Not Governed by the Fear of Man

Explore Chris Byberg's insights on how political leaders rely on polls for decision-making and the impact on governance in our November blog post.

Transcript

Hi everybody, it's Chris Byberg here, the Director of the National House of Prayer from Ottawa. Happy November! It's a little bit chillier, I've got my coat on. Anyway, I was talking with Rob this morning, and yesterday it was minus 12 in Alberta, so I really shouldn't complain. Anyway, yesterday I met with a member of Provincial Parliament here in Ontario, and we were discussing some issues, and she was talking to me about how the many political parties and leaders are motivated by polls in their decision making. They're motivated by opinion based on any decision that they make, so they don't necessarily

make things that are the best decision, which is right, it's basically the best decision that will appeal or appease the people so they'll get votes. Which is okay I suppose, but it's not great for righteousness because you end up walking into the grey, and sometimes the dark, into the black. So this morning in one of our prayer times on Zoom, Marilyn actually prayed from this particular scripture verse, I Philippians 4, and I just want to encourage you that this is a great posture, right? It talks about our minds and how we think, and that we will pray this, we should actually focus to pray this on our leaders, on our premiers, on our Prime Minister, on our Members

of Parliament, on our MLAs and MPPs, that let's just pray this, but I'm going to read this before we pray. From Philippians 4, we'll start with the preface, Rejoice in the Lord always, and I say it again, Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all, the Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace that passes understanding will transcend all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, in anything, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. This is a great posture, because it takes out the element of the fear of man. And the fear of man, at times, can control many aspects of our society. It can control how our church leadership moves. It can control how I work my life and walk my life out. So I want to encourage you, don't come under that place of the fear of man, but think on these things, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is right, these are the things that we think when we bring our petitions to God.

So let's pray, Father, Lord, your word says, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. So Lord, we look at our lives first, and say, Lord, shine the light of your truth in our hearts in regards to the fear of man. And Lord, we ask that you would do that as well to our Prime Minister, for our premiers, for our members of Parliament, our MLAs and our MPPs, for our mayors and our municipal leaders. Lord, Lord, we ask that you would become the preeminence, that you become the first, and that we would walk in your truth, in Jesus' name, Amen. Bye for now, everyone, we'll see you next time.