Are you questioning whether or not Mitt Romney would make a good president? Are you confused about who the REAL President Obama truly is? In actuality, what does Obama believe in and stand for? As the 2012 presidential election is rapidly approaching, many people are attempting to get to know Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan. President Obama is also closely being scrutinized. Who are these men? Can we trust either of them to lead our country? Both of them profess a strong belief in God, but I wonder if they intimately know God or just know about God….

These questions brought to my mind what Job said to God. In Job 42:5-6 he says, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job had just went through the most difficult trial of his entire life, and he was forever changed because he went from hearing about and believing in God, to KNOWING God.

There are too many people in our country today who have a superficial relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s easy to make glib statements about being a Christian and faithfully attend church every week. It is a completely different matter to live out our faith and possess the fruit, indicating that we have indeed seen our Creator. Our relationship with God needs to be much more than an intellectual experience.

What was Job’s response when he saw God and knew Him intimately? He repented in sackcloth and ashes. Why? I believe that he finally saw himself for who he truly was. He saw the selfishness and pride that was in his life. When we come to know God, we will see our own righteousness as “filthy rags” and will fall to our knees in complete repentance. (Isaiah 64:6) I wonder what would happen to America if we would have a profound encounter with God and then humbly respond like Job did. In 2 Chron. 7:14 God says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” What a promise!

I don’t know about you, but I am greatly disturbed about how our President professes a relationship with Jesus and yet is pro-abortion and pro-gay marriages.  The Bible clearly indicates that we will know who is following Jesus by the fruit in their lives. Is there evidence that he is following the commands of Christ and standing for what is morally right? We don’t want to be judgmental; however, it is not being judgmental to recognize an apple tree by it’s apples. In the same way, there is a difference between judging and identifying someone “by their fruit”.

My prayer for our nation is that revival would break out, and those who profess Christianity would have an encounter with Christ so they can truly know Him. It’s time for America to wake up!  We need to quit being religious and become real. Rather than hearing of God, it’s time to hear from God! Will you allow it to begin with you?

“Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life’s problems fall into place of their own accord.” ― J.I. Packer

Charles Spurgeon said, “…If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be, we should be pictures of Christ; yes, such striking likenesses of Him, that the world would exclaim, “He has been with Jesus; he has been taught by Him; he is like Him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every day actions.”  Help us, O God!