As a native Californian having lived in Oregon now for more years than I spent in the state growing up, I have watched California’s life and politics with interest. Yesterday, Kamala Harris was selected as Joe Biden’s running mate. Again, my focus was directed to California.

I was born and raised in California. I love the state’s diversity of geography, climate, and culture. The state is now large enough economically to represent the status of a nation. It is also a state in trouble. Some of its cities are revealing deep despair. People are leaving California in droves. It is not the state of my youth.

California has been described as a national indicator of the future direction of the nation. At this moment, it is indicating trouble. It is also destined by the Lord to become a spiritual indicator exhibiting potential for revival and transformation. God loves California, and its people and He has something good planned for the future of the state.

Four months ago, I wrote a blog article titled, “Out From the Shadow” which indicated the Harris nomination. At the time, I knew what the Lord was saying to me, but did not have permission to write in detail. My words appeared like a riddle by design. At the time, I told Jan I felt Kamala Harris would be selected as Biden’s running mate. In the brief article, I said, “One will come forth and walk in the shadow of another. This shadowed one is the primary, not the secondary.”

Like some have already expressed they believe Mr. Biden may not have an extended stay in office if elected, for whatever reason. Behind candidate Vice-President Biden now stands Kamala Harris and behind Harris in the shadows, stands the Governor of California, Gavin Newsome. Harris and Newsome both came from the seedbed of San Francisco politics. Harris was the San Francisco District Attorney and later became the state’s Attorney General and eventually was elected to the state Senate. Newsome was the mayor of San Francisco, then elected as lieutenant governor and now governor of California.

Newsome has been seen by some political observers as a person with presidential aspirations. Also hailing from San Francisco is Speaker Nancy Pelosi who became Speaker of the House.

San Francisco is a powerful and well-funded political machine that has produced state and national leaders. What California is revealing to us is the course of a nation’s future in natural terms if it were not for God.

Keep your eye on California, not for its politics, but for its spiritual potential. Politics are only natural indicators, not the future spiritual potential of a nation. People in office from any party are not an enemy. They are people loved by God who deserve our prayers. Look past the personalities and platforms to see what God is doing in the state. Begin to pray for those in power and those aspiring to power. Our future is crafted by prayers that are in agreement with God’s heart.

I believe something beautiful and transformative will happen in my home state of California. God wants to show us that those we might deem as enemies of the good can become partners in righteous change. For some, this will be a leap of faith to believe it could be possible because they only know and have been led to believe a negative narrative, not a Kingdom narrative.

God is creating a new narrative for California, and the sound of that narrative is being heard by those with ears to hear. That is the narrative we need to pray into and it’s where we should invest our resources and energy. Keep God’s heart for California at the forefront of your thinking and call to remembrance the prophecies of goodness spoken over her. It will have a direct effect on the future of our nation.