Which Party Does God Choose?

Explore the challenge of praying for government with impartiality. No political party fully represents the Kingdom of God. Our goal is that all are saved and that we build relationships across the aisle, valuing discipleship over politics.

Transcript

If Jesus showed up in the House of Commons, I bet you both sides both sides of the aisle would ask, "Are you for us or against us?" Yeah. >> You know. And and [music] he would I My guess is he would say Welcome to Prayer [music] Stream, a podcast from the National House of Prayer in Ottawa. We're here to have conversations with [music] leaders and authors about prayer and how it intersects with the local church, politics and government, Israel, and anything else that might pop up in [music] the news. Join me, your host Brad Fieldler, along with Chris Byberg, as we wade into [music] the prayer stream. All right. Hi, everybody. Welcome [music] to another episode of the Prayer Stream.

I'm your host Brad Fieldler. I'm here with Chris Byberg. Chris, say hi. Hi, Chris. How are you guys doing? So good to see you. Uh great to be here. Excited about what we're going to talk about today. What we're going to talk about today, and that is praying for government. Surprise, it's something we talk about a lot, but uh we wanted to talk specifically today about impartiality as we pray for government. We We touched on this a little bit in an earlier episode looking at James 2. We We talked about that for a couple minutes and how James calls out calls out Christians for treating the rich better than the poor in their gatherings and and he he calls them out for

impartiality. You're treating one group better than another and we went we went through that. Yeah, we're going to talk about that today in the context of praying for and engaging with government and politics. And uh this is a this is a big one because not you, Chris. I know not you, but it's easy to fall into partisanship, right? You don't You don't have a favorite team, do you? Even for me. And to tell you so to tell you the truth, what's really hard about being impartial, some of the other guys make it so easy. Right? There's some of these other teams that that you just go, "You know what? You're making You're making it really hard for me to pray for you." Because

you're doing things that are just Oh my goodness. Cuz we want to We want to pray for the people we like. That's the problem. The rules isn't to pray for the people we like. It's to actually love our neighbors and pray for those that despitefully use us. That's the posture. And that's the part where we have to die. Right. Now, the thing we forget about that is those people on the those other teams are saying the same thing about about you know, we can say that other team is doing things that makes it really hard to to be for them. Well, they see the other side is doing the same thing as well. This is >> it. This is why impartiality and kind of the I guess the first thing to to lead

off with here is that there is no political party that represents the kingdom of God, right? That's exactly it. The kingdom is the kingdom is the kingdom. The The thing is God wants to be everywhere in every aspect of our lives. He You know, we think that he wants to be in in a blue team or a red team or orange or green or purple. But he wants to be everywhere in all aspects of all of our lives. That's the Shema. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul. Right. With all your might. He wants it all. He wants to be in all and through all and the kingdom to be that leaven through all of it. That's right. Leaven A little bit of leaven through the whole lump. And we got to

in our system, we've got five five lumps out there, right? We've got five five groups, five teams. And that's the thing. It's easy for us to think to latch onto, you know, we can see values of the kingdom in one particular party and it's easy for us to latch onto that party, but we we can easily overlook the things that party does that aren't in line with the kingdom and also minimize the things that other parties do that are in line with the kingdom that are that do have the roots in some biblical principles. It's easy for us to latch onto one party and and just think of that lump is this is the good lump. Well, really the leaven of the kingdom is supposed to be

in all the lumps, in all the parties, in all the colors you mentioned. That's exactly it. It's supposed to be everywhere. And you know, and when we start to look to government to be our hope right? To meet our needs to make our lives better. Of course we want good government to make our lives better. But if we're looking for the government to usher in the kingdom of God, we're looking in the right place. Right? That needs to come from the from the local church. That needs to come from the kingdom of God. That needs to come through preaching the gospel to Canada. And that's where it's supposed to come. The government, you know, it doesn't matter what political leader, they're

not going to usher in revival. It is the It is It is the Holy Spirit that does that. It's comes through the prayers of the local church. It comes from the preaching of the word from people like you and me that are sharing the gospel with our friends, with our relatives, with our co-workers, with with all of society. We are epistles being read by men and women. Right. There you go. And that's you know, it's interesting. This is something gets talked about a fair bit. Um but you know, we look back we look to the New Testament you look at Jesus and I find it interesting he he came he acknowledged government and political leaders. He acknowledged King Herod. He acknowledged

Pilate. He acknowledged these ones. He didn't He didn't go after their positions. All right? He didn't That wasn't That wasn't the purpose for the for that season for him, but he didn't go after those positions and say, "I need those positions in order to bring the kingdom." That's it. Um he kind of let government be government and he's established the kingdom. He said, "Here's what I'm about here." And we see that in later in the in the New Testament as well. You see Paul uh and Peter both, you know, clearly instructing the church to honor the government, honor the rulers, submit to them, you know, and and honoring them as and respecting them as leaders,

acknowledging the sphere of authority they have, but our primary focus is to be submitting to the Lord and and doing what he's called us to do. And often times that includes submit, well, often times it does include submitting to those governmental authorities. And uh it's just interesting how, you know, we see that Jesus acknowledges that sphere. He He doesn't write off politics as as something we don't need to don't need to pay attention to. Yeah. He tells us to submit to the authorities, render to Caesar what is Caesar's. Yeah. So, there's there's got to be an acknowledgement and a respect and a and a submission to it there, but it's not all about, you know, it's not

the only channel for for influence to come through. It's In fact, it's not the primary channel for the influence of the kingdom to come through. Well, I find it interesting, you know, I've said this before about Philippians uh that that 4:21. Very that's the end of Philippians where where the Apostle Paul is just wrapping up the book uh the letter uh to to the Philippians and he says, "Oh, by the way, and say hello to the house of Caesar." That tells you that there's an influence there that's going on, right? That there's been kingdom influence in that sphere of authority that he can say hello to it because, you know, these the the house of Caesar wasn't necessarily

