How to Walk with Government

NHOP School of Pray - How to Pray for Government, session 11 of 12 NHOP.ca

Transcript

hi there welcome to week 11 and today we're going to talk about how to walk with government so far we've been talking telling you the why we've delved into you know 10 weeks of why what the scripture says how we're supposed to act how we're going to carry these things why are we are to carry things in a certain posture um and now we're going to talk about how that comes from you know a bit of our our journey uh Marilyn and I uh many of you know or may not know you know we pastored for many many years um we're youth pastors worship leaders associate Pastors in Hof Falls and Durham in exer um and so we were carrying uh 247 prayer and intercession and uh and then the Lord

redirected us into the place of government which was kind of unexpected we didn't really see that we didn't have the grid for it and uh all along we knew that this was uh to teach us to teach us a language that we weren't used to speaking and so now we are pretty fluent in speaking government to government officials MPS m fames Mayors counselors and leaders so we are used to speaking leadership to leaders one of my favorite passages that kind of gives us a real posture of what we do and what we carry comes from Philippians 4:22 and I want to read it to you uh because it seems so obscure and it's actually just the part it's just a pth passing greeting but it

speaks volumes and I want to read this uh final greetings from from the from the the letter to the Philippians and he says greetings greet all the saints in Jesus Christ the brothers who are with me send greetings all the saints send you greetings especially those who belong to the household of Caesar that's really really interesting especially those who belong to the household of Caesar you know today many leaders would that would be the equivalent to saying especially those who belong to the household of Trudeau or Biden can you imagine that here he is there's a kingdom influence that reaches all the Way to the Top there is an influence that's coming because there's

a change you know we see many I still hearing keep hearing from many pastors that we're not why would I engage with government well well the Apostle Paul obviously engaged in the highest of highest places he had influence now we don't hear a lot about it but one thing we do hear with the in the Epistles is um you never see the apostles dishonor or speak negatively or Rebel we see places and Brad touched on that in areas of when their lives were in danger right they would they would counteract or when they were told not to preach the word they would still go out and preach the gospel knowing the ramifications they weren't calling people Nazis they weren't you know raising up they no they

knew what they called the the the kingdom call was and they did it and they paid the price to do it and they did it joyfully and they did it with passion and so I I find this really really interesting that you know the Apostle Paul says to the highest Place say hello to the household greet the household of Caesar and that is our posture you know that is the posture so so our members of parliament our mpps our mlaas our Mayors we need to be the gospel needs to be penetrating those areas and and and so today I'm going to talk about how how do we do that you know uh when I worked in government um I would often call pastors um because I worked I had a Believer and I wanted to hear what we

wanted to hear what was going on and it all started from this I'll tell you something it started I when I was working we did a round table on guns and gangs in our region we worked in the Durham region which is the east side of of Toronto once you get out of Toronto you hit the durh region and that includes you know Pickering um Ajax um Whitby Ashawa and going on Clarington and up to skoog and uh and others it's really quite a big region and and so we were in this Durham region and um so so we uh we did a a round table on guns and gangs because in in the Eastern side of the region there was a lot of influence of gangs and guns from Toronto because it bordered

Scaro and um and so they we had a round table it was a really big round table there were about 50 um 50 participants coming to speak with the regional chair uh four MPS in the writing in the region um a bunch of counselors Regional counselors Municipal counselors and we had about 50 stakeholders that's what we call them stakeholders come and talk about um guns and gangs and it and and what it was doing in their communities and over and over I heard this request and from just about all the agencies and it went like this and I think it it was about five or six times I was writing these notes and people were saying if there was only if there was only a culture in our

community that could teach us how to do family properly this is what they were saying if there was only a gr a a an entity that could help us to build stronger families cuz they realized the the the the rise of guns and gang gangs is because of the deterioration of families and they were saying if only if only and only and I'm sitting there and I realized that you know I wasn't my Round Table it was a it was it was um pickering's round table and you know what there was not one Church present at the table they weren't even invited nobody even knew but but I left there and I was like fit to be tied I was like spitting nickel I thought oh my goodness here we are they're begging for something we

have as the kingdom of God as the body of Christ as the local church we have this and they don't even know we have it because we haven't even told them we have it and we're not even invited to the table isn't that bizarre and I was like man so I was on a mission after that I was on a mission to engage with local churches to say hey do you want to meet with your Member of Parliament and most of the time the pastors would say no how' you like that why why do I want to meet with my member of par why do I want to meet with my MPP and I would tell them straight out so that you can tell them what God is doing in your congregation unless God isn't doing anything and then why would you

