Warfare and battles are costly; they take all your focus and energy leaving you exhausted and weary even when you have persevered and won the victory. Too often the enemy does not play fair (he never does) and we get bombarded with many attacks at the same time or we fight one massive battle only to find there is another enemy trying to gain territory and take what God has given us. This kind of intensive warfare in the Spirit will wear one out, ask the seasoned Christian that has a solid walk with God, it is not uncommon to find themselves depleted and tired, wanting a season to find a place to go and rest. I Samuel 30 reveals such a season in the life of David and his mighty men. David had the most amazing group of men around him, who were famous for their conquest and together they kept raiders out of the land around them and fought fearlessly in several battles all the while running for their lives from King Saul. In 1 Samuel, David and his men went home to get some rest after fighting in a battle. When they got close to home, they started to see smoke and hurried to camp, only to find all their wives, children and possessions had been taken by raiders. In their exhaustion, they rebelled and started to blame David for all their problems. Wisely David encouraged himself in the Lord and was ready to go and take back all the enemy had taken from them. When David told the men the directions God had given him, half of them were too tired and discouraged to go with him to get their families back. I think it is almost human nature to give up and quit when we feel like it is hopeless, but we can be just as depleted when we win a massive battle. Elijah had trusted God in 1 Kings 18, even though no one stood with him, he challenged the 850 prophets of Baal to see whose God would answer with fire. The 850 prophets prayed and cut their selves all day Baal did not answer with fire. Then the one man poured water on his sacrifice and prayed to the one true God. God answered his prayer and sent the fire that not only consumed the sacrifice, but licked up all the water in the trench around the altar. After God answered men of Israel helped Elijah kill the prophets of Baal who had led Israel into false worship. When Jezebel heard what had happened, she sent word to Elijah that she was going to kill him. So, he ran for his life and when he could go no further, he sat under the tree and had a pity party. Somehow, he forgot the same God who answered with fire was able to protect him from Jezebel. It is really easy to point fingers at both David’s men and Elijah and say that they should have just trusted God, but how often are we guilty of the same thing? When we face the exhaustion of warfare, it is easy to justify that we deserve a break, and the rest our bodies need turns into complacency and we allow the enemy take a foot hold or two while we rest and watch.
The American Church rallied in prayer in 2024 and stood on 2 Chronicles 7:14 “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.” We took time as God’s people repenting and asking God to heal our nation and to restore righteous leadership back to the United States of America and God answered our prayer. In November 2024, Donald Trump was voted in as our rightful President. As a body of believers, we celebrated and were so thankful that God answered our prayers. The intensity of praying for our nation seemed to be gone and we could slow down and breathe again. It was too easy to become complacent, knowing God’s appointed man was our president. We had one the victory through God. Then for me, (maybe you could relate) 2025 was a very challenging year in both our personal lives and our business, and the cares of this life seemed to be so big, it felt like it was all I could do just to get up each morning and fulfill the demands that were being made on me for that day. Even though I still prayed for our nation and our President, my vigilance and concern for the state of our nation, took the back burner. God has really been dealing with me that the battle may have been won, but there is still a war going on and the church still needs to pray in God’s will for our nation.
First off it is not realistic or fair to think one man, Donald Trump can turn our nation around by himself or even with the help of his cabinet. It will take all of us to turn this nation back into One Nation under God. I am appalled the more I hear about the fraud and abuse that the American tax payers have suffered and the evil our money has gone to support. First DOGE audited several agencies and showed where money was stolen from our nation by agencies that are supposed to be protecting us and using the money wisely. When politicians can arrive in office with a reasonable amount of assets and in a few years have several million to their name, we should question where all that money came from. When an agency or organization that has been squandering money is held accountable, they file a lawsuit trying to stop the leadership from getting to the bottom of it. While I am all for true immigration done the legal way, I do not believe we should be bringing people to the United States of American and paying them welfare so they can scam the American Government.(Yes, I do know that there are people here illegally who are trying to make a better life for their families and they are some of the most hard-working people around trying to put the American Dream to work for them.) Our ICE agents have the challenging job of detaining those who are here illegally so they can be processed and yes to be deployed to protect our citizens, and they are being targeted, rammed with cars and paid protests are going on in many of our major cities they need our prayers and support. The Muslim brother hood is another problem that needs to be prayed over. God was very clear in the Bible that when the Israelites entered into the P r o m i s e d Land that they should not accept or join in the worship of other gods. The Muslim belief is that every infidel, anyone who will not accept their beliefs and convert, should be killed. They Muslims believe that in 2050 they will out populate the Christians in the United States of America, and the twisted Freedom of Religion that has allowed them to take such a strong hold will be the religion that kills everyone that does not accept their beliefs. They have already implemented Sharia law in Dearborn Michigan. If you think I am being extreme, ask the Christians in Nigeria, Myanmar, Pakistan and Egypt. Last week the world witnessed as a group of Muslims invaded a church Minnesota. Not only are we being attacked from the enemies from outside our country, several of the people in office who have masqueraded as Trump supporters, are doing their best to undermine the policies of the President and trying to make his leadership ineffective. I know President Trump is a man and some of the things he does or decisions he makes we may not understand or even agree with. We need to be praying daily for his protection, discernment and wisdom. I think we can all agree that as a church we are in a more critical time that we were in even 2024.
We are warned not to allow the things going on around us to cause to fear or worry, Philippians 4:6 “So not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” We are called to “e sober, be vigilant; because your advisary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Matthew 26:41 Jesus warns “All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and Pray.” The Message Translation ends that verse saying. “Stay alert, be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation with out even knowing you are in danger.” We may not personally be in danger of wandering into temptation, but our nation has definitely drifted off course. Prayer is so important in our daily lives, it is listed as part of the Armor of God, “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18. Pray for our Godly leaders’ protection, pray for them to have courage to honor God above all, and that they would turn away from foolish counsel. Proverbs 25:8 “Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established.” Pray for strategies, wisdom and protection on all the law enforcement agencies. Pray for protection for our fellow Christians. Will you answer the call to stand in the gap and pray?
Cathy Nesmith