Why Should God Be Part of Our Laws?

"God will not favor everything that we do. It is rather our duty to divine His will." Lyndon B Johnson

"...the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God." John F Kennedy

"The way is plain, peaceful and generous...if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." Abraham Lincoln

"With God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us." Ronald Reagan

Continuing his two part series, "God and Country", Andy Stanley reminds us that sometimes when things surface nationally which intersect with things we find in scripture, people that do what he does (minister) have to say something in response. The question Andy poses is, "Where is God in the national conscience?" Every nation has a conscience. As individuals, our accountability to God speaks our conscience, but who or what speaks to our national conscience if not God?

Just a few weeks ago, we saw a great example of our national conscience. The insurance giant, AIG, received money from the government to bail themselves out of a financial meltdown and then it was made known that the high level executives were still going to be receiving enormous bonuses!! Obama, in sharp response, said something very interesting. He essentially said, "the executives that receive those large bonuses ought to give the money back." But it was an "ought to" and the public seemed to come together and agree. But what was behind the "ought to"? Where does the moral conscience come from; the President?

We are a nation that continues to appeal to something that guides us, but what is it? Last week, Andy pointed out that clearly, the national conversation involving God has fallen out of favor. The reason that it isn't cool or politically correct to mention God on the national stage is not necessarily because it's not fair or because it's not comfortable nor is it because we've intellectually moved past God. The primary reason God has been pushed out is because of our own wealth and affluence.

In Proverbs, we see that affluence and humility are not good mixes. The more stuff we have, the more we tend to give ourselves credit, the less humble we are and the more we push out God.
"Give me neither poverty nor riches, but only my daily bread." We have far more than we need as a nation. Increasingly, as a nation, we continue asking "Who is God?" We've become less dependent on Him, more arrogant because of "our own achievements" and hence, not in need of God. The reason we have moved God out is because we have been so incredibly blessed by Him!

In Deuteronomy 8:6, Moses is about to lead the former Israelite slaves into the Promised Land, but before they enter, Moses wants to remind the people there's two things they have to remember;

1) There's law
2) There's accountability to God

Our forefathers stated that we would be a nation not of a king, but a nation in awe of God. Moses, as the leader of Israelite's Exodus, warned the people as they reached the Promised Land. He implored them, that when they were blessed, not to forget the Lord God. Moses knew that prosperity and humility don't coincide very well. He warned that, with prosperity, they would lose their humility and forget their need of a God.

"Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."


When we think that all we've accomplished is purely with the strength of our own hands, we are at that moment not accountable to anyone. When we are unaccountable, we become more unjust as we look out more and more for our own interests. When a nation loses any sense of divine accountability, it becomes more and mores unjust to its people. Read about history. The natural overflow of unaccountability to God is the exit of justice. Free enterprise, capitalization the American way of life is awesome until we lose God. Then free enterprise becomes an excuse to hoard as the executives of AIG did. At this point, "free enterprise" becomes a symbol of injustice because of the hoarding. The only way to push back on hoarding and injustice is to then impose more laws in an attempt to "legislate morality". But with so many laws that can be broken even because people are unaware that such laws exist, that is when a nation loses its freedom. The American view of life is wonderful until we factor God out. Injustice becomes part of the culture. We forget our God.

"But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today."

If any nation in the world believes this, it should be us. It should be America because we have truly been a blessed nation. It is God who designed our nation.

"If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

At this point, we might say to ourselves, "Boy, I'm glad we're not a nation that had a covenant with God! I'm glad I'm not an Israelite! Does God really punish destroy a nation because it pushes him out? Read history; it happened time and time again. Israel was eventually destroyed. Perhaps the arrogance that comes along with forgetting the Lord our God doesn't need the overt intentional judgment of God, perhaps it carries an intentional judgement of its own. Maybe a lack of humility has its own implications. Perhaps it's just sowing and reaping. Moses reminded the people that, like nations before them, there would be a price to pay for leaving out God. It was ultimately the people's decision.

