Say His Name!

A Call to Christian Leaders

The Lord has me on a theme with my content this season:  that it's time to call people - and specifically business leaders - to "get off the fence." To choose this day whom they will serve. To reinforce that there is no middle ground - either you serve the Lord Almighty. Or you don't. That He's so pleased if you're even just taking little baby steps or are very early in your journey with Him ... but that staying on the fence is no longer an option.

So in the midst of this, I recently attended our local, annual National Day of Prayer event. As is custom, a ranking local  politician sent a proxy with a proclamation to be read, honoring the National Day of Prayer and acknowledging the place of prayer in our nation's history.  And that's where this blog entry started ...

Please note all these comments are my own. I am not speaking on behalf of event organizers in any way, they may or may not share the same feelings, I'm just speaking what's on my heart. 

So with that disclaimer, I'll accept that the proclamation was a nice, and probably well-meaning, gesture. Unfortunately, the proclamation specifically recognized a day of prayer to a "higher power, whoever or whatever that may be."

Yeah. "Whoever." "Whatever." That pisses me off. No. It really pisses me off. Be assured that God is not mocked. A party-tent-full of Christ-followers were not there fervently praying to some nebulous whoever, whatever, kind-of, sort-of, higher power. How foolish would that be. No, His name is Jesus. That's the One we were praying to. That's the One the very founders of this nation clung to.  He's the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Risen Christ, the Three in One, the Lamb of God, the Wonderful Counselor, the Desire of the Nations, and plenty more. You can use lots of different nicknames that honor Him, because they all lead back to some amazing aspect of the Almighty, Name Above All Names: Jesus. But not a single one of those nicknames is "whoever" or "whatever."

Maybe it was simple naivete; the politician just didn't know, and didn't want to offend anyone. Maybe it was more devious; the politician was intentionally dumbing it down to specifically exclude the name of Jesus.  I don't know. I won't presume intent. But here's the thing I do know:  the Lord already knows full well that politician by name. Even before they were in their mother's womb, He knew them. He lovingly desires that politician - and you, and me, everyone else- to know Him in return. Personally. By name. But each of us has only a finite window of opportunity to make that choice.

That's why I'm praying this politician has a personal encounter with the living God of the universe. To awaken to the reality of being "for Jesus" or "against Jesus." By name. Just like Nebuchadnezzar did in the Biblical account of Daniel 2 and 3. Nebuchadnezzar saw firsthand the power of the living God, by name. And then he was faced with a choice. I pray this politician would take the easy route. Unfortunately, as we see in Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar, chose the hard route. Puffed up in his arrogance, and perception of his own power, he made himself his own god - forgetting that he would not have breath, let alone a seat of power, unless it had been given to him by the living God of Heaven. The One who raises up and tears down leaders from their seats of power as He sees fit. Ultimately, after much travail, Nebuchadnezzar did humble himself and come into God's grace. Even so, that "hard route" was still way better than Pharaoh, who also saw first hand the power of God, by name, as accounted throughout the book of Exodus - but hardened his heart against God and was ultimately destroyed in the Red Sea.

Why does this all matter? And why right now? 

If it's not obvious to you yet, society is off the rails. Evil is called good and good is called evil in ways we never could have imagined just 10 or 20 years ago. An unforeseen level of evil and corruption that's been at work in the shadows all along is now being exposed in broad daylight in ever increasing measures. If you're shocked by what you're seeing now, then brace yourself - because there's coming far more exposure still. I firmly believe that's because our holy God is getting ready to deal with it.  That the devil has been giving it his best shot - but now it's our victorious God's turn. The Red Sea moment is coming. We're still in the process. But the holy righteous justice of God is surely on the way. When it comes, humble, God-fearing, servant leaders WILL take the place of unrighteous, self-serving ones - no matter how well-meaning they were. You're either for Him or against, operating in partnership with His Kingdom or with the wrong one ... and soon enough, the difference will be shockingly apparent to all, even those who are still asleep.

That's why He's calling all of us that are leaders - politicians, business leaders, community leaders, family leaders - to wake up from our slumber, and to get off the fence. Now. Right now. To choose this day whom we will serve. We can not blandly acknowledge some nebulous "higher power" in the midst of the crazy days we're living in, and think we are serving the one true God of the universe.  His amazing grace and unfathomable mercies are available to all who humble themselves and call on the name of Jesus.  But you can't do that if you won't even say His name ...