waste their time but I'm sure that God is doing something in your congregations I we met so many Fantastic churches that were engaged in um in our community that were doing great great work and those churches that were doing the great work on the ground were usually connected in some manner with their MP with their MPP with their mayor they were engaging because they had their finger on the pulse of what was going on in their neighborhood that their their goal wasn't just to fill the building and and have you know filled the seats but their goal was to bring the kingdom and preach the good news to Every Nation to disciple the nation and those places that we're really engaging we're

engaging with government you know they would do things like roundtables one of the things I would I would recommend so intercessors and pastors because sometimes we have pastors here sometimes we have intercessors and I'm talking to a pretty broad group of leaders you know why don't you do a round table with a bunch of pastors and what's the Hot Topic B button in your community what is it what is it you know it's not not enough for you to go into and meet an MP and complain like anybody could do that it's like Jesus says that you about loving your enemies he says anybody can love their friends right but loving your enemies that's actually the work of the

Cross that's something that God has to build in you and so anybody can come and complain about what's not happening and there are times that we need to do that I'm not saying to to not do that but there are also things that you need to say is like how can we help here are some solutions that we feel God is speaking and do it so do a round table whether it's a homeless Round Table talk about homelessness in your city I know that there's a city on the Prairies won't even go into it but there's a city on the Prairies that is actively working on on on being a viable Chang making problem to homelessness the city a city church is actually doing this and uh and they are working

together because they realize it's not just about government it's not just you know what and if we've learned anything that um that uh government cannot take care of everything people fall in the cracks and I'll tell you something and I used to have to call being having being the constituency manager for the writing I worked in I was for I would often be looking for help where the government couldn't help you the government does an okay job but not really Stellar you know because they spend way too much money and anyway we won't get into the logistics of government and how how they can it usually costs five times as much and isn't hardly effective um but I would

reach out to to churches and to to say I've got people that have fallen in the cracks can you help us and uh and I'll tell you something the Catholics were really good at that they're really good at it I'd be able to to call a particular Catholic Church that was equipped and they were had a food bank and they had resources and they did this and they had a a real heart for the poor and there are other churches that that have a real heart for the poor uh but the Catholics in the in the writing that I worked were exemplary at helping people that were falling in the cracks and so that's that's that's some of the things that we could do it's a partnership and like I said come with

Solutions don't necessarily yes you have a grievance you need to say yeah this is unrighteous we shouldn't be doing this but in the meantime if you're going to talk about what's in righteousness then also talk about here's some solutions for example with medical assistance and dying you know Marilyn and I did a video a little while ago about over a year ago and we talked talked about not just okay there's medical assistance and dying but our response to it and it should be my assistance in living mail you've got mail and and it should be what are we going to do about this as a local church we see this as a living active or a dying active problem and yet we'll sit

there and complain but we won't have any solutions and it's important that we come with Solutions and we go to the Lord and say Lord how do we fix this how do we fix this as a as a City Church how do we fix this as a community church how do we fix this as a neighborhood church and and ask the Lord and then there's this thing of collaboration that is so so key in the city and that is really one thing another thing that you can do is so the first point was uh you know round tables uh collaborate together be a United Force don't just go with one church but go with six churches or seven seven churches and have a discussion that way and then come with the posture to say

how can we help and some Churches say I'm too busy for that but you know what um I'll leave that up to you and the Lord but ask the Lord where you're supposed to to play it to to fill in this is why we're praying because yes it's good for us to pray for for Min miraculous intervention it's sure it's that's really good and we see when God moves and and there are changes of heart and we do that but there's also where are the hands and feet of Jesus and where do we fit in and how do we become solutions to the problems in our society so another another way you can get into this is I want to talk to you about this is electoral District associations they're called

edas just a second I'm just going to have a sip water here edas electoral District associations and you know this is how Maryland and I got our start on the political side of things where we volunteered and an Eda is um is the governing body that that basically gets a candidate elected that's their job is to get this candidate reelected so so ask the Lord if this is something that the Lord has asked you and I really believe that that um Believers need to be everywhere uh that they just don't need to live in one party although you know sometimes one party seems to be living closer to the ways and walking with the Lord there the Lord may be calling you to other places like even last night we

