Can God lower gas prices?

There is a headline in today's Dallas Morning News: "Can God lower gas prices?" It's over a story about Rocky Twyman, a man from Rockville, Maryland, who has organized a group called Pray at the Pump. Mr. Twyman's group gathers at service stations for public prayer asking God to lower the price of gasoline.

I'm all for prayer -- I practice it regularly. And there is certainly nothing wrong with asking God to intervene. Of course God can lower gas prices -- He is omnipotent. However, I don't know that we've given God any reason to lower the price of gasoline. The sad fact is, we've given him much more reason to keep on increasing the price.

On the front page of the same newspaper was an article about Texas homosexual couples going to California to get married. Do you think we deserve God's blessing for that? Pornography, protected by the first amendment, is rampant in movies and on the internet. Do we deserve God's blessing for that? We hand out condoms and birth control to children instead of teaching them that God says it's wrong to have sex outside of marriage. Do you think we deserve God's blessing for that? We can't walk down the street or do our shopping without hearing God's name taken in vain. Do you think we deserve God's blessing for that? Christians are called right-wing fanatics by liberal politicians, and sometimes even by conservatives. Do you think we deserve God's blessing for that?

God does, indeed, answer prayer, but he is not like the genie in the bottle. There are some prerequisites to answered prayer.
1) We must humble ourselves.
2) We must seek His face.
3) We must turn from our wicked ways.

Our national leaders need to be courageous enough to stand up and say, "Homosexuality is wrong, and we'll not pass any laws approving same-sex marriage. Some things are not covered by the first amendment, and pornography is one of them. Children should not be and will not be encouraged by government to engage in promiscuous behavior. We expect our citizens to be civil in public; therefore, if you take God's name in vain or say the f word in public expect to be charged with disorderly conduct. Everyone has the right to worship in this country, and no religion, including Christianity, will suffer governmental discrimination or persecution." Then, we might see the price of gasoline fall in answer to our prayers.

One of my favorite quotes is from Alexis de Tocqueville, the 19th Century Frenchman who toured and studied America. "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Sadly, this brilliant man's prediction has come to pass.