For the last week, I have carried a strong sense of intercessory prayer for our nation and the Church. That strong sense has not lessened; it has increased.

When I was a kid in the 1950s, Doris Day was a major Hollywood star. She was cute, loved by all, and one of our family favorites. Her movies brought a lot of joy and laughter. In one of her films, she sang a song titled “Que, Sera, Sera.” The song had a beautiful arrangement, and along with Day’s voice and persona, it became popular.

I always had good feelings when I heard the song. My problem was I never moved past my feelings to process the lyrics. Repeated four times in Que Sera, Sera is the phrase “Whatever will be will be. The future is not ours to see.”

When I was dating Jan, I remember singing that portion of the song on a date as we drove in my car. Jan shared a story. Her father, a life-long missionary and someone committed to loving God and serving people wouldn’t allow his children to sing that song because it wasn’t correct. At first, I didn’t like what I was hearing. I thought it was religious nit-picking. After processing what Jan shared, I realized her father was right; no matter how good something feels, if it was not accurate or life-giving, it should not become an emotion-driven mantra we repeat without testing its truth.

The Spirit gives us prophetic insight about the future to have accurate information on how to pray and engage our current reality. The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of engagement, not the fatalism offered by a Que Sera, Sera spirit. When God gives us prophetic insight, it is a call to prayer. Those prayers, along with righteous engagement, have the potential to change the course of history to reflect the heart of God.

Over the last few decades, I have seen many in the Church adopt a whatever-will-be-will-be attitude regarding the direction of culture. This attitude violates the very heart of a Spirit-empowered reformation. It is our responsibility to move culture, not toward a controlling theocracy or the fruit of partisan politics, but toward a flourishing future where all will have an opportunity to prosper under righteous legislation and laws.

Paul said to the Romans that God “gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (4:17). Prayer makes life possible for things that have died and calls into being those things the world tells us are impossible to believe. If you have a sense of urgency about the times in which we live, let that urgency become a Spirit-empowered prayer. Those prayers can change the course of history.