Sen. James Lankford: The Key to Changing Our Nation Is Godly Men

Ken Harrison, CEO of WaterStone and volunteer chairman of Promise Keepers, explores issues of faith, manhood and the role of government in the latest podcast of On the Edge with Ken Harrison.

The podcast, available in both audio and video form, can be found on YouTube and top podcast platforms, including Apple and Spotify. Podcast listeners can also receive a challenging weekly devotional that will inspire them to put their faith into action.

Sen. James Lankford served four years in the U.S. House of Representatives for Central Oklahoma before being overwhelmingly elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014. Before his service in Congress, Lankford served students and families for more than 20 years in ministry, including 15 years as the director of student ministry for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma and director of the Falls Creek Youth Camp, the largest youth camp in the United States.

Sen. Lankford shared some key insights on the podcast:

The Key to Changing Our Nation Is Godly Men

“If the godly men of this nation would actually love their wife, love their children and would actually walk with God in the workplace, we would not have the nation that we’re in right now.”

The Key to Godly Men Is a Vital Faith

“If your faith is something that affects your weekends; That’s not a faith—that’s a hobby. A hobby is something you do on weekends. Faith is something that permeates every part of what you do.”

God Wants Godly People in Government

“God has an interest in what’s happening in politics. It’s not that we’re a theocracy. We’re not a theocracy. We’re a republic. But it is clear that God, as the Creator, is interested in who’s actually serving in government as well and what their values and what their morals really are and what their priorities are. So for folks that are hesitating and saying, ‘Gosh, politics is such a dirty business. It’s like journalism or Hollywood. It’s such a dirty business. I don’t know if I want to get into it.’ I’ll say to them, ‘What is better? No salt or salt being applied? If you have an interest in getting involved in that, I know it’s hard. I know it’s difficult. Go apply salt to it and see what happens.'”

God Has a Lot to Say About Government and to Those Who Govern

“If you look at the Old Testament, 36 of the 39 books in the Old Testament were written to, by or about a political leader. If you look at a third of the pages of the New Testament, not the total books, but of the pages of the New Testament, the book of Luke and the book of Acts, both of those were written to a political leader to be able to explain the truth of the gospel to them.”

‘I Know God Calls People to Government Because He Called Me’

“It wasn’t like lightning in the clouds. It wasn’t, you know, some message. It wasn’t. ‘Dear James, thou shalt run for Congress.’ It wasn’t anything like that. It was this overwhelming sense of ‘this what I have to do.’

“And for seven months, I struggled with that because I had no background in politics. I’m not a lawyer. I have no one in my family who’s in politics. I don’t have money personally. I don’t have any of that.

“But it was this over and over and over again: ‘This is what “Follow Me” looks like. You told students for years that the calling of God is to “Follow Me and trust God.” Now it’s your turn. You’ve got to do this.

“And so for seven months, I told God, ‘This is crazy.’ And for seven months, He said, ‘Follow me.’ And so I resigned from my position in September 2009 and announced to my friends I was running for Congress.” {eoa}