the relatives of Caesar. It was probably his staff, right? It was probably the staffers and and the servants that are in that place. But, there was in in influence that was having there. The kingdom Those those staffers were being called out of darkness into his marvelous light. And this eventually made some changes. I mean, the Caesars of the time Those in the first you know, the first 30, 40 years, those Caesars were crazy. They were awful. What they did to Christians was awful. And many of us would have just thought, "Oh, we better not get close to that office." You know, they might be from this particular party or that particular party. And the reality is like Paul was

right in there being the influence, bringing the salt, bringing the light, bringing the leaven of the kingdom to into that place. And that's what we're called to be. So, I I even say this, you know, you're responsible to pray for your member of Parliament even if you didn't vote for them. And many times I've had I've had have theaters and pastors say to me, "Are you telling me you you want me to serve that that member?" And it was like, "Yeah, go serve them." "How?" Go serve them, you know, have influence, become become you know, I go volunteer in their office. I know for some of you would think that it's blasphemous to do that. But, go do that. Be be a servant. You know, you want to

be great in the kingdom? Be a servant of to all, not just a servant to the people that you like. Again, this isn't the whole thing. We got to serve each other and serve Christians. But, no, go be a servant. And say and bring that the light, the the salt, bring it there. It's it's I love working in And you know, even though I'm in a Christian ministry, I deal with all kinds of people that aren't believers. I mean, all the time. Right now, you have people calling us all the time. Jewish organizations want to walk with us, secular organizations want to walk with us. Invited a secular organization to an event that we did last fall, and a whole bunch of them GOT SAVED. NOW, HOW good

is that? That's what we're supposed to be doing. It's not just staying locked in the church building and just loving up on each other, but we're supposed to be salt and light everywhere. That's right. And that's the, you know, we I know we harp on this, we've already hit this probably three times is our seventh episode, we've hit this a bunch of times already. But 1 Timothy 2, Yeah. you know, the the call to pray for leaders and those in authority that we may lead peaceful and godly lives, you know, dignified in in every way. Um, this is good and it pleases God, who desires that all men would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. We often think of

praying for government, praying for our politicians, or any kind of engagement with politics. We we often do that with the goal in mind of so that we can change politics. Yeah. But that's not the that's actually not the goal that our our the first goal that our eyes should be set on. The first thing our heart should be set on is we desire that this member in my writing would come to know the Lord that they would uh yeah, they would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That's That's our primary goal. Yeah. I think sometimes our our desire to see politics change, see the government change into something that agrees more with our values, that tends to be our

primary goal. It's It It easily becomes our primary goal. I think that's supposed to be secondary. The primary one is God desires that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Yeah. That's ex- That's exactly it. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. The main thing is to go into all the world and make disciples of nations, not form governments, but make disciples of nations, of the ethnos, of the people. It's It's discipling the people and bringing them into the to to the knowledge of the truth. And And And so often we get it all mixed up. You know, it's really I I'm going to say something really harsh here. You know, I see these people that are

Christian nationalists, and you know, I I I kind of you have a a measuring stick and a rule, cuz I try to measure stuff. I try to weigh my stuff. I try to measure my stuff. And in And in the ministry that I have, how much of the kingdom am I preaching, right? Am I just worried about particular bills all the time? You know, you know, we got some stinky bills coming through right now. C-9 is not great. You know, there that that whole removal of the in good faith clause is is doesn't look good, but I'm not losing sleep over it, to tell you the truth. I And you know what? And I think Well, if you're losing sleep over this and you're not losing sleep over the your neighbor who is lost, your

priorities are mis- mixed up. Yeah. I I think your priorities are mixed up. You need to be worried about that. You need to be worried about those that are in your family that are lost, right? Because we have been called to set captives free. It's not a matter of they're lost, they're actually in prison. Right? And And when we start to see that that they're in prison, that our God that our goal and our call is because the spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon us, cuz we are called to preach good news to the poor. The [snorts] other stuff is good. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. That's good. I mean, while we're serving the Lord, there are

benefits and there are things and things will change, but it's not all about the stinky bills that we have and legislation that we have. It's there. They're tools that we use to engage with it, but it's not the main priority. The main priority I actually think, you know, um again, we'll go back to symptoms and causes, right? C minus a symptom. Right? That's a symptom. Medical assistance in dying, that's a symptom. And so we have to look at what those what are those causes and what is the causes? Is the kingdom is not in there. There's no life in there. There's no life that is that is getting rid of the death and the death culture that is in Canada. Like let's face it, we do

have a very made in abortion and all those things are vile. But it's the kingdom that is going to bring life to that. Anyway, not not just a reversal of legislation. Yeah. Because again, we've you know, I've heard this said, we of all people should know that righteousness does not come through the law. Yeah. Right? That's that's that's the basis of of Paul's arguments in the first half of Romans is that the the law doesn't bring or produce righteousness. And so yeah, we want to see we want to see righteous laws, we want to see biblical values upheld, but just changing a law isn't going to make that change in and of itself. Yeah. And I I kind of like to say this. I've I've had some friends

push back on this before, but I think in you know, in a in a democratic society like ours, government is downstream of culture. Yeah. Meaning the culture, the people in the culture vote for the representatives who reflect their core values. Yeah. And so the people who show up in government are the ones already approved by the culture. And so if you want if you want representatives in the government who speak for for biblical values, then biblical values need to be cherished and valued by the culture first. What's It's not, you know, it's it's already showing up downstream in the in the government. So if you want to see a change in the government downstream, the upstream change needs to be

being salt and light in the kingdom. Being or bringing the kingdom into our our culture where we are. That's the That's the long and the short of it, I think. Now, yes, go what government does can can slow progress in certain ways and can speed up progress in other things, right? Like it it can you know, if you make something you make something illegal, that does speak to it does give the public the impression that it's not a good thing. So, there's some there's influence that happens there, but I think the primary influence comes through the culture not through the government. That's the that's the idea. And you see it, you know, the the the scripture tells us

