Prophecy helps us see the big picture of God’s program for the ages—His unfolding, eternal drama. Prophecy is important for many reasons, and without it, we might struggle to make sense of a lot of what goes on in our world today. For example, knowing that the world is headed toward a period called the Great Tribulation informs us as to why things appear to be getting worse instead of better.
We exist for God; He does not exist for us. God loves doing things for His people, but the reason we get up in the morning is to fulfill His purpose for our lives, not merely to ask Him to bless our purpose for our lives. God does not want to be our vending machine, where we put in a coin and He dispenses what we demand. Until we understand that we exist for Him, we will never know our purpose for being.
Over the last few years, there has been a lot of discussion about the source of power in America. The power of uniting with other believers in prayer for our nation reinforces the fact that we do not live our lives only for ourselves.
Every weekend, when I was growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, I would go visit my grandmother. Because it was the weekend, my grandmother would let me watch television, and I would watch whatever the shows were in the mid-1950s. If it ever started to thunder, my grandmother would say, “Tony!”
In our culture, there is a lack of respect for authority. Nowhere is this better evidenced than in the family—the most basic and foundational unit of our society. Instead of parents guiding, teaching their children, and telling them what to do, it’s the children who rule the roost in many homes. The kids call the shots, and the family structure suffers for it.