Lessons Learned On The Trail Part II

Prayer Works

Lessons Learned On The Trail

From the aspect of a Teenage campaigner

Part II

Ronald Reagan once said “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, we will be one nation gone under”. That doesn't only apply to the Nation as a whole, it applies to all Americans and in this case, even campaigns.

Affecting our every day life.

For a Christian, prayer is probably one of the most important things in our walk with God. It is also our most powerful weapon. There are many times when people have been directly affected by prayer.

Last year, a friend of mine had a brain hemorrhage, the word traveled throughout the blogsphere and emails were passed along to pray for him. He had an entire nation, and possibly people all over the world constantly praying for his health and safety. Our prayers were answered and he was healed and able to continue leading Operation Completion.

There was also a time when a missionary was about to be robbed. He had spent a night alone, out in the open after doing some work in a nearby village. The next morning, the people intending to rob him came up and told him their intent, and that the only reason they didn't follow through was because he had 26 guards surrounding him that night. When the missionary came back to the states he found out that at the time he was going to be robbed, 26 men in the church came together and prayed for him.

On The Trail

Prayer is important in every situation. Sometimes people don't think to pray for campaigns, candidates, volunteers, or leaders. These people need a lot of prayers, especially while they're on the campaign trail. The most valuable thing in a campaign, is knowing people are praying for you. Without prayers, it is very hard to keep pressing on.

Candidates need prayers for wisdom and energy. Campaigning is exhausting and there are so many ways to make mistakes. If you ask a (republican) candidate what you can do for them, most should say you can do three things: pray, donate, and volunteer. It is vital in the middle of a race to be praying for the candidates, and their team.

Every good candidate has a dedicated team and volunteers behind him. Often times, the people behind the candidate get neglected prayer-wise as well. As a volunteer on many campaigns this year, I can honestly say the only thing that has gotten me through has been prayer. The candidate has a crazy schedule and is out most of the time, while his team and volunteers are working constantly. The work never stops on a trail and the closer to election day, the longer the hours are. It is very easy to get burned out during this time, and there is no worse time to burn out than right before elections.

In Florida during a campaign for a state representative's race, I was suffering from a head cold the whole time. Working 16 hour days in the Florida heat and having a head-cold don't mix well. I sent out an email to my parents and a few friends of mine asking for prayer for energy and my health. The rest of the week was a complete “God thing”. He granted me, and the rest of the staff the energy to make it through each day.

Prayers do matter!

We learned the hard way this year, to be careful what you pray for. You might just get it.
Throughout this year, we've been praying for God's will to be done. When we pray for that, we can't be too upset when we don't get the results we hoped for. If there is one thing that can be learned about prayer it is that God hears it, but doesn't necessarily answer the way we hoped. We are still praying for God's will to be done, I believe it is, even if we don't like the results.

The campaign trail isn't the safest place to be, but God is sovereign. On the way back up from Florida, we had a lot of people praying for safety. That sounds typical, however, on the way off of an exit one of our vehicles was sideswiped by a semi. The people in the car came out without a scratch, when they should have been injured. The prayers that we prayed and that many others prayed without our knowing it were answered and we all made it back safely.

Pray for America!

It is evident that God DOES hear our prayers. He also says “You have not because you ask not”. Prayer is our best weapon, so why don't we pray for America and the up coming elections? Mr. Steven Givler had a great idea about prayer and fasting for the elections on his blog. I'm planning on setting aside Monday as well. Even if the results aren't as we hoped, God does have a plan. He even tells us He will heal our land! However, we can't just say “Okay Lord, heal America”, we have to do as 2 Chronicles 7:14 says “If my people 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 will heal their land”.

I think it's time we put America back in God's hands!