By: G. J. Fortier

I was there! I was at the first meeting of the IronMen Ministries Friday Morning Prayer Breakfast! I was also at the meeting at First Baptist Centerville a week before when Tim Price gave instructions to those of us lucky enough to (volunteer to) be “table leaders”. Tim gave us instructions like, “table leaders should always sit with their backs to the speaker so everyone at their table can have the better view” and “keep your prayer cards with you throughout the week so you can spend time on each of them because, you are your table's prayer warrior and those men are counting on you!”.

Okay, I might have paraphrased those, but c'mon, it was seven years ago and I lost my notes.

Yes, I was there at the beginning and I (try to) go every week. Oh, there was a period of time when I chose not to attend because of … well, life … but I've been there for the majority of the breakfasts. I think.

Anyway, I remember distinctly that our purpose in starting this non-denominational prayer breakfast was, among other things, to bring the Christian men of our community together so we could pray corporately for our families, our churches, our Pastors, our schools and our local, state and federal government, up to and including the POTUS (and we all remember who the POTUS was seven years ago, right?). We knew the kind of man he was and is and, frankly, we knew that we were in for a bit of a ride, so to speak.

I remember there being a lot of emphasis on praying for the POTUS because, well, we didn't agree with anything that he was doing. So, we prayed for him, a lot. Over the years (the ones in the middle that I missed, I'm guessing) the focus shifted away from the POTUS for whatever reason until about eighteen months ago and the focus shifted back to praying that God would put a man in office who would (for the most part) do His will.

Now we all remember the ump-teen republican candidates that were running and most of us had our favorite. Even if we didn't agree who that was, we prayed, corporately, for the man, or woman who God would allow to be elected. And, remember, Obama would never have taken office unless it was God's will:

“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.” Titus 3:1 (NIV)

“Submit yourselves, for the Lord's sake, to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the foolish talk of ignorant men.” 1 Peter 2:13-15 (NIV)

I, personally, believe that no man or woman has authority except that which is given to him or her by God, and, thankfully, God has given authority (at least for a while) to President Donald John Trump, and that made me happy. No, he wasn't my first choice, but I did make a vow that if Mike Huckabee wasn't in the running when it came down to the wire, that I would vote for any non-politician who was running. Viola! There was Donald Trump! I'm also happy to say that I think that we, you and I, along with the millions of other Christians who prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14, deserve at least a little bit of the credit. God heard our prayers, and He answered them, for better or worse, and President Trump was sworn in on January 20, 2017.

So now what?

If you have read any of my previous articles, you know that I am a firm believer in spiritual warfare. I believe that when we do right by God, that Satan gets p****d and he does anything in his power to attack us. I mean, how much energy does he have to expend on the lost? They're lost, and there are a lot of them! That leaves he and his minions (not the cute yellow ones from the movies) plenty of time to plot and scheme against us. And what do we do to prepare for this? We pray! We pray and ask others to pray for us, that we keep our eyes on God and continue to do His will, despite the adversity that we will undoubtedly face.

Now, I'd like to think that The Donald is a Christian. Most indicators point to that being true, but the bottom line is, we don't know. He has done a pretty good job (IMO) with his cabinet selections, and he seems to be on the right track (so far) in what he has done and is attempting to do. But if he continues to p**s Satan off, he will surely be facing spiritual warfare, and soon, if he isn't already. So, we Christians must do our diligence and continue to pray, personally and corporately for this man whom we put so much of our hope in.

Now, you and I know that God is the ultimate authority, but He has put President Donald Trump in command of this, the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the planet. But, there was also once a man in that position whose initials were BHO, and just look what he did for our country.

Despite what some think, that the end is near and things can only get worse, the Bible is full of God's people being victorious in the face of adversity, and the next few years just may be one of those times. At least I pray that that's the case.

“The battle is on”.

G. J. Fortier is a member of Ironmen Ministries and First Baptist Church, Centerville, GA. Look for his novels on Amazon on Kindle and paperback. Or visit his website at www.GerardFortier.com