that our heart is desperately wicked, right? And when we give the opportunity for slippery slopes to happen, right? Right. >> this. Like like, you know, you look at medical assistance in dying. And the numbers that are are opting for this, you know, it is far worse than we ever warned 20, 30, 40 years ago, right? We never We would have even imagined these numbers. And it's that bad because we have this thing because because the enemy wants to keep you out of hope. You know, our hope isn't in the government. No, that's not where we're going to put our hope. Our hope is in the Lord. We were touching that this morning. Actually, it was kind of interesting this morning. Uh

this past weekend, I know this is going to come out a little bit later. Right. When we're filming this, it was the liberal convention in Montreal. And uh and I was listening to you know, like because I listen to everything and I want to be well informed and I'm not going to just listen to to my favorite team. I'm going to listen to what everybody has to say so I can be informed on how to pray. And so the farmer the the prime minister shared this at in the beginning of his speech and it just about floored me. It really got me riled up in a very good way. And uh and it was about he he he basically said hope is not a strategy." Well, actually, hope is the strategy.

It's the only strategy, but hope in the government is not the strategy. Our hope in the Lord, our hope in the power of the gospel is our hope. That's the strategy. The hope Jesus Christ Jesus Christ raising from the dead is the big hope. That is where we we park our lives. That is what we live. In him we move and breathe and have our being. It's in Christ, and that's the only hope for our nation. Not just, you know, great laws. We'd love to have great laws. And I like good laws, and I like fiscal responsibility. I like all those things, but it's in reality, it's the hope of the gospel being presented. Can you remember? Do you remember what your life was like before you met Jesus? Do

you remember what it was like when you were in darkness? And then you came into his marvelous light? It was marvelous for me. It still is marvelous to me. And I was 11, and it's still marvelous. And we need to be presenting that and preaching that and sharing that wherever we go, sharing the stories of what God is doing in our lives. And if God is not doing anything in your in your life, you need to ask the Lord to do something in your life. He'll do lots in my life, and I know he's can do lots in your life. And that's that's interesting because I one of the things I like seeing that pops up over and over again in the Psalms Yeah. is this idea of I I remember you in the night watches or I

meditate on your love or there's there's all these times where these psalmists say, "I'm reminding [snorts] myself of your love. I'm reminding myself of the things you've done." Even some of the Psalms there themselves are recounting the history of God delivering them out of Egypt. And there's there's this constant I'm going to remember. I'm going to remind myself. We need to be constantly reminding ourselves, constantly turning our thoughts towards remembering how God has shown up in our lives and how he has changed our lives. Because like you're saying, Chris, those are the stories that actually can inspire hope more than more than debating over politics. Yeah.

You know, it's remembering the goodness of God in our lives. That's actually where that's that's where hope springs up. Yeah. And that's I I I was I was speaking with somebody just a little while ago and they were, you know, ringing their hands and well, you know, I I to be honest, there are times I go, why isn't it going right? Why is it going sideways? What is >> You can ring them pretty good, too, right? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, no, I It's not It's not that I don't worry. I do worry. I mean, seriously, you know, Gladue crossing the floor, who was the one of the most conservative of conservatives. Like she she I you know, we spoke to her on a couple occasions and to hear her cross

the floor, I I won't get I I received some mail this week on her and some insights, but I won't share because I'm still watching. And uh but that was I tell you, I was I was miffed. I was perturbed. I was a little bit angry. I'm thinking like, what the heck was that? And how that happened and then my heart was saying, was was she seduced? What is going on? We'll have to wait and see what's going on. But it's it's again, this thing. And what's the main thing? The main thing is to keep the main thing. Well, you know, in Psalm 27, David says this, one thing I ask. David, the king, he like he's the he's the government, right? He's the government in Judea, right? And eventually Israel.

But that's he that's his job. He is he's like the prime minister. He's the main honcho. And he could have put the tabernacle in the house or whatever in the palace. Right. And he doesn't put it there. He keeps it in a place outside of his place and basically in his Mar-a-Lago. And uh and he goes to that place and that's where and he says this, "One thing I ask." Right. >> It's the main thing that I would gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And and stay in his tent and minister towards him. Even though he could have parked that inside of a political realm, he went, "No, this is the main thing. It's the main thing. Even though I'm the king, I have all the authority, I'm a

part of the government, the main thing is still the Lord." And he gazed upon the beauty of his holiness. I love that and that's where the focus for us to be. Yes, this other stuff has to be there. Yes, we need to have good roads. Yes, we don't need to pay too much taxes. Hopefully, we should have hospitals that work, schools, all those things are important. Yes, and we have tools to use that. But again, we're back to impartiality. We're going to reach out to everyone. Mhm. Everyone. We're going to share the good news with everyone. We're on the hill, we're walking on the hill, whether we meet liberals, NDP, we share with all of them and that we have people

in your riding and their ridings, people just like you that are praying for them. And you know, it really ministers to them. And and if you haven't reached out to your member of parliament, you should. Here's a little tool I I tell people on their birthday, write them a birthday card. Tell them you're praying. >> That's cool. If they if they do a good job in the house, if they do something really really exemplary, write them a handwritten note to say, "Thank you for that. That was really great. I really appreciate it." Put all your particulars, email, telephone, uh, mailing address, and then tell them that you're praying. And they should know you as a person

that's praying, not what I used to call when I was in the game in the in the political as as a a chief of chief of staff. Don't you don't want to become a frequent flyer of somebody complains all the time. You want to be known as the person who has got their back in prayer. Doesn't matter what what party they're from. Yeah. I wanted hop back to something you said when you're talking about King David and how again David was he was the government. He was the king. He had advisers and so on. He had had people who worked for him, but he was the king. Yeah. He was he could make all the decisions, call all the shots. And he kept I'd never thought of that before. He

