“These are the times that try men’s souls.” ~Thomas Paine

     It will help us to navigate through these times if we understand that these times are meant to try us. The greatest prophets, the greatest souls, and the greatest leaders arise during the darkest times. If we are alive for these times then we were made for them. God does not allow hard times to punish us, but rather to make us into what He has called us to be. He allows them because He loves us and thinks that highly of us.

     The Lord uses the title “Lord of hosts” over ten times more than all of His other titles. He is a Warrior. Yet, we are told in Romans16:20 that it is “The God of Peace” who crushes Satan under our feet. The peace of God is not the freedom from conflict, but it is the confidence we have in God during the conflict. To see correctly through the storms, we must maintain that peace that comes from seeing Who is sitting on the throne high above all power and authority and dominion. Just as Peter walked on the waves as he kept his eyes on Jesus, but began to sink when he focused on the waves, we must see the waves to understand the times, but we do not focus on them. We keep our focus on Jesus, and by this we will not sink.

     In this study, we are only looking superficially at how twisted and off track our federal government has become. There are other huge problems that we have not touched on, such as “the deep state.” These too must be addressed and resolved if government of the people will be restored. What we are facing is more than daunting, it is impossible—and we are probably in better shape than just about any other country! But here is an insight that may help you: it has been this way from the beginning of history.

     Since the fall, mankind has tottered on the edge of disaster. Almost every generation has fallen over the edge in some way, yet God made us so incredibly resourceful that we keep climbing out of the depths and somehow reach new heights. Then we tend to forget God who picked us back up, and we drift ever closer to the edge until we go over it again.

     So if we go through all that is coming in the Second American Revolutionary/Civil War—and we get our government back on the solid ground of following The Lord—could this happen again if The Lord tarries? It can. Read Israel’s history in The Scriptures. It is a continuous cycle of The Lord blessing them with prosperity and peace, then they drift from The Lord and lose His hedge of protection. They are conquered, plundered, and enslaved by their enemies, and then they cry out to God and it starts all over again.

     So why spend all of our efforts and time for something that could just go awry again? First, we do it for The Lord. Then we do it for our families and our neighbors because it is the right thing to do. Not everyone will be good stewards, but we must resolve that we will do the best we can for God and His people while it is our time.

     This life has been called “training for reigning.” This is biblical. Since this is true, it will help if we keep our hope in the kingdom of God that will surely come. Then God’s will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven. This life is training to be part of His reign then, not just now. As we are told in Colossians 3:1-2, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

     We must keep our trust and our affections on The Lord and the things above, not the things on the earth. Therefore, we must resolve to fight the good fight and never quit, even when it looks like there is no hope of success in the natural. If it looks like there is no hope for success, it is because we are looking at the earthly instead of the heavenly. Our God who “stretched out the heavens like a tent curtain” (see Psalm 104:2) can fix every problem on earth so easily He would not even break a sweat.

     The ten evil spies did not think they could take the Promised Land because of how big the giants were. Joshua and Caleb didn’t think the giants were a problem because they did not look at their size, or at their own size. Rather, they looked at the size of their God. We must do the same.

     Always remember that “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” The main thing that we are called to do is to love God. When that great judgment day comes, the main thing we will be judged on is how much we loved Him. We love His people and we love the nations because they are His inheritance, and we want Him to have the best inheritance from our nations as possible. We love the people because they are His children, and we want to do all that we can to see that His children are protected, provided for, and have the best possible government—one that truly is “for the people.”

     Paul wrote that he did all things for the sake of the gospel (see I Corinthians 9:23). We do not preach the gospel of a political party or of America, but of a much greater one that is coming. We are just working to prepare the way for it. This is how we do it.