Over a year ago, I believe the Lord identified a spirit of tyranny over our nation. The manifestation of that spirit has now arrived. New laws are putting people into bondage and removing freedoms that were once central to our way of living here in the United States. Federal and some state governments are cracking down on citizens who choose not to take the Covid vaccines. The AG of the United States has the FBI focused on school board meetings. Parents feel they are being treated like terrorists for being concerned about their children’s education. Censorship has become commonplace. Government overreach is the norm.

When I first discerned the vision, I thought “now the enemy has been identified.” I shared it with IFA and the reaction was tremendous. Intercessors from all over the world took interest and agreed in prayer against this spiritual force in high places. My lack of maturity in the knowledge of our Lord became evident when I began to focus on the problem more than person of Christ himself. I learned a valuable lesson. Do not let the problems of the world become greater than the presence of God in my life. Or said another way, the voice of God’s word should always be louder in my ear than the noise of the world.

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Maturity in Christ is essential for us to pray effectively. What is the process to achieve maturity?  I believe one important element of maturity is our attitude toward those around us, including those governing our nation.

Attitude can be defined as a mental position with regard to a fact or state. It defines how we look at people and problems, and then how we think about them. I want to share scripture from the book of Jeremiah that demonstrates an attitude Jeremiah had concerning troubling times in Israel. He prays to God about all he is seeing around him, and then God answers him. He feels disapproval, disappointment, disgust, fear, and self-pity in his dealings with the leadership and people of Israel. Before I discuss God’s answer, I want to briefly discuss the state of Israel at that time in history and what Jeremiah was facing.

Israel had entered a dark time in its history. It had fallen away from God and had turned to idols. It had become a wicked nation. It was a tough time to be a prophet. Jeremiah was threatened with plots on his life. False prophets were trying to one up him with good news, when Jeremiah was trying to tell the people that God was not pleased with them. Jeremiah struggled with all he was seeing in his nation. He was disgusted with the actions of the people.

In Chapter 15, versus 15 through 18 Jeremiah prays to God and pours out his heart. The Amplified version reads,

O Lord, You know and understand;
Remember me [thoughtfully], take notice of me,
take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;
Know that for Your sake I endure [continual] rebuke and dishonor.

Your words were found and I ate them,
And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.

I did not sit with the group of those who celebrate,
Nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone because Your [powerful] hand was upon me,
For You had filled me with indignation [at their sin].

Why has my pain been perpetual
And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?
Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brook
With water that is unreliable?

These are words of a man trying to justify his attitude by telling God of all the hardship he has endured and how faithful he has been to Him. Notice how much he is focused on himself. He shows his righteous indignation toward these evil people who have turned their backs on God and are practicing such wickedness. He reminds God (as if God doesn’t remember) that he never sat with these people because God had filled him with such indignation at their sin. He also is suffering from some sort of painful malady that God will not heal. He likens God to a deceptive brook. In the Living Bible that verse reads, Your help is as uncertain as a seasonal mountain brook—sometimes a flood, sometimes as dry as a bone. He is saying sometimes you are there for me, but other times, not so much.

I am hearing a man of God struggling, even trying to justify his attitude to God. In some ways, I don’t blame him, and have much empathy for him. Many times, I have prayed to God the same way as Jeremiah. But God does not have the same attitude towards Jeremiah that I do. He answers Jeremiah with a rebuke:

The Lord replied: “Stop this foolishness and talk some sense! Only if you return to trusting me will I let you continue as my spokesman. You are to influence them, not let them influence you! They will fight against you like a besieging army against a high city wall. But they will not conquer you, for I am with you to protect and deliver you, says the Lord. Yes, I will certainly deliver you from these wicked men and rescue you from their ruthless hands.”

God does not even acknowledge most of what Jeremiah prayed, except that He will deliver him from these wicked men. God calls his prayer “foolishness” and commands to “talk some sense”. He tells Jeremiah, “Do not let these evil ones influence you, you are to influence them.” I have come to understand that God so loved Jeremiah, that He needed to speak these words to him, because of how important they are to allow Jeremiah to be His spokesman. I believe these words are important to us for the same reason.

Are we allowing the behavior of our politicians to get to us?  Do we find ourselves feeling indignant toward them?  Does our anger cause us to focus on how we feel about them?  Has this struggle become a giant in our lives?

God does not want us to allow ourselves to get caught up in the problems we see our country going through. This attitude adjustment is necessary for us to grow and mature in Him. If you struggle as Jeremiah did, don’t be dismayed!  I believe it is a necessary process for us to confront our giants in our lives that test us beyond what we think we can handle. It is this suffering that drives us to submit our wills to God. The battle is in our minds. It is an opportunity for us to repent of our old ways of thinking and step into a more mature attitude. It is truly a process of dying to the self. I see this transformation taking place in the lives of many believers.

I think God’s plan for our nation is much bigger than we can even understand. By witnessing all the injustice and corruption in our government, God is changing His people from the inside as we realize our attitude must be cleansed and purified to walk by faith and not by sight, or our emotions will consume us. I believe God is changing hearts through suffering to raise up His Ecclesia, filled with His power.

Paul says that the Kingdom of God is not in words but in power. We cannot move in the Power of God when we doubt, complain, or even focus on the problem. Once an issue is identified, we pray and move on. We are being transformed from focusing on ourselves to focusing on the Lord. Our lives are becoming less important and obedience to Christ more important. This only comes with maturity. Maturity only comes from obedience. So let us become aware of our attitude and do what is necessary to change it to a positive one. It starts with repentance from our old ways of thinking and making a concerted effort to keep our attitudes positive. It means to pick our words carefully and guard our hearts from what comes in through our senses. If certain inputs make us stumble, then forego them.

I want to pray for all of us:

Dear Father, I lift up my fellow intercessors and ask You bring revelation to us to understand how our attitudes play a role in our Christian walk. Show us anything that hinders us from doing the things that we so much want to do for You, God. Help us who want to see the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to understand that a wrong attitude will quench the Spirit. May this understanding motivate each of us to change our attitude to that of gratitude. I also pray that You give us opportunities to step out and risk for You to learn how to hear Your promptings in our lives. Mature us to be more effective in the Kingdom of God.

Can you share some tips on how you keep your attitude in check from indignation, self-pity, depression, and judgment of others? Please leave a comment . . .