kept the tabernacle separate from the palace. He did. And the temptation would be cuz here's here's where it gets messy. When we put when we put the tabernacle in the palace, we start equating the two. Yeah. And I I think it's actually there's a lot of wisdom in him keeping keeping the two separate cuz one thing I keep going back to is you know, we we skip ahead to revelation and there's this, you know, I think it's a revelation 11 the final trumpet and the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God. And and there's Christ and he will reign forever and ever. And in in that and when we look at other passages associated with that there's no indication that when Jesus

receives when he fully receives the nations as his inheritance, there's no indication that he's going to go, "You know what? Canada really had this whole government thing figured out. I'm going to use their system and I'm going to piggyback and I'm going to reform it. I'm going to bring the kingdom to it." Like no, there's no there's no earthly government Yeah. that he looks at and goes, "You know what? That's working really really well. I'm going to use that." Yeah. he comes, he's he's going to be the king. He's the He's the one that all nations, all peoples will bow to. And so, when we equate the two, when we you know, put it that way, when we equate the Tabernacle and the palace, we start

to think our governmental system is the one approved by God. And it sure seems to me like he's going to he's going to kind of clear the deck and and build his own structure from the ground up. And so, I think it's there's a lot of wisdom there in in David again, keeping that Tabernacle separate from the palace. And the trick for us is it's easy for us to blend the two. It is [clears throat] easy. Like again, we measure what are the things that we're using as measuring sticks, right? Yeah, and brains. For me, I I'm I got cuz you know, I've been a pastor uh for many years and and and I got to work in government and do other things, but a measuring stick for me is

is how many people are coming into the kingdom. That's even for our job on Parliament Hill. How many people are coming in the kingdom? And we you know, we recently just started to really you know, push that. Like we did this Charlie Kirk thing. We're going to be doing some other things on Parliament Hill. I mean, I just invited We did a Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast and invited um Jew Jew Jewish organizations, not Messianic Jews, Jewish Jewish organizations. And I brought them to this event, right? Everybody says, "Yeah, but they're not just we're supposed to have just us Christians talking." No, no, no, no, no, I have a plan. And the plan is to present the gospel. So, I brought my

friend to Evan, who is who who runs some great organizations, Jewish organizations in the in the nation. And he comes in and he's listening and he's at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast and he's sitting beside me. I'm sitting beside the American ambassador. That's kind of cool. And uh and so we're sitting there in the in the the worship team is worshiping and the presence of the Lord shows up. And Evan's in tears. He's never encountered the presence of the Lord. And he's there. And he looks at me and says, "Chris, what is this I'm feeling? What is it?" And I said, "Evan, that's Hashem. That's the Lord." Right? That's the Lord. He was just blown away. He said, "I've never felt

this safe in my whole life." That's the kingdom. We're we're kingdom of God. That's what we're doing. Now Now Evan, Evan's a great guy. He's connected politically. He knows how to get people together. He does all kinds of things. Great guy. I love him dearly. But my job is to present the kingdom. Present the presence. Bring the presence of the Lord with you. And everywhere cuz you you know, it's just I mean, I've shared this before. I used to work in in marketing. I was bi-vocational. I was youth pastor, worship leader, worked bi-vocationally. And and you know, in the place that I worked, they'd say, "Chris, we hate it when you go on vacation cuz when you leave, it's not peaceful."

And my response to them was, "Well, you know why you know why that is?" And they go, "Why?" Well, because Jesus lives right here. Jesus is here. The prince of peace is here. Right? So, you could have the prince of peace. And so, when I go on vacation, you don't have to feel no peace. You should know know the king. You know the prince of peace and you'll know. And so, that's supposed to happen wherever we go. Right? I'm not I I'm not just talking and boasting on my stuff cuz the king of glory I spend time with him all the time. Right? He's going to tell me what to do and tell me what to say. And so, here's the important thing about impartiality, okay? Is that when we

only stick to the people who agree with us. Yeah. We never get those opportunities like you had with your friend Evan. Yeah. Where you like when when are we going to have an opportunity to bring someone like that into a setting where they can encounter the presence of God? And where where they can taste and see that he is good. Evan tasted and saw that he was good. He He was in He was in that place. There was something tangible happening. He had no idea what it was and you could tell him what it was, but that doesn't happen if we stay in our echo chamber. It doesn't happen if we refuse to interact with or talk to people in other groups that that are not our our our base camp, right?

>> [snorts] >> Yeah. And it's it's not that you know, the other part of that is like you said Chris, like the plan is to bring these guys in like and to preach the gospel, right? To present the gospel, but we don't build those friendships by ramming the gospel down their throat right right? There's there's an element of being friends and that's the salt and light and leaven part. It It's just being there, demonstrating the fruit of the spirit Yeah. >> in our lives. Just Just showing up with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and all those things. And and that opens doors for where an encounter can happen. And so It's the goodness of God that brings men

to repentance. That's right. >> And when we see the goodness of God in your life it it it it brings change. I I want to share one little story here. I I worked bi-vocationally. I worked in this in I was in the car business for a while. And I like car business. I like cars. If you really if you know me, you know that I like cars. I don't have a lot of cars. I have one car. I like my car. It's a great car. Uh but I like cars. I like learning about cars and and and product knowledge and all that stuff. So I was in I was in this this one particular day this busy Saturday, and when you're in the car business you work every Saturday. And so one of my co-workers had come into my

office and they had inadvertently taken one of my customers. Right, she didn't realize it was my customer. It's not that it's just one of those things, right? But because in the car business you if you're good at it, you log your conversations in a database so that when that person comes in they're flagged and they know who they belong to. And so um this she comes she comes to me and she says, "Chris, I'm uh I got one of your customers. Uh is it okay if I split if we split the deal?" And actually I was looking at her I had my glasses on and I looked at her like this. >> [laughter] >> And I gave her like a grumpy face, which I'm really good at cuz I I have a I have a grumpy face all the time.

