By Bunni Pounds

Last weekend I was exhausted. I collapsed. I just wanted to sleep FOREVER! I had worked all election cycle (two years) for a Member of Congress, running his campaign while simultaneously running this statewide, nonprofit organization (Christians Engaged).

It was the weekend following the election, and I’d completed the initial reports for the race, coordinated yard sign pickups, and I’d begun to turn my mind and heart toward the upcoming board retreat for Christians Engaged and our plans for 2021.

In the midst of this, I felt compelled that I needed to go to my church’s prayer room, where I try to spend as much time as possible when I am not working. That morning, as I was getting ready to head to the prayer room, I received a text message from one of our board members about an opportunity to go to Nevada to work on a project related to voter fraud.

The moment I read the text I knew that I was supposed to go. 

“But God”, I internally complained, “I am supposed to be going to a retreat this weekend. We all need it so badly! I NEED IT SO BADLY.”

The previous night, another one of our board members shared that she too was being pulled into another election-related project, and was trying to get the Lord’s perspective. She wanted to rest but knew she couldn’t quite yet. 

“God, when will this battle be over?” 

How can we be so tired but yet still feel we need to stay in the fight? 

I know that this has been an ongoing dilemma in the lives of many political activists and intercessors all over our state and nation at this moment.

Many of us grow accustomed to the ebb and flow of election cycles- we work like dogs and then collapse after it is over. 

For people who carry the nation in our hearts, and are called as intercessors for America, we have seasons of intense prayer times and then times of peace. 

I know both of these worlds as a person of prayer and a political operative, so I pray I am encouraging both groups right now. 

Yet in 2020, it feels as if the “war” hasn’t subsided at all. It never stops!

As I have spent most of this year meditating on Isaiah 59, 60, and 61 - my thoughts went to this passage: 

Isaiah 59:4-5

“No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.”

Doesn’t sound like a good place to be, right? Not for me and you. Not for our nation. 

I went into the prayer room that Monday morning, exhausted, but knowing I had to go back into the fight. 

Now is not the time to retreat and rest - now is the time to keep up the fight!

My friend, Corey Russell came over and started praying for me to have a rekindled fire for the war, and then over the course of two hours, three other individuals “randomly” asked if they could pray for me, and guess what they prayed?  

You got it—strength! Strength for the war—determination, boldness, more fire, endurance. 

These prayers brought to mind this passage in Isaiah 59. 

“Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him - That there was no justice. 

He saw that there was no man,

And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head;

He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.

According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries,

Recompense to His enemies;

The coastlands He will fully repay.

So shall they fear

The name of the Lord from the west,

And His glory from the rising of the sun;

When the enemy comes in like a flood,

The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” -Isaiah 59:15b-19

Three days later, I was on a flight to Nevada—putting on my breastplate and helmet, and watching as God had provided all the resources for my next mission.

There will be a time for rest. Believe me - it will come, but for many of us still in the fight - know that God sees us, He will strengthen us, and He will watch over us.

In 2020, He is teaching us like never before to WALK with Him, to be dependent on Him daily, and to get our life and rest truly from the vine—His presence. 

I felt like I needed two weeks of rest, but God knew I only needed two hours in His presence to prepare me for the next assignment. 

We have to shift our paradigm that we might not get seasons of “rest” similar to those we’ve been accustomed to in the past, but that doesn’t mean that the GOOD SHEPHERD is not going to watch over our souls and continue to lead us “beside still waters.” 

The still waters just might be running over our heads - refreshing our souls - as we run back up the mountain to the battle. 

Be prepared. Don’t say you weren’t warned. 

2020 is not over yet! 

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