were praying for the liberal party because at one time the Liberal Party had a lot of Christians and they were about Freedom they really were that whole thing about liberal that was meant Liberty they were they really emphasized Liberty right classic Liberals are about Liberty and freedom and uh and right now the state of the current Liberal Party of Canada is is somewhat Marxist but there are not a lot of Believers there are some Believers there that have been grandfathered in John MCC for example uh he's allowed to hold his pro-life views um but he it's reprimanded anytime he says anything about it um and there are others but we were praying for the liberal party that they would be a place

of Liberty once again and maybe the Lord's going to calling you to that party or to the greens or to the NDP or even the block because all those places need to have the kingdom they need to have the kingdom there needs to be Salt and Light in those places so back to eda's electoral you those are really easy to to join you can just call up the Eda president and said I'd like to join and you go to monthly meetings and they talk about things so maryn and I when we became on to the we were asked to come on to an Eda and shortly afterwards uh then we were you know given chair status Marilyn was the chair of fundraising and I became the chair of election Readiness

and policy and then event eventually it became a VP and I sat VP on a couple of them and it became a president of another I said on about four boards all at once one as a liaison two as as a VP and one as AE as a president and um because this what the Lord told us but our main job in there wasn't wasn't just to get the the the candidate elected but it was to bring salt and light to that group it was to bring the kingdom to that group it was it was to speak clearly on behalf of righteousness on behalf of Justice on behalf of Truth and so that way and our main goal and our main role was to pray that was the main role and so so and that's how we were to have impact it was really quite

interesting I was uh I was at an uh a meeting last February with the all all allies all Pol all the Allies caucus all Israel allies caucus parliamentary caucus and we were meeting with um with uh Ido moed the Israeli Ambassador and um and Les lesen Lewis is the chair of that Co of that caucus that allies caucus Israel allies caucus and the MP that that kind of got us involved in politics Colin Cary he came up to to to lesli and he says uh do you know Chris and Maryland and she say yeah yeah we've met a few times he says did you know they they helped me get elected in three elections and she said no I didn't know that yeah he says they were there with me and and they helped me get elected

and they prayed for me and and he knew that he's a beautiful Catholic man uh with a heart for for life and a heart for family and a heart for freedom and it was always a joy and a pleasure to work with him and she he was able to say this is the testimony and this is what they brought and not only that they helped me get elected and and so so an Eda you know with that from being in the Eda also ran uh for the national policy committee for the conservatives and that was based there because I was a policy chair and and I was able to run nationally to help set the tone I didn't I didn't win came close but it was a really great learning experience and uh but it was an

opportunity to bring salt in life and you know and when we went to Convention you wouldn't believe how much influence we had um because you know we would sit with our team at convention um these policy conventions are really really important because they vote on things and vote on policies and vote on pro-life policies and they vote on on on Justice and things and it's really important that we're there and there actually ways that we can do and not and you know at a convention for example I think Prince Edward Island H is allowed three to four a very low number of delegates right three to four maybe five or six I I'd have to look it up to to to refresh my money but not big

big but Ontario sent like 360 Del delegates but Prince Ed Island had as much power as Ontario in shaping policy isn't that interesting you know same with Newland these smaller provinces had had fewer delegates and uh fewer delegates but had as much Cloud as the 360 something um uh c u policy delegates as Ontario so if you're thinking you you want to make a shift you know and you're from a smaller Province try to be a delegate but you you know I I often times I hear people say yeah I want to be a delegate and they've never done nothing with that party at all I actually I I uh here's another pet peeve I yet another pet peeve here's a pet peeve um when they're delegates uh happening

especially when I was was sitting on an Eda I would get a Ministry would say hey you know what you can you're if you're a card caring member of of EX party you can go and you can V you can vote at a policy and so you should try to be a candidate to or a delegate to be at the policy thing and and so that Ministry would say something and sure enough I'd get a whole bunch of phone calls from Christians well-meaning Christians great got great ideas yeah I want to go to policy I want to go to the convention yeah this is really great and it's and it's great except they would call me and say and they would demand that they would be able to go cuz they were Christians but they never once knocked

on a door made a phone call uh did prayed contributed to anything that that MP was doing didn't do anything and so me as the policy chair would say no you can't go I got a person that's knocked on 20,000 doors and uh and what have you done well this ministry said I can do that well that's not how it works so if you want to be able to go to policy you're going to have to go to work that's the bottom line and I would suggest you get in those places and cuz it's not all about you know Grievances and stuff like that but go and work and be Salt and Light and you know like we used to have host in our Eda we would host the chis or their annual Christmas party at our house we do this had this