Just like that. And I you I said, "No." And I waited a couple seconds and then and then and then I went, "No, take the whole thing. Take the whole deal." See, I knew she was going through a tough time that month. I knew that she didn't have a lot of deals right at the end of the month. She leaves and she starts crying, right? And we're in one of these it's a modern dealership it's everybody has a glass wall like in these goldfish bowls. Right, right. Right? She's crying and it's like, "You don't No, no, don't cry. You can't cry. No crying." Everyone's going, "What is Chris say no to?" >> [laughter] >> She goes right in too. Goes right there and my I'm sitting beside the manager

and I can see into the manager's goldfish bowl. Right? As she goes in and she tells the manager and then the manager starts crying and she's crying and they're both crying, right? And uh and and so this woman just just just it was just like it was it was an easy thing. Like it was it was hundreds of dollars I gave away. I did, but I really felt it was important. And at the end of the day, you know, this woman went off, the manager comes into my office and said, "Chris, you know, I've been in the business for for 17, 18 years, and I've never seen anybody do that." And I said, "Well, why I did that?" I said, "Why?" I said, "Because I love her and I care about her." That's why I did that.

I said, "Because I walk with Jesus. How can I let her struggle? [snorts] How can I let her struggle?" You do that, right? And you know, if you want to sow and reap, I sow like You know what she came up to me one day? This woman she said to me, we'd gone through a really difficult season, and I've been telling them the story what God's doing in my life and we're going through a difficult time. And she comes up to me and she says, "You know, Chris, it's like your life is magical." Because I was just sharing all the good things that God was doing, and all the miracles that were happening in my life all the time. And she saw this. And she was able to God's preaching the gospel. And that's

Yes. Yeah, and that's something so again, something you touched on a few minutes ago when you said, "Tell the stories of what God is doing in your life." Yeah. And if you don't have any, ask for some. But I want to highlight this quickly. You said this was through a very difficult season. It was. >> Right? So even in like we can we often think it's God's goodness is showing up when everything's good. Yeah. >> Usually that's when we're paying the least attention, but even when things are hard, like God is doing things. And you were aware of it, you were picking up on it, and you were telling people of the things God was doing, even though the overall season was, if it's the one

I'm thinking of, it was a brutal season. And uh Yeah, and so recognizing even in those times what is God doing, and telling people about it, and you know, that's what you're doing there and look at the look at the effect of it. Look at the fruit of that. Yeah. You know what? There's this is a old Kevin Prosch tune. And there's this line that that still haunts me today and it says, "God, you do all things well. Just look at my life." Right. And that's true. You know, and and initially I thought was that was I thought that was kind of arrogant to say that, right? It's not. Well, I this is the way it comes like now. Right. >> Because you know, when when the love of

the Father lavish and he pours out on you and you kind of feel like he loves you the best. Right? It's true. I feel like the Lord loves me the most, right? And that he did I you Lord, you do all things well. Look at my life. Look where you taught me. Look where you rescued. Look. Look, let me tell you what the Lord has done. That's what the word hallelujah means. It means let me tell you what Yahweh has done, right? That's what it means. Let me tell you. It's not an inside word for inside church. Right. That's what it means. If you use that word at inside church, it's an outside word. And that word is let me tell you what God has done in my life. Hallelujah. So good. And so

again, where this overlaps with the impartiality idea is if we're only having these conversations with people who agree with us and already think like us, we're missing we're missing the target audience. And uh we need Yeah, we need to be having those relationships and friendships with people of different camps than we agree with. Now, obviously we're talking government today. We're talking politics. That's a a big part of what ENHOP's, you know, the sphere the sphere ENHOP's been dropped into. Yeah, so if we're only talking to if we're only talking to people who vote like us Yeah. there's a whole section of your community that's not hearing what God's doing in your life. Uh your market

share. Your market share, there you go. Don't limit your market share. You could yes, you could be sowing uh James James 3 says this, "Those that sow in shalom, right? Peacemakers who sow in shalom will reap a harvest of righteousness." I love that verse. So, be sowing everywhere as a shalom maker, the purposes of God maker, right? The completeness maker. Sow shalom into people's lives and you'll reap a harvest of righteousness. >> Yeah. There you go. I want to pull in There's one story I always I always comes to mind for me when it comes to this question of partiality, and it's it's the story from Joshua 5. It's where Israel has crossed the Jordan River

and they're camped out on the plains of Jericho. Uh they, you know, some things happened there, but anyway, it's like it says it's on the eve of when they're going to take Jericho. So, it's getting close to the time to do the marching and all that stuff. I don't know if it's the night before or the week before or whatever, but it's getting close is the idea. >> [snorts] >> And at night, Joshua sees Yeah. someone standing there with big guy standing there with a sword, and Joshua runs I love his I love his uh his boldness here. He goes running out at him with the sword. And it's it's you know, there might be some debate about this, but to me it's pretty clear

it's the pre-incarnate Jesus standing there. And Joshua runs out at him and goes, "Are you for us or against us?" And Joshua's speaking on behalf of God's chosen people, right? They're They're the ones that God has just delivered them out of Egypt 40 years earlier. He's about to give them the promised land. If anyone can say, you know, with with confidence, "Are you for us or against us?" It would have been Joshua in that time. And the answer from the commander of the Lord's of the of the Lord's armies is, "No." It's not It's not I'm for you or I'm for them or your enemies. It's No, he just says, "No." It's like wrong question. He says, "No, but as the commander of

the Lord's armies, I have come." And the idea is Joshua's going out saying, "Are you for us or against us?" And kind of like telling the Lord, "You pick which side are you on?" And the Lord says, "No, I'm the commander of the Lord's armies." And the the inference there is, "What side are you on?" And it's a Joshua has a has the opportunity there to realign himself with the Lord in a sense, right? To to humble himself and and submit to the Lord. And it's it's the same idea for me in in politics and really anywhere where this partiality thing comes up. Is we often think, you know, we would run at If if Jesus showed up in the House of Commons, I bet you both sides both sides of the aisle