The sad thing, but the hopeful thing, is it doesn't have to be this way. We can try to factor God back into the equation. What's more, it hasn't always been this way. Andy loves to read history. Several years ago, Andy read Steven Ambros book, "D-Day". It is a big thick book about all the minutia leading up to D-Day. Ambros outlined the U.S. build-up prior to our invasion of France. It was known that we would attack France, but the secret was when and where we would strike. So on June 6, 1944, when we finally launched the invasion, the news was announced on the radio that the invasion had begun. Instinctively, when our nation became aware of the news, despite our amazing military of 130,000 trained troops and 250,000 other people who had mobilized to support the troops, there wasn't a sense of a national question, "Who is the Lord?" In fact, it was quite the opposite of today. On D-Day President Franklin Roosevelt used the radio to gather everyone and lead them in a national prayer. Can you imagine? The nation, as a nation, prayed, despite our own careful plans, despite our powerful military and despite our advanced technology. We prayed.

Here is (a segments of) that prayer;


"Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. These men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.
Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944

The New York Daily News threw out their other articles and printed the Lord's Prayer on the front of the newspaper. The company Lord and Taylor never opened that day. The president of the company sent all employees home to pray. The New York Stock Exchange paused for two minutes to pray. The editors of the NYT printed we pray for the boys. Special church services took place across the nation. In Columbus, Ohio, the mayor used sirens as a call for the entire city to stop in prayer.

We understood that even with our great military might, we still NEEDED the Lord. Not everyone agreed with the endeavor. There was conflict, but the people came together. A few years later, we witnessed the Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King. Our nation came to a point where we understood that principles of scripture should impact the law of our nation. Luther appealed to our national conscience. Even thought it was different and uncomfortable, King was right according to scripture.

On August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, King spoke the words of his most famous speech, "Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, (quoting from the Declaration of Independence) "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." Then, Martin Luther King closed with a line we all know by heart, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."



Aren't you glad that after the second World War, a group rose up and said we can't talk about God in politics law and social civil service? These people said all we need is a court, a system and laws. They think we can justly rule ourselves. But, if there had not been a national conscience during the Civil Rights Movement, there very well might not have been a Civil Rights Movement!

The leverage point during these important times in history was our understanding that God created all of us equally. To remove Him is extraordinarily dangerous. We only have to look at history to see where that leads. To do so will leave us looking at ourselves, our arrogance. We think we can become unaccountable to God, but it has consistently led to injustice. It leads to moral ambiguity, which leads to the erosion of civil rights.

This is not the time to lose heart or to be afraid. We should be afraid of our own arrogance which leaves us asking "Who is the Lord?". It leads us to abandon the notion that God blesses.
Maybe it's time to end our prayers with, instead "God Bless America", with a sincere appeal to God to bless our nation despite it's gradual rejection of Him.

Why is Prayer So Boring?

In the second part of Fusion's series, "The Furnace", Todd McVicker opens by saying that if someone told him he'd be giving a message about prayer a few years ago, he would have said, "You have lost your mind." Todd is most active in the music ministry and in praise/worship through music, but he said the truth is he doesn't consider himself a "prayer guy". But God and Todd have been on a journey over the last few years learning about prayer.

"About 10 years ago, I got saved...but didn't know anything about prayer...about a year into my relationship with God, Victory (Church) was doing a 40 day fast and prayer....this was really and opportunity for me to grow...and maybe even be a prayer guy." He went to Home Depot and bought some durable letters to label his "Prayer Closet". That was going to be his place during the fast where he would pray for an hour a day. There was a big HooHa about starting the 40 days at the church and Todd was psyched. He fasted on day 1, came home and sat in the silence of a small closet to pray for an hour. "I prayed for everything." He was crying out and praying for friends, work, specific requests and anything that came to his mind. He worshipped a little and wore himself out filling the space of prayer. But when he came out of the closet, he looked at the clock and it said he'd only been praying for 15 minutes. "15 minutes!! Are you stinking kidding me?", remembers Todd, "That's all I had! I didn't have anything else..." So he went back into the closet determined to honor his commitment to pray for an hour a day. He went back into the closet, went back over many of the prayers he had offered up "and I think I even prayed about China". But when he came back out of the closet, it had only been anther 15 minutes. "That was my cycle, 15 minutes". So he went back in and forced himself to endure the last 30 minutes. This was very discouraging for Todd because when you hear people talk about prayer, "they don't say it's boring" or that it's not that fun.