big bash at our house it was wonderful and we would have certain politicians come and visit and uh and we were able to influence and we would influence with hospitality and uh because that's what Maryland carries in a big way and so we would open our houses you know and in our house many people would say you come into our house say your house is so peaceful well of course it's peaceful you know the the Lord lives with us you he right in here with us of course it's going to be peaceful and so this a great opportunity to build friendships and and relationships and prayer prayer and and work and to be a to be able to get into those places to have that that those

places of influence in policy so it's if you want to have influence it takes work and that's what I'm really saying to you so if the Lord is calling you to an Eda you should go because you you would you'd be surprised at how close you can get to the member because in those places the member starts to confide confide in you and will share things with you uh because you're trusted because you're a friend and because you genuinely love and care about them and that's what's really important you know another thing that you can do uh excuse me another drink when we were at Embassy Church in oswa Pastor dark Schneider he was involved in a lot of community leadership events so he would he would

partner our church was really a seven mountains kind of church and so we would engage with government we would engage with business we'd be engaged with education we'd engage with arts and entertainments and sports so we would have all these things and so so we would kind of work together uh on a yearly basis on doing leadership development and invite the community to these things and and we would have Business Leaders political leaders Sports leaders you know education leaders come and we would talk about uh leadership we wouldn't preach the gospel we talk about leadership but that would be very very clear what we were doing and the kingdom was very very alive and active and so um

as a result we were able to build and connect these leaders and uh and work walk closely with the Mayors in our in our region with uh with the regional chair with uh politicians you know provincially and and municipally and federally and so we we would be able to do these things once year we do these big events also another thing that you could do churches pastors and leaders is have a government day and invite as many government leaders to your service so you can pray for them once you do that we used to do that at at Embassy there are some other churches that I've been in where they do that and it doesn't matter what stripe they're from bring them in and uh and and you know build

relationships pray for them and we would have all kinds of leaders come and attend especially at Embassy Church um that was good another way you can do volunteer if you want to get really close um in the area of volunteering say you don't want to really necessarily come on to a board because it means work and and some of us are really busy like I don't have time to to do an Eda now I don't and I wish I did cuz it is kind of fun but I don't have time for that um but uh but volunteer and uh so even volunteer for to staff your Member of Parliament when they're in the writing so that uh um because many times they're doing events and they're going to events and they need they need people

to help them they need people to to take pictures of them I mean uh uh CU they're they like pictures and they take video and pictures and you need somebody maybe that's something that you're you're interested in and also if there's some young people here right for example in the conservatives you can vote as uh for leaders as young as 14 so you can be on an Eda at 14 years old you know and and learn to serve and be in those places that's with the conservatives I don't know where the other other rules are in others but you can look it up and find out if the Lord's talking to you about other places but you know serve that way come in and help them during if they they do it need

to do a a mailer and see help them put stamps on envelopes and stuff like that get close and uh just serve or you know many times I I I would say this to everybody and if you have a small group or a prayer group um so you can come in and and meet with a member just to pray for them with your small group see if you can set up a meeting with a constituent say Hey listen we got to come we just care about you we want to pray we're going to bring some cakes and goodies and stuff like that and just be nice to them that that really really works uh and you've heard me say this before uh in regards to you know if you have complaints and stuff like that yes we need to complaints but if the only

your only interaction with your Member of Parliament is complaining then you have a reputation of complaining and that's not a good thing to have that that is more of a liability than anything and so like I said this earlier I've said this on a couple of videos um actually one of the main things that we do where we see massive traction this is a proven strategy we've seen this I could say over a dozen times I've had over a dozen testimonies that this actually works and so never never send a an email um well you can send emails sometimes but if it's a if if it's cuz you're concerned about something most of the time emails get are collected by a staffer and they get

put in a file so send a handwritten letter or note that's the first thing that you want to do because when it's handwritten then the member has to open it right and look at it and uh and if the office and not office all offices are created equal but if like in my office my office was we were going to respond to you in kind so if you sent a a form letter to me we would respond with a form letter because usually there was a whole bunch of them right if there was a form email we would respond in a form email back to everyone and but if you sent us a personal letter then we would respond with a personal letter now not every place does that but because they are busy you need to understand