would ask, "Are you for us or against us?" Yeah. >> And and he would I My guess is he would say, "No." He'd say just straight no, "I'm here. Which side are you on, right?" And and for me, that's a calibrating question. That story is a is a calibrating story for me because it's easy to think It's easy for me to think, "Is Jesus Would Jesus vote like me?" Like there's that question. Would Jesus, you know, we hear it in the States it's a little easier cuz it's two parties. Would Jesus be a Democrat or Republican? He wouldn't be either. Yeah. I guarantee you he wouldn't be either, but we often think he would agree with me. He would vote with me. And there's this

this importance of recognizing No, no, no, he's the one that we respond to. He doesn't fit into our categories. He doesn't fit into our parties. Um what do you like chime in on that one, Chris. Like that's for me, that's a major uh that story is a big one because it just reminds me he does not fit into my categories or your categories. He is who he is and it's on us to align with him. So you see when we when we pick a team and stay in the team, right? And I have a team. I like my team, right? But when we get locked into that that that doesn't give any room for God for you to come into agreement for God to move in other places. Like one of the things that we learned over this past

season, you know, a national national prayer breakfast you know, listening to the testimonies of some of the MPs, you know, and and and and the MP from London. And you know, she shares this testimony. Here she's a believer, right? But she she got elected and she grew up as a Christian, right? And when she got onto the hill, she realized that she really needed Jesus. She really needed him, >> [laughter] >> once she got there. And it was and listen to this. It's going to mess your mind with your mind cuz now you're going to get all upset. And who was the one that bugged and pestered for her to come into that that prayer meeting on Wednesday mornings at 7:15? It was Elizabeth May.

Pestered her to come to pray, right? Now that's just messing with everything, right? Now you're going especially all the conservatives. I can hear you now talking right now. And there's no way that could possibly happen. And like I got Elizabeth May and just like you find out that she's a woman of prayer and it's just like what? Right? And that totally makes messes and she shows up. Not only is she not only is she a woman of prayer, but she's probably more faithful in prayer than most of us on this call. How'd you like that? Right? And she shows up every Wednesday at 7:15. I mean, I we do a lot of Wednesday calls and not very many people show up. She does.

Okay? I so I'm just telling you. You know, I'm I'm I'm grateful for her to be in there and here she is pulling in there are members parliament get saved in that and and in that and thing and so now here we go. Now isn't it is and and so so Marilyn Gladu crosses the floor the and she's a like she's a Christian. She she she from what she tells me she tells which is a Christian. She put together a motion in the house to to have Christian Heritage Month. Like she did that. You know, she shows up in prayer meeting. She was a youth pastor. I was a youth pastor. Right? You see all these things and all of a sudden she crosses the floor and so you have to ask why did she do that?

Was it a political thing that she did? Was it really because of what many of us think are thinking? Maybe she lost maybe maybe she have abandoned what if and I'm just saying cuz I don't know. What if the Lord told her to do that? I don't know. [clears throat] I mean I'm I'm I'm I'm I I don't know. I don't know what the facts are. I don't know why. Right? But if I'm carrying this spirit of partiality Right. and then when I have that if she if what if the Lord sent her there? Right? Who am I to say you know what? We've been praying. We've been praying. If you've been a part of Anahop you know what we've been praying. Lord send salt and light into all the parties. Lord, we've been

praying about the pro-life. She is one of the most pro-life members. Right? And here she is now in that party. Now I know she said certain things and whatever. I don't know what's going on in there. But I'm just saying what was there and what's there now still I'm not going to get all upset. I was really hoping to run into her in Montreal when I was in Montreal this past weekend, right? Cuz I wanted to have conversation. And actually, we're kind of reaching out to her to have a conversation with her to still let her know that we're still praying. Right. >> That we're still going to care for her in prayer. And remember I said this about, you know, Justin Trudeau all

those years ago. We pray for the Prime Minister as if he were our son. Yep. And we're going to pray the same way for our sisters and brothers and sisters in Christ. They're our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we're going to pray for them like they're our brothers and sisters. Right. >> This is important that we do this. And trust what God is doing there. I mean, you know, I'm I'm a political guy. I like to do the political stuff. I look at the numbers. We have a majority now. Now, what's up? I But however, I'm not flustered. I'm not upset because my hope is in the Lord. Right. Not in the parties. Well, um Yeah, I I I think a a follow-up thing I would add to the Joshua 5 stuff. And

this, you know, it's all kind of weaving together here a bit. But so we often think, okay. So, if he's not conservative or not liberal or not NDP or not Green or not Bloc, then where is he on the on the political spectrum? We want to pinpoint where is Jesus on the spectrum? And so, you know, we think of we've got right and left on the spectrum. So, where is he? He must be a centrist. He must be right in the middle. He must be a little bit conservative, a little bit liberal, a little bit whatever. And I've heard this term thrown out there. Um I forget who who coined it. But this idea of So, we we want to measure this on a graph, like an XY graph. Where we want to pinpoint where

is Jesus with his political views? And the idea is we have this this nice XY axis graph. And the the term I've heard is he diagonalizes. He just cuts through it on a completely different plane is the idea. And and that again, Jesus is not bound to our politics. No. He's not bound to our politics. He is who he is. Yeah. >> And there are things he There are things that he would approve of. I think there are a few things he'd approve of in in many of the parties. I think there's a lot of things he would disapprove of in many of the parties. And even some of the things he'd approve of, maybe he'd disapprove of because of all these other things. Yeah. You know, whatever. I'm sorry if

that's getting confusing. The idea is he's on his own plane. He's playing chess when we're all playing checkers, right? And so the idea is don't try to don't try to fit Jesus into our political spectrum, into our political views. He doesn't fit there. We want to be loyal to him, you know, our allegiance to him, and then to be salt and light wherever he sends us is the idea. And frankly, politics is just one of the spheres where he sends us. Politics is not the most impor- important sphere. We don't talk about we don't talk about government and politics because we believe it's the most important thing in life. We talk about it because it's the sphere he's put us in.

