 2:1-4 -“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Prayer and “giving of thanks” for people in authority over us whether it is our police officers, our mayors, our Member of Congress, or our President is a holy thing. God desires for them all to be saved and to “come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is His perfect will spelled out for us. When we pray and agree with the intercessions of God for our leaders – we are truly using the burden that God gave us for our nation in the way that it was intended.

This is our highest calling as American Christians. We have been awakened for a purpose  - to bring supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving before the King of Kings on behalf of our “kings”. This should not be a religious afterthought. It should be part of our lifestyle. We live in this geography, in this generation, in this critical time in history. Let us petition the Lord for His will – that all men would be “saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

That is what we do with these deep national burdens.

We throw them back to Jesus and we partner with Him in the place of prayer. He will get all the glory from our weak obedience .