Almighty God, Humbly Acknowledging…

Each time our Parliament meets, the Speaker of the House recites a prayer before anything else transpires. His prayer is: “Almighty God, humbly acknowledging our need for Thy guidance in all things, and laying aside all private and personal interests, we beseech Thee to grant that we may conduct the affairs of this House and of our country to the glory of Thy holy name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the honour of the Queen, and the public welfare, peace, and tranquillity of New Zealand, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Consider what is prayed here and that God hears every prayer!

Firstly, our nation’s leaders acknowledge their need of God’s guidance in all things. Secondly, their declared intention is to conduct the affairs of Parliament to the glory of God’s holy name. Thirdly, all of this they state is through Jesus Christ, who is referred to as “our Lord”.

If this is their avowed intention, how can they then ignore God and His Word, which is truth? If they genuinely desire to conduct business on the basis of glorifying God’s holy name, how can they then even consider passing laws that blatantly ignore God’s Word and that stand in direct opposition to the things that God declares holy?

This article was written for Sunlive prior to Wednesday 17th April when our Parliament would have decided on the definition of marriage. The argument before them was that the Church has defined marriage over time but that society has moved on so we need to redefine this established institution because we need to embrace new relationships that should be constituted as marriage relationships.

The truth is that God established marriage as the covenant relationship between one man and one woman. He declares in Genesis 2:24: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Therefore, God defined marriage and He defined it in those terms, not the Church.

On that basis and on the basis of the Parliamentary prayer, does the Government have the right to redefine what God has defined? Equally, does the Government have the right to decide that there is “new truth” that needs to be embraced, as if somehow God was out-of-date?

The words of Jeremiah 7:28 must ring in our ears. “This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or receive instruction and correction and warning; truth and faithfulness have perished and have completely vanished from their mouths.”

It is our responsibility to pray for our Government & it is our responsibility to seek God on behalf of our nation. We need a move of God in our nation. Are you interceding & standing in the gap?