And there are others who are in arts and entertainment. To those people who are called to to that sphere, that's the most important sphere. That's the one they're going to talk about the most. And there's some in education, and some in health care, and some in family, all these different spheres of life. It's not that politics is the most important. Yeah. It's that Jesus is the most important, and we're just trying to be faithful to be salt and light and leaven in the sphere where he's planted this ministry. Yeah. That that's exac- I I I I was just talking to Albert Vexler. He used to be global director for Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast. And we went out for dinner,

and we were talking about um about this and he actually says, you know, in in Exodus where at the burning bush and and we know what as God speaking to Moses and he says, who who should I who am I going to say that sent me? And he's and we know it as I am that I am. But actually the actual Hebrew on that is I will be who I will be. Right? And that is really really interesting. And it's interesting to see where God will be who he will be. And and it's not like it's all things like even in the conservative party in the in the conservative uh tent under the conservative tent, there are a lot of different different viewpoints there, right? You've got social conservatives,

you've got fiscal conservatives, you've got all kinds of people there and they're all not all the same. And even in the body of Christ, there's all kinds of different Christians, right? Like we're all kinds of different that's the thing about Anab. We get we're in the radical middle, right? So we get to to deal with and walk with and with all kinds of different Christians. We can walk with mainstream Christians, which we do a lot of, and charismatic Christians and fivefold and Pentecostals and Anglicans and and conservatives and Baptists and we walk with them all. >> [snorts] >> And and we try to be all things to all men. That's what we try to be. And I think

it's important for us. So when we're on the hill, I will speak all things to all men. And so that's how we try to to message. And and when we're and we're walking dealing with ministry, I can speak in a Presbyterian dialect, I can speak in a fivefold dialect, I can speak in a Baptist dialect. I know how to to to be with with different people groups. And that's where you can because if you're partial, then you cut that off cuz you don't get to be all things to all men. You're just stuck in your little stream and some maybe some of us need to be a specialist and that's okay, right? But in reality, we're to preach the gospel to everybody and that's Right. You're you're you're going to

hear that a lot from us, a lot. And even as it gets even if we go into more difficult times, right? And it could worse, maybe politically may get dark, economically may get dark, might be just really hard. That's not our hope. Our hope is in the Lord. We serve a God of miracles. And that's serve. And you just reminded me of Hebrews 11 and the the heroes of the faith, the heroes of the Old Testament and how the author there says they all looked to a better country. Yeah. They desired a better country. And some of them never saw that actually most of the ones he listed there never saw the fulfillment of the promises they were given and yet they weren't disappointed because God did have a

better country for them. Yeah. And so our hope is not our hope is a living hope today, but it's not it's not one that is fully fulfilled in this life. There's always something better coming for us and so there's no need for us to be discouraged. There's no need for us to We get discouraged when we lose sight of what we lose sight of our inheritance. And so yeah, there's no need for us to to settle into that. So uh so let's let's start to wrap this up here. So let's bring it back to prayer. You know, prayer stream is about looking at So in this episode where prayer intersects with government and politics and this whole idea of impartiality. So, what's it Chris, what's the takeaway for

praying for government, praying for your member of parliament, your member of legislative assembly or provincial parliament? What's your your mayor, whoever. What's your takeaway for praying for those in leadership as it relates to this topic of impartiality? For me, um the first thing is that they would come to that they would um they would they would uh know the truth and the truth would set them free. >> Right. But I also pray for their families. I pray for their those around, I pray for their staff, I pray for the amount of stress that they're under. I pray especially in terms of like I we talked a little bit about Marilyn Gladue, but even that they remain true

to what is true. Right. And that they don't abandon, especially Christians, that they don't abandon the faith, that they don't become weary in well-doing. And even those that are not believers yet, they are trying to do their best, that they don't become weary in well-doing. See, the thing is when you're discipling people, right? Many times we think we're discipling people after the altar call, right? The altar call comes, now we start discipling. No, we start discipling people now. In every conversation we're discipling them. We're sharing the goodness, we're presenting the gospel, we're giving them an alternative of of that they could know the fullness of God, the wisdom and

revelation in the knowledge of him. That's one of my main prayers, that even as a Christian, that we would have a deeper revelation of Christ. And as an unbeliever, that they would have a revelation of Christ. Right? So, that's that's the main thing, keeping the main thing, right? It's like this revelation that they they know the love of God. And if they don't know the love of God, we pray that they know the love of God. The height, width, the breadth, the depth of the love of God. So, that's kind of the posture of it sounds repetitious and boring, right? But, it is stay faithful on that cuz like James says, praying prayers. Right. Keep praying prayers, yeah. Yep.

>> Effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. Keep praying prayers. Praying those prayers, going out, watching to see if the cloud is showing up, right? >> Right. That's right. We pray We pray and we believe. And if you don't see the cloud yet, you pray again. And if it's not there, you pray again. You just keep going, yeah. We just keep going and watch what happens. And so, and sometimes we see something and sometimes we don't. But, I I know, you know, like I said, let me just share this. I I have heard that the the current prayer meeting that is on Parliament Hill at 7:15 every Wednesday morning in its history, which is about a 60-year history, has never been as large as it

is today. Wow. How do you like that? Interesting. Praying. Keep praying. >> Yeah. You know, I'm I I remember the first time I went on the hill, I first time I met MP Richard Bragdon I said, "And Richard, the presence of the Lord is here." I was just newbie on the job and I'm like and I could sense the presence >> know any better yet, right? I didn't know I wasn't supposed to sense that. Right, right. I was I was told that there's a big nasty dragon and there's all this that and there's this stuff. I get there and the presence of the Lord is there and I'm thinking like, "What's going on?" And so, I I met with and he looked at me as if as if I had two heads, really. >> [laughter]