that that a lot of constituency offices they are inundated with lots of communications and some are really good at it and some aren't and uh when I was the constituency manager um I I really wanted to make sure we communicated because I saw if you read any Google review of most MPS and mpps and mlaas most of their Google reviews are like one or two and most of complaint and the major complaint is they never get back to me and um unusually they're they're responding in uh in with emails so so I wanted to fix that with us because our our office was the same way and so uh we did fix it and and we our major job was to to Comm to answer the communicates and we did that so best thing to do best

practice is this uh when when there's something to be concerned about write about it all right write in a letter but more importantly when they do something good and they and they' stood up in a great way and you're send them a little note and tell them that you appreciate it because the vast majority of what they receive are complaints that's the vast majority and the worst complainers are Christians and the most grumpy complainers are Christians and and you would never the way they act you would never know that Jesus lived there many many times and that's not good that that's you're you're supposed to let your light shine before man so God can see your good works right and uh and so

be aware of that so when they do something good tell them they've done something good and over and over and over and over again I get this response and and it's Chris you know I've taken your advice and I've sent hundreds of of emails to my mp and they've never responded and I did what you said and send them a letter and when they did something good and I got a response and then when you get a response cultivate a relationship because then you're going to see and always say this at the bottom of the letter I'm thankful to God for you and I'm praying for you you and then leave all your details your phone number your email make sure you put your address in there because they're not

going to look at you if you're not their constituent don't write to other constituencies CU you're probably not going to get a response because those people have between 100 and 160,000 people that are taken care of so don't be talking to other constituencies because you're not not going to get they're not your responsibility that's the bottom line and uh because they've got a lot of work to do that's they got a big group the member MPP that I worked for our posture was these are the people that God has given us so we're going to take care of them to the best of our ability and uh and so that was our posture so edas I talked about edas I talked about engaging I talked about

leadership I talked about volunteering I've talked about roundtables um uh sitting on a board is a good thing and uh building a positive profile that's really important and um so that's basically it this is if you really want to engage be relational this is a great opportunity it gets gets down the road that they know your face that they know you care that they know that you're praying for them we pray for everyone 1 Timothy 2 I'm going to say this again and the reason why I'm saying this again because because I know it's hard to believe but people haven't heard me say this even though I've said said this forever for for the past four you know four years that uh pray for everybody for

kings and those in in Authority that we have peaceful and godly lives this is good and it pleases God and then it tells us why that all men and women get saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and how are they going to know unless we tell them that's the bottom line how are they going to know unless we tell them how are they going to know unless we live our lives as Epistles right before their eyes and that's where you can do this you can be engaged with your members in a positive way doesn't matter what PA what what uh party they're from engage anyway and see what happens see I when I first came into this role I had a leader said to me Chris are you telling me you want me to

engage with my liberal member Parliament and I said yes are you saying you want me to serve them yes serve them serve them pastors it's not that your church is in their constituency pastors it's that their constituency that that that that member is in your constituency and you have an opportunity to care with care for them to visit them to treat them as if they were a part of your congregation think that way think pastorally on how you can do this and how you can care for them and how you can build a relationship and because when you have a bridge and we've said this for many years you know you want to be able to build a bridge that is strong enough to withstand conversations that

are difficult that's what you want if it's just all complaints all the time well who likes a whiner nobody likes a whiner and you know what and there are some things that are worth whining about but there are ways that we can be strategic and there's a ways that we can get this remember this children of Israel spent forever wandering around in the wilderness times two and what was the main reason because they complained about their government and they complained to the Lord that this isn't as good as I wanted it to be and so it is important that we come with Thanksgiving that we come with honor that we come with solutions that we come with help we come with prayer we come

with hope we come with joy and we come with peace and that's what we come with and that's the kingdom the kingdom of God is Not meat or drink or great legislation but it's righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and that's what we bring so it is an invasion of our kingdom the kingdom of God to influence that Kingdom that Kingdom which is temporary ours is an eternal one theirs is a temporary theirs is going to be shaken and theirs is going to crumble one day but ours is eternal so we are going to do Eternal things to speak into those places to those kings and those in Authority amen so that's where we're going to leave it here be engaging pray yes but engage build

relationships bring Solutions and bring the kingdom bring the kingdom anyway I'm Chris bber the director of the national House of Prayer and next week is our final week and Brad is going to bring be bringing that thanks for watching bye for now [Music]