Todd was determined to continue praying for days afterwards. Predictably though, as the days went by, he found himself praying less and less and then making excuses not to prayer at all. But during the 40 day fast, he said the "eating thing was going good". As a matter of fact, towards the end of his fast, he would literally lick Doritos and throw them into the trash can. "Hey, it counts....it turns into Dorito juice or something." So, from that experience, Todd decided he was just going to leave the prayer element up to the prayer people. There were other times when he would recommit, but he would have the same results which only left him feeling guilty.

"Why is it that this is so boring? Why is it such a bore and why do I have to psyche myself out, like a football player to pray? Then why doesn't it last so long? If this is our communication line with God...why is it set up this way?" Thinking about this, he mused that maybe WE have lost it somewhere. There is literally a devil in our world and maybe he has twisted the truth to convince us that God may not be all for us. Maybe somehow, Satan has perverted our prayer time.

"Let me say it this way, all the single ladies (singing to the song)...Let's say you have a friend who you trust...she tells you she has this guy you need to meet...he has money...he's nice to people...he's not shalllow...he treats people with respect...he's the man. Once she talks about him everyone else nods their heads and say 'yes'. So, you say 'When can I meet him?'...But your friend says, 'Oh, no, no, no....here's the catch; You don't actually get to meet him first. You have to sign up for the relationship and then you get to meet him at some point...But you trust your girlfriend...so you enter into the relationship...Like any new thing...it's fun...it's new.. you get the goosebumps...you get to read about him a little bit...you get a letter from him every now and then... then you get his number and call to leave a message... 'Good to talk to you...I've heard a lot about you...my rent's a little short this month. Could you hook me up?' But you never get to talk to him, see him, share with him or meet his parents!" Todd steps back from his story and asks the single ladies how long this would last. Obviously, it wouldn't last long at all!

But isn't this what we do with God? The "tinglies" are cool. The reading about Him is nice. We send messages up to Him. Other people have met Him, but we never have and we say, "I don't know Him!" Todd reflects on this by reading from Psalms. "Psalms is like this raw, uncensored expression." Psalms 16:11 says, "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand." That, to Todd, is what prayer is. In His presence, we feel joy. Right next to Him are eternal pleasures. That is not forcing ourselves to pray.

In the movie "City of Angels", the plot is summed up by saying there is this angel and this girl. In Los Angeles, it describes how angels relate to people. There is one scene where a store is being robbed and these invisible angels come in and put their hands of comfort on everyone involved. "It's a cool scene." The main character (an angel) sort of doesn't get it. He's sent to this operating room where he is supposed to take the patient. But the surgeon, a woman, looks seemingly directly at the angel while pleading for the man's life. Although he does takes the patient to Heaven, he is moved by the woman who looked at him and asks his superior about it, but he is assured she can't see him "unless he wants her to". So, the angel later goes back to observe the doctor and watches as she is weeping on the stairs over the loss. Trying to comfort her, he shows himself to her and a relationship develops. Anther great scene is when this woman is describing how a pear tastes to t0 the angel, who himself cannot taste. At that moment though, the angel realizes that he will never truly understand this woman he is falling in love with unless he experiences what she is experiencing. So, although he is closer to heaven and hears the music of high places, he decides to give up his life as an angel to become human. Part of this process is he must fall from a high place, which turns out to be the top of a skyscraper. Standing at the top of the building, he stops and ponders, reflecting on his life as an angel. He thinks about watching the sunset and hearing the music in his head every morning. Slowly, he leans and falls. It takes a long time for him to land as all these memories of life as an angel race through his mind. Finally he hits and is knocked out. When he comes to, one of the first things he experiences is blood on his lips which causes him to be extremely excited. Todd enthusiastically says, "Guys, that was Jesus!!"


