Dear friends,

Grace and peace be multiplied to you. Having already entered the second half of an election year, things have really begun to heat up. As I listened to a little of the morning news and much of it being political rhetoric, I had this thought, “God is not a republican or a democrat.” There would be those who would say He favors republicans and others would say He favors the democrats. Those who care what He thinks might be tempted to ask Him whose side He is on. That brought a few scripture verses to mind that I thought might be appropriate for this season.

“Whoever is on the Lord’s side___come to me! Exodus 32:26b

These were Moses’ words after he had come down from the mountain and broken the tablets of the law in anger. Only the Levites gathered to him. He sent them forth with swords to slay those were caught in sin. 3000 men were slain. The day the law came and was broken 3000 died by the sword. The day the Spirit came in power at Pentecost 3000 were saved. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. The kingdom came in power just as Jesus had told His disciples.

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Joshua 5:13,14

As one brother put it, the Lord didn’t come to take sides, He came to take over. If we are asking the Lord whose side He’s on then we are asking the wrong question. We should ask ourselves “Are we on the Lord’s side?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36

We serve a government that is not from this world. The kingdom we serve is in the Spirit. So what do we know about the kingdom.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit it. 1Cor. 15:50

Those who practice the works of the flesh cannot inherit it. Galatians 5:19-21

It is not in word, but in power. 1Cor. 4:20

It is not eating or drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17

The Kingdom of God is simply the domain, the rule, reign, dominion, of the King. The Kingdom of God is here and Jesus is the king.

We are citizens of a spiritual kingdom. Does that mean we should not have anything to do with earthly government? No, in 1 Peter 2, Peter gave some instruction as to how we are to live here, though we are sojourners and pilgrims. Should we neglect the privileges of citizenship because we are subject to the King of Kings? No, exercise those privileges and heed especially the exhortation of Paul. 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, 1 Timothy 2: 1-3

If we are citizens of the kingdom we will be exemplary citizens here.

Can a political party solve a nation’s ills? Absolutely not, our nation is kind of like Humpty Dumpty and Obama and his party, nor McCain and his party can put it together again, but the King can. As we look at soaring oil prices, inflation, deflating home values, war, and division; what must we do? Two passages come to mind:

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33

The things in the context of this verse is our physical needs. If we put the rule of the king first in every area of life, then your need will be met in that area. In every area of life that the King reigns there is the provision of the King.

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust the true spiritual riches? No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16: 10-13.

What are true spiritual riches? Wisdom, peace, understanding, love, and joy to name a few. Could it just be that the reason these guys go to Washington and then act like there is something funny in the water up there is because they have wrong priorities? Just a thought. Many have not been faithful with what they have been given. It is time to seek His reign; his righteousness. Righteousness exalts a nation.

Yes, why don’t we ask ourselves, “Are we on the Lord’s side?” The great thing about being on the Lord’s side is that you always win. Love never fails. And the other great thing about being on the Lord’s side is that when you are on His side, He’s also on yours.

If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side, let Israel now say–“If it had not been the Lord Who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul.” Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalms 124

Lord, we choose to be on your side.

Blessings,

Herb Dean

Dear friends,

My hope is that you are walking in the blessing of the Lord. Many are facing difficult situations and the help of man is futile. I believe we are in a season of God calling His people to prayer. That is a great encouragement to me because the precursor to outpourings of the Spirit in the past was almost always prayer. In the middle of the 19th century church attendance was dropping, slavery had become a volatile issue, the economy was bad, and the country was becoming increasingly divided. In September, 1857, six men gathered in New York City to pray. A few days later the bank of Philadelphia failed. A couple of weeks later the stock market crashed. Within 6 months there were 10,000 people praying in that prayer meeting at the noon hour. Similar meetings sprung up in other parts of the country. The revivals that were birthed as a result helped prepare the United States for one of its most tragic periods in history. I am not saying that there is some sort of tragedy looming ahead and that is why we must pray. There could be, but we must pray because we are compelled; we are drawn to deeper levels of intimacy with the Father. We must pray, for our nation has turned from Him, who in His sovereignty birthed this great nation. Again today I would like to share a few thoughts on prayer. We serve a God whose ear is not deaf, nor are His arms short.

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for 3 years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:17,18

Let’s first look at Elijah.

1. Elijah was an ordinary man. James is making a point that Elijah was just like us. He was saying Elijah was not an angel; he was not a god. We see him the day after his great victory on Mt. Carmel thoroughly depressed and wallowing in self-pity. He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary God. James wants us

to know that even as Elijah prayed and affected the climate, our prayers can affect great change.

2. Elijah prayed. He prayed expecting results. We must pray with expectation. If we pray and don’t expect that God will answer; He probably won’t. Sometimes in His mercy He moves, but the principle in the kingdom that moves God is faith. Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.” 1 Kings 19:41 He said this before he began praying.

3. Elijah persisted. He went up to the top of Mt. Carmel to pray. He put his head between his knees on the ground, which I don’t know , but have been told is the Hebrew birthing position and that this is a picture of birthing things in intercession. That would go right along with the acrostic:

PUSH

Pray

Until

Something

Happens

He sent his servant to check for rain clouds. When he returned the first time saying he saw nothing, he sent him back seven more times and the seventh time, which would have been eight in all, the servant said that he saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. Eight is the number of new beginnings. He did not quit until he knew the answer was on its way.

James was using Elijah as an illustration of what he had said in the portion of the verse listed in the heading. Prayer makes a difference. The Amplified Bible says it like this: The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

James 5:16b

How does that apply to you? Do you believe your prayer will avail much? Some would say, “I’m not righteous.” Are you born again? If you are, then you are righteous not by virtue of what you have done but by receiving by faith what Christ has done for you. If you are saved you have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. By virtue of your position in Him you are righteous and you can pray your earnest, heartfelt,

Spirit-inspired prayers, and expect results. Expect your prayers to be dynamic in their working. As I said earlier our Father’s ears are not dull. He’s not hard of hearing and His arms are not short. Our God is mighty to save. May we see again a mighty outpouring of His Spirit in this land. Be blessed.

In His love,

Herb Dean