Abortion advocates are hopeful that the coming election will enable them to take control of virtually every branch of our nation’s government.  But those who seek to fight against God’s gift of Life know that their evil plans cannot succeed without the cooperation of Christians.  Our nation is at a crossroads, and the impact of the decisions Christians make during the 40 days leading up to the election may help to determine which road we take.  Will you choose to take the time to make a significant investment in your children’s future during these 40 days?

“Whenever a Christian votes, he votes against God or for Him….  It is the Christian congregations that are responsible for the filling of our public offices with criminals, for the reason that they could prevent it if they chose to do it.  …If the Christians of America could be persuaded to vote God and a clean ticket, it would bring about a moral revolution that would be incalculably beneficent. It would save the country — a country whose Christians have betrayed it and are destroying it.”

Those words were written over a hundred years ago, not by a Christian leader, but by popular skeptic Mark Twain (an expert on observing the true character of people).  Yes, voting Christians have the potential to change the course of our nation.  The next president will probably have a long-lasting impact on the direction of the Supreme Court.  The impact of your vote this November will likely be felt for decades, shaping the culture your children and grandchildren will inherit.

But is a vote really a Christian’s most powerful tool for changing the culture?

The coming 40 Days for Life prayer vigil, beginning September 24, has the potential to impact our culture much more significantly than any election.  If you care about the future of our nation, I hope you will begin now to make plans to be a part of this move of God.

40 Days for Life is not a political campaign.  It is not about who will win the elections.  It is not even about who will sit on the Supreme Court.  It is about God’s people being tuned in to God’s heart.   We need to take our eyes off of our own selfish interests, and see our nation through our Father’s eyes.

Most Christians (like the rest of the nation) seem to focus on their wallet at election time.  Even many of the best “pro-life” politicians over the years have usually avoided mentioning abortion, instead focusing on economic issues or national defense.  Our own selfish interests have been more important to us than the lives of innocent children!  When “pro-lifers” put financial issues ahead of life issues, we are more guilty than the abortion advocates, because we know better.  Instead of focusing on guarding our borders, we should focus on protecting our hearts, because life issues are, ultimately, issues of the heart (Proverbs 4:23, Luke 16:13).

“To whom much is given,” Jesus said, “much will be required” (Luke 12:48).  The blessings God has showered upon our nation should not motivate us to seek to protect our assets, but to use our assets for His glory.  When we seek to save the “least of these” — with our vote, our prayers, or our actions — we are ministering to Jesus.  When we refuse to do what we can (pray, vote, act) to save the “least of these” — we are turning away from Jesus (Matthew 25:45).

Today, many Christians are more concerned about the price of gas than their priceless grandchildren who are being led to the slaughter.  I noticed a news report recently about a movement for Christians to gather together at gas stations praying for lower prices.  Are these Christians really more concerned about a gallon of gas than they are about the flood of innocent blood which pollutes our land?

During 40 Days for Life, our hearts will be tuned in to God’s heart, and our actions will challenge other Christians to do the same.  When our hearts are changed, we will begin to take our own responsibilities more seriously.  Part of those responsibilities include voting, because every time we vote we are exercising in some small way the authority God has given us.  Jesus said that when we are faithful in little things he will give us more authority in the future (Luke 16:10).  A vote may be a “little thing,” but in God’s hands it can have a significant impact on our culture.

But even if the pro-death enemies of God captured every office, they would not be able to extinguish the flame of a true revival in the hearts of people who are wholly surrendered to God. Revival begins with repentance, and certainly abortion (the shedding of innocent blood) is at the top of God’s list of what we need to repent for. (Psalm 106:38)

This election gives God’s people an opportunity to foster the repentance we so desperately need, especially here in California, as we are deciding not only the future of our nation’s preborn children but also other important issues such as the sanctity of marriage and protecting young girls from child predators.

I fear that if our hearts remain hard throughout this election season (when we know that so much is at stake), we may have passed the point of no return. We have sown the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). Soon it may blow us away.

But my hope is that rather than seeing this election drive the final nail in our coffin, it would instead become the tipping point to a revival which will spread to every corner of the nation.

As we approach the election, prayer should form the foundation for everything Christians do to respond to our nation’s current crisis (especially when we focus on the finished work of Christ, because at the cross Jesus won the victory over the forces of death). But such prayers will also lay the groundwork for what God wants to do in my heart (and yours).

I discovered this during our last 40 Days for Life campaign, as I found that the long hours of prayer on the sidewalk gave God the opportunity to get me quiet enough to hear him speak to my heart, and to begin changing my heart. I had entered into the first 40 Days for Life campaign reluctantly, because I had so many important things to do and I knew that spending too much time participating in the prayer vigil would interfere with my “to do list.” I initially insisted that I would not even consider leading a second 40 Days for Life campaign this fall, because I knew that we would be too busy preparing for our Fiesta for Life fundraiser in December. But during the first 40 days, God changed my heart, as I began to see how crucial this 40 day time period is for what God wants to do in our nation. During the first 40 days I realized that if I, as a so-called “pro-life” leader, am not willing to sacrifice my “to do list” in order to cooperate with God’s plan to turn this nation around, I have a hard, cold heart, and I need to let God change it into a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

I’m sure that God has more work to do in my heart in the coming 40 days.

This is the time when God’s people need to stand up and be counted. At the polls? Yes, but more importantly, as we join together standing before the throne of our one true King. Will the battle be difficult? Undoubtedly. Our first 40 Days for Life campaign stretched us to our limits (and far beyond), but this fall’s 40 days will likely be even more challenging, because our adversary wants to seize this opportunity to permanently tighten his deathgrip upon us. But with greater challenges come greater rewards.

Do you feel like the challenge is more than you can handle? So do I. God knows our weaknesses: “If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!” (Proverbs 24:10) Yet He still commands us:

Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
(Proverbs 24:11-12)

Our weaknesses are no excuse for ignoring God’s call. Instead, we are to obediently surrender ourselves to His plans, knowing that when we are weak, He will be our strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

You and I are living today in our nation’s “times of trouble”–will we persevere in prayer or will we lose heart?