THE ELECTION

Hey, y'all. This letter was an email forward from a friend, from a friend. I don't know the author and frankly, it doesn't really matter. The words are powerful and they are good. The author has given permission to forward this at will...if you agree, please put it on your blog.

If you are like me, you have already voted. But, it's not too late to intercede for the country and to pray about the decision that others have to make.

Dear Friends in Christ,
Are you sensing that there is something
different about this presidential election? I was telling
someone just recently that it seems like this election is
far more serious than those in the recent past. Something
in my spirit is very uneasy. In the past I have felt the
need to pray for different elections but I have never felt
so strongly the urge to pray, and pray fervently, for an
election as I do for this one. I truly believe that if the
wrong person (Obama) is elected this nation will be changed
forever. We may not be able to undo the things that will be
unleashed during an Obama presidency. My concern about an
Obama presidency is not based on politics; it is based on
righteousness. Look at any of the major moral issues
(abortion, homosexuality etc.) and you will find Obama on
the wrong side of the issue, and Palin and McCain on the
right side of the issue. What makes this so disturbing is
that the Obama team has raised far more money than
McCain/Palin and the media is unabashedly supporting Obama
with every story and headline they write. Currently
McCain/Palin is behind in the polls and is having a very
difficult time. Some in the media have suggested that the
race is over and there is little or nothing McCain can do to
change the outcome. Oh how wrong they are!

Let me briefly share a story I recently read in
2 Samuel Chapter 5. David had just become king of Israel
and the Philistines went up to wage war against him. So
David inquired of the Lord and said, 'Shall I go and
attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?'
The LORD said, 'Yes I will surely hand them over to
you.' So David went and defeated them. He said,
'As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my
enemies before me.' After suffering a great loss in the
first battle the Philistines must have thought they now knew
David defense strategy and they would be ready for him the
next time, because once more the Philistines came up to
attack David. So once again David inquired of the LORD, but
this time the Lord gave different instructions. He said to
David, 'Do not go straight up, but circle around behind
them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon
as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam
trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has
gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.'
David obeyed the Lord and was victorious.


This story holds a very important lesson for us
at this time. In most presidential elections a frontal
assault, a face-to-face battle, is what is needed. But this
is no ordinary election. McCain is trying all the normal
tactics but he is not prevailing. It seems no matter what
he says or does it is not effective. I am convinced this
election CANNOT be won using normal methods. Just as the
Lord told David to go around behind the enemy and attack him
there, so we must go around the face of this election and
wage war where the battle is truly raging...in the spiritual
realm! The fact that the normal physical methods are not
effective this time should tell us that this is a very
important spiritual battle and we can only win by using
spiritual methods.Prayer!


What about the sound of marching in the
treetops? What is that? I have read on the Internet
several accounts of fellow Christians being stirred up in
their spirits to pray. Many have been drawn into times of
deep prayer and weeping as they intercede for Palin and
McCain. Some have woke up in the middle of the night and
sensed a great need to pray, other have told of how when
they heard about Sarah Palin being chosen as VP that
something came over them and they wept and felt a need to
pray for Her and McCain. Many others are feeling the
calling and urging of the Spirit to enter into a time of
fervent prayer and fasting for Palin and McCain and our
nation. What is this unusually stirring that is occurring?
I believe it is the Sound of the Lord marching in the trees,
calling his children to act quickly to pray and fast for
Palin and McCain. Think about this, what would the marching
have sounded like to David? It may have sounded like the
rustling of leaves as when wind blows through them, but was
this time something was different and out of the ordinary.
Maybe it was like the sound of the great wind when the
Spirit moved on the day of Pentecost. Also, God's people
are referred to as Trees of Righteous in Isaiah 61. So the
sound of the Lord marching in the treetops in David's time
is a portrait of the Spirit of the Lord moving among and
stirring up his children today.

So what are we to do when we sense this
stirring of the Spirit? Two things, first we are to take it
as the sign that the Lord is moving out in front of us.
Anytime the Lord calls us to do something he goes ahead of
us to prepare the way and fight for us. When Joshua
returned from spying out Jericho the Lord gave him insight
to see that the Lord had removed the Jericho 's protection
so Israel could defeat them. When the Lord calls us into
battle he goes ahead of us, removes the enemy's
protection, and fights for us to give us the victory.
Secondly, the Lord tells us when we sense the stirring of
the Spirit we are to act quickly and join Him in the battle
(through prayer, fasting, praise and obedience)

This election is by no means lost. For God
would not be stirring up his children all across this nation
and indeed around the world, to pray, if he did not want to
give us the victory in this election. And he wants us to
join him in the battle. God will hear the cries of his
children if we will only cry out to him with fervent,
earnest, prayers for this election and this nation. If
those who are being drawn to prayer by the Spirit will
indeed enter into a time of prayer and seeking His face,
then God will have mercy on America spare us from having an
ungodly leader, I'm sure of it!

One more thought, after the last debate,
so-called 'conservative' David brooks gushed about
Obama,

'I thought Obama had the night he needed to
have. You know, through this whole 20 month marathon, I
think what struck me is how incredibly even he is. And how
frankly reassuring he is. It is like you're camping, and
you wake up one morning, and there is a mountain. And then
the next morning, there is a mountain, and there's the
next morning, there's a mountain. Obama is just the
mountain. He is just there.. He is always the same, he
doesn't hurt himself. McCain can sometimes lob a
cannonball at the mountain, but the mountain doesn't
move, and the mountain doesn't care. And so I think his
steadiness, his temperament has been the dramatic theme of
this campaign, dramatic in being undramatic. And it was on
display tonight. And the good part of the mountain is that
he is reassuring and reliable.'

I'm really glad he used the word
'mountain' to describe Obama. It caused me to remember
what Jesus said about unmovable mountains. Jesus said, I
tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard
seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to
there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for
you.'
And it only takes a little faith!
This election can only be won by going around
the face of the election and attacking the enemy where he is
vulnerable, through prayer, fasting and praise. If you hear
the sound of the Lord marching in the tree tops, if you feel
the stirring of the Spirit calling you to pray, then move
quickly into a time of prayer, for God is moving ahead of
you at that time to give us the victory. May God give us
ears to hear the marching!

Together with you in the battle,

Scott Whitley