E-mail call to prayer for the 2008 election

(by Scott Whitley)

Dear Friends in Christ,

Are you sensing that there is something different about this presidential election? I was
telling someone just recently that it seems like this election is far more serious than those in the
recent past. Something in my spirit is very uneasy. In the past I have felt the need to pray for
different elections but I have never felt so strongly the urge to pray, and pray fervently, for an
election as I do for this one. I truly believe that if the wrong person (Obama) is elected this
nation will be changed forever. We may not be able to undo the things that will be unleashed
during an Obama presidency. My concern about an Obama presidency is not based on politics; it
is based on righteousness. Look at any of the major moral issues (abortion, homosexuality etc.)
and you will find Obama on the wrong side of the issue, and Palin and McCain on the right side
of the issue. What makes this so disturbing is that the Obama team has raised far more money
than McCain/Palin and the media is unabashedly supporting Obama with every story and
headline they write. Currently McCain/Palin is behind in the polls and is having a very difficult
time. Some in the media have suggested that the race is over and there is little or nothing
McCain can do to change the outcome. Oh how wrong they are!
Let me briefly share a story I recently read in 2 Samuel Chapter 5. David had just become
king of Israel and the Philistines went up to wage war against him. So David inquired of the
Lord and said, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The
LORD said, “Yes I will surely hand them over to you.” So David went and defeated them. He
said, “As waters break out, the LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.” After
suffering a great loss in the first battle the Philistines must have thought they now knew David
defense strategy and they would be ready for him the next time, because once more the
Philistines came up to attack David. So once again David inquired of the LORD, but this time
the Lord gave different instructions. He said to David, “Do not go straight up, but circle around
behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of
marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has
gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” David obeyed the Lord and was victorious.
This story holds a very important lesson for us at this time. In most presidential elections a
frontal assault, a face-to-face battle, is what is needed. But this is no ordinary election. McCain
is trying all the normal tactics but he is not prevailing. It seems no matter what he says or does it
is not effective. I am convinced this election CANNOT be won using normal methods. Just as
the Lord told David to go around behind the enemy and attack him there, so we must go around
the face of this election and wage war where the battle is truly raging…in the spiritual realm!
The fact that the normal physical methods are not effective this time should tell us that this is a
very important spiritual battle and we can only win by using spiritual methods…Prayer!
What about the sound of marching in the treetops? What is that? I have read on the Internet
several accounts of fellow Christians being stirred up in their spirits to pray. Many have been
drawn into times of deep prayer and weeping as they intercede for Palin and McCain. Some
have woke up in the middle of the night and sensed a great need to pray, other have told of how
when they heard about Sarah Palin being chosen as VP that something came over them and they
wept and felt a need to pray for Her and McCain. Many others are feeling the calling and urging
of the Spirit to enter into a time of fervent prayer and fasting for Palin and McCain and our
nation. What is this unusually stirring that is occurring? I believe it is the Sound of the Lord
marching in the trees, calling his children to act quickly to pray and fast for Palin and McCain.
Think about this, what would the marching have sounded like to David? It may have sounded

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like the rustling of leaves as when wind blows through them, but was this time something was
different and out of the ordinary. Maybe it was like the sound of the great wind when the Spirit
moved on the day of Pentecost. Also, God's people are referred to as Trees of Righteous in
Isaiah 61. So the sound of the Lord marching in the treetops in David's time is a portrait of the
Spirit of the Lord moving among and stirring up his children today.
So what are we to do when we sense this stirring of the Spirit? Two things, first we are to
take it as the sign that the Lord is moving out in front of us. Anytime the Lord calls us to do
something he goes ahead of us to prepare the way and fight for us. When Joshua returned from
spying out Jericho the Lord gave him insight to see that the Lord had removed the Jericho 's
protection so Israel could defeat them. When the Lord calls us into battle he goes ahead of us,
removes the enemy's protection, and fights for us to give us the victory. Secondly, the Lord tells
us when we sense the stirring of the Spirit we are to act quickly and join Him in the battle
(through prayer, fasting, praise and obedience)
This election is by no means lost. For God would not be stirring up his children all across this
nation and indeed around the world, to pray, if he did not want to give us the victory in this
election. And he wants us to join him in the battle. God will hear the cries of his children if we
will only cry out to him with fervent, earnest, prayers for this election and this nation. If those
who are being drawn to prayer by the Spirit will indeed enter into a time of prayer and seeking
His face, then God will have mercy on America spare us from having an ungodly leader, I'm sure
of it!
One more thought, after the last debate, so-called 'conservative' David Brooks gushed about
Obama, “I thought Obama had the night he needed to have. You know, through this whole 20
month marathon, I think what struck me is how incredibly even he is. And how frankly
reassuring he is. It is like you're camping, and you wake up one morning, and there is a
mountain. And then the next morning, there is a mountain, and there's the next morning, there's a
mountain. Obama is just the mountain. He is just there. He is always the same, he doesn't hurt
himself. McCain can sometimes lob a cannonball at the mountain, but the mountain doesn't
move, and the mountain doesn't care. And so I think his steadiness, his temperament has been the
dramatic theme of this campaign, dramatic in being undramatic. And it was on display tonight.
And the good part of the mountain is that he is reassuring and reliable.”
I'm really glad he used the word 'mountain' to describe Obama. It caused me to remember
what Jesus said about unmovable mountains. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as
small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will
move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
And it only takes a little faith!
This election can only be won by going around the face of the election and attacking the
enemy where he is vulnerable, through prayer, fasting and praise. If you hear the sound of the
Lord marching in the tree tops, if you feel the stirring of the Spirit calling you to pray, then move
quickly into a time of prayer, for God is moving ahead of you at that time to give us the victory.
May God give us ears to hear the marching!

Together with you in the battle,

Scott Whitley

Scottwhitley5486643@yahoo.com
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