Jesus had access and the eperiences of heaven and of being in the Highest place, but He chose to put on skin to come here to earth to experience with us and to die for us. So, if he knows what we feel and knows our hurts, why is it still so hard to talk with someone who was with us and knows us?

Todd draws from the wisdom of the Bible by studying how these people prayed. First, there was Adam and Eve who "walked in the garden with God". Then, there was Enoch, who walked so much God took finally took him. Noah communicated with God by building a boat. Jacob wrestled with God. Joseph talked to God in his dreams. Moses saw God through a burning bush and then saw God in the miracles of Egypt. Moses also experienced God through "mountain climbing". Deborah experienced God through judging. Sampson experienced God through "kicking butt with jawbones". Samuel felt God through listening. David played music and wrote poetry. Regarding poetry, Todd asks, "how many times do you have to make yourself sit down to poetry if you are a poet? It comes naturally doesn't it?" Solomon studied and Job as well as Hosea suffered. Jonah was "fish food". The disciples actually got to hang around Jesus. These are our examples of relationships with God. So, if these characters of the Bible could experience these things with God, why can't we? Why can't we worship Him by interacting with His creation? Does it make any sense that he would give us sight, sound and touch only to have us worship Him in our own way by our mouths in a dark closet?

In ancient times, the Temple WAS the only place the people could go to experience God. Deep inside the Temple was the Ark of the Covenant and it was known that God was present here in what was called the "Holy of Holies". Separating the "Holy of Holies" from the other areas of the temple was a curtain that we know was 18 inches thick. Once a year, only one man was permitted to go into this part of the temple to make an offering before God. Can you imagine being that one guy? All the other people could only watch from a distance and wish that they too could have the experience.

Now, the good news is that Jesus came. In Matthew 27:50, in the agonizing moments before He was to become the Resurrected King, the curtain to the temple was torn in two. That curtain represented a distance from God, but Jesus came so that we could go into the presence before God. So, what if this new and priveleged experience could become exciting? What if there was something that could draw us in? What if there was a cross we could go to and feel? What if we could touch the wood and feel the nails? Then, what if there was piece of paper and a pen that would allow us write and then nail it to the cross? What if there was an easel that we could paint on the picture in our minds when we think of Him? Could that be a form of prayer? What if there was a table with incense that you could go to (like it tells us there is in Revelation) and it is a fragrance to God? What if we could light that incense and offer it to God before Him while smelling what he considers fragrant? What if there was music that we could really focus on and pray to Him. What if God could speak to us through the chords and the melodies? What if there was a wall with markers and we could write out on the wall right from our hearts our prayers and thoughts for him? What if there was a map where we could see the people we are praying for and what they are experiencing? Could that be prayer? What if there was a wailing wall where we could take the pictures of others who need Christ and post it for them? What if we could touch, feel, see, hear, give or write in prayer?

A couple of years ago, Todd's group started a place called the "Furnace" at Victory World Church. They did it so that they could just make our access to heaven just a little thinner. A few years ago, Todd and his wife went to Orlando to visit the church a friend of theirs started. One of the big things this church wanted was a place like the Furnace; a place just to go and dedicate time to God. Todd says his wife signed them up for 2 hours! His thoughts, at the time, were, "What the heck are going to do for 2 hours?!??" Mentally, Todd went right back to his dark, boring closet. He headed there with anticipated dread. But within minutes, Todd was weeping uncontrollably. "It felt like home." He felt amazing. In what seemed like 15 minutes, 2 hours had passed!! He spent the time painting, lighting incense, writing, listening to music and it changed Todd's life. The moment he and his wife got home, he began setting up a place in his home where he and his wife could go and truly experience God. Thank you, Todd, this was a very moving message....