As we look forward to the election on Tuesday, we all look forward to the prospect that Republicans may defeat a few Democrats, especially in the senate. If that happens, we look forward with great hope that the Republicans who campaigned on the issues of small government, lower taxes, and more freedom in the economy will actually live up to their campaign rhetoric. We yearn to see elected senators and representatives at all levels do the right thing for the citizens of the USA. We long to see more jobs for more people and more people standing on their own two feet rather than leaning on everyone else. We long to see public officials stand firm for the moral standards that make a country great. We hope to see elected officials at all levels demonstrate commitment to the US Constitution and the rule of law.

What will not happen? Political and social activists will not stop agitating for gay marriage, open borders, and gender neutral bathrooms. They will not stop trying to prevent the development of coal and oil for energy sources. They will not stop pretending that man-made global warming is a scientific fact. They will not stop treating Islamic violence as workplace violence. They will not stop telling us that Islam is a religion of peace, and that all religions are pathways to the same god.

There could be some political changes after the election if the Republicans retain control of the House and gain control of the Senate. A change of stripes in state legislatures could even increase the momentum for a convention of the states to consider amendments to the Constitution. However, the people in the culture who want to disassemble all morality that has been asserted by Christians will not go away. They won’t even speak more quietly. We can expect that they will become ever more strident in the days ahead leading up to the 2016 election, because they will fear the loss of the presidency more than anything. The current president has set a precedent for dictatorial exercise of executive privilege, and those who lose anything in the 2014 election will be more active and assertive than ever as the 2016 election draws near, because the stakes are very high for whoever holds the presidency.

Some things may change, but the discomfort in the culture for people who adhere to traditional values, traditional marriage, traditional morality, traditional gender and so forth will only increase. The pressure to ignore the old, dusty, obsolete Constitution will increase, even though the number of those who want to end Constitutional government is a minority of all citizens. The pressure to ignore the old, dusty, obsolete Bible will increase, even though the majority of Christians actually believe that the Bible is a gift from God himself to be our guide for faith and life. The level of judicial activism by liberal judges will only increase, because they will feel called to resist the stubborn and backward majority of citizens who continue to live as if the First Amendment still meant freedom to speak and act in accord with the teachings of our faith.

What else will not change? No matter what changes, Christians  will still need to be in endless prayer for the nation and its people. Christians must pray fervently for personal integrity and commitment to God’s principles for life, and then they must pray with equal fervor for government officials at every level. Jesus taught us to pray in submission to God’s will with faith that God will hear our petitions offered in accord with his purposes. No matter how faithfully you pray today, the greatest possible victories in the election on Tuesday will not change the necessity for you to continue.

Pray for our nation.

Pray for leaders with integrity and commitment to our Constitution.

Vote. Everyone who refuses to vote actually votes with the majority. If the election outcomes are unsatisfactory, you who refuse to vote must take the credit, because you refused to vote for any other outcome.

Then continue to pray without ceasing, because Satan and his slaves will never stop trying to make the world over in Satan’s image. That is the nature of the fundamental transformation being worked in our world today, and only the power of God can enable Christians to stand strong under that assault.

It is to be hoped that this election will change some things, but no election will ever change the necessity for faithful prayer and faithful living testimony to Christ. Those things never change.