>> He thought, "What on earth is this guy saying?" But, then I met with him about three or four weeks later and I come into his office, I'm sitting in his office and and uh uh and uh I forget which block he's in. And I'm sitting up there and he says, "You know something, Chris? The presence of the Lord is here." And I thought, "Yes! Yes!" And it's so good that even for him to to realize that your prayers are the reason why the presence of the Lord is there is because we're praying, right? That's what we ask. So, when we ask, we believe. Like right, Chris doesn't believe, right? And I if you do that, you're unstable and double-minded in all your ways. So, so

um so we're going to pray and believe and that's what we see. So, keep praying. Keep praying. Don't give up. Keep praying prayers. Be faithful. Be faithful in little and God'll give you more. That's good. That's good. And I would add I would add this thing is stay in humility. Yeah. We don't know everything. No. >> We We think we know and we don't know. There's, you know, at the time of this recording, you know, it's about a week or so after Marilyn Gladu crossed the floor and we think we know why. A lot of people think we know why and I'm looking at this going, "There is There is at least one big thing under the surface that we don't know about." We don't know. Yeah.

>> And so, I think often we assume we know and that leads us to that that just always leads us into this partiality. It just always seems to. We just We're sure we know and we're sure we're right. Yeah. >> And so, we we just we go forward with that understanding. I'm just remembering Paul in I think it's 1 Corinthians 4 when he's talking about sectarianism, correcting the church in that you know, some of you are talking about you're with Apollos and some of you are with Peter and some are with me. He's like, "Stop it. Knock it off. We're all with Jesus." And he says this thing in in four, I want to say verse four, he says, I think in the New Living Translation he says,

something to the effect of, I believe what I believe because my conscience is clear, but that doesn't prove that I'm right. Mhm. I believe what I believe cuz it's I believe this and my conscience is clear, so it's what I believe to be true, but that doesn't prove that I'm right. And uh and so I would just say this thing like if anyone could have had confidence that he knew the truth, I would think it'd be Paul, the guy who wrote most of our New Testament epistles, right? But even he had this humility about it's not a guarantee. I know there's things I can still be corrected on. And so I would just say, when it comes to praying for government, praying for politicians,

keep that posture of I don't know everything, Yeah. but I'm going to pray. And I'll just reiterate the the story Chris mentioned earlier, we were at the National Prayer Breakfast a couple weeks ago, and the uh the leaders dinner the night before, you know, we heard testimonies from MPs that that a lot of evangelicals would be surprised to see included in that discussion up there. And you know, the one MP I was struck by, she told her story, she was raised in the church, got into politics, found herself in in in caucus, and the Lord drew her back to him. We don't know how many people are walking with Jesus and how they got there and how they got to the parties

they're in. We don't know that. Don't make assumptions, just pray. And uh and I would just say this, if you're in a riding that's represented by a member of Parliament that doesn't agree with the way you voted, pray for them. And I would say, don't pray that their politics change. No. Pray that their heart changes. Pray if they don't know the Lord. Pray for them, for their heart, for their family, like Chris said. Pray along those lines. And if you're in a riding where your MP is the one you voted for, don't just pray that their politics will be effective or whatever. Like, pray for them. Pray for their heart. Pray for their family. Pray for their life. Pray for the person.

And let's lock in there first and see where things go from there because and again, just the the humility thing, we don't know what God is doing. He's the God who sees in the secret places. He's the God who confronted Nebuchadnezzar behind his eyelids when he went to bed, you know? He He can speak to these guys and and women in a way that we just don't know about. So, just pray. Pray with with faithfulness, perseverance, like you're saying, Chris. Take that posture. We pray for them, not for their politics. All right, one little story and I had a the MP ask us uh we're meeting with them and and this is so, how can we pray for you? And they said, you know,

it takes me 17 to 19 hours to get home. She was living in Saskatchewan, but >> Wow. Yeah, it's one. So, she had to take a plane from Ottawa to Toronto, Toronto to Regina, and then another little little one. And uh it took her it often would take her 20 hours to get home. And she know every week. So, we prayed. And I said, okay, we'll pray for that. And we prayed. And about 10 days later, she calls me up. She says, praise the Lord, Chris. The Lord answers my prayer. The flight schedule all changed. I'm home in 7 hours. Wow. Isn't that good? See, that's real and practical and that can What a blessing that was. And for her to to be able to do that and get there

really quick and to have an answer to prayer, right? That's what's so real, right? You know, it is. You know, the Lord is at work on that hill. You feel his presence there. People are getting saved, staffers are getting saved. There's all kinds of good things. So, keep going. Keep praying. Don't get all worked up when everything goes sideways. And I get worked up for about 10 minutes and then I come back to real reality and say, "Okay, I ask the question, Lord, what are you up to? What are you trying to do here?" >> Right. Right. And I want to come into alignment with the Lord. I don't want to be an accuser of the brethren. Right. To be in alignment with that great intercessor

session intercessor Jesus, who's making intercession at the throne of God. So good. So, that's that's our that's our bit for today. Yeah, we just want to encourage you again. Pray for leaders. Pray for those in authority. Pray with impartiality. Don't pray for just your favorite team. Pray for anyone the Lord highlights you. Hold them up in prayer. Pray for their hearts. Pray for their families. Pray for their life. Pray that God would encounter them. That's that's our primary purpose and calling here. So, hope you've been encouraged. Hope you got something to run with in your prayer life from this. We'll see you next time. Bye for now. >> [music] >> Thanks for listening to Prayer Street, a

podcast from the National House of Prayer. Click the like button, share, and subscribe to stay up to date on all our future [music] episodes. For more information on upcoming events, prayer resources, or the Canopy of Prayer, please visit us [music] at www.nhop.ca. See you next time.