By: Steve Wilmot
I’m writing this Pastor’s Ponderings the eve of election day, so I don’t know who our new president is. But whoever it is, the post-election game plan for those of us who are Christians is the same.
Our most important responsibility as Christians after we’ve voted is to pray. That’s the post-election game plan Paul formulated and shared with believers in 1 Timothy 2.1-3 — I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority… This is good and pleases God our Savior.”
“First of all” shows prayer for President Harris/Trump is our highest duty and greatest privilege. It’s the primary way we can affect the decisions of our president and the members of Congress, and direction our country goes.
Maybe your candidate didn’t win, and if you’re going to pray for him or her at all, you pray along the lines this guy who’d been dumped by his girlfriend prayed for her.
I pray your tire blows out at 110, I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend and wake up with his and her tattoos.
I pray your brakes go out runnin’ down a hill. I pray a flowerpot falls from a windowsill and knocks you in the head like I’d like to.
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls. I pray you’re flyin’ high when your engine stalls. I pray all your dreams never come true. Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you.
Don’t do that, okay? You might want to, but don’t. That’s not what Paul meant when he told us to pray for our president and members of Congress. So, what do we pray?
Here are four suggestions from the Word of God to get you started.
Proverbs 21.1 — The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord, and he turns it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Ask God to turn his heart wherever he pleases regardless of the plans, policies, pledges, and platform currently in the president’s heart and on his agenda.
Matthew 6.10 — Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God’s kingdom is full of abundance, love, unity, and blessing. Wouldn’t you like to see that in America again? Pray more and more Americans, including the president and members of Congress, will become a part of God’s kingdom by coming to faith in Jesus.
Pray our president seeks God’s will instead of his own or his party’s. Whether he/she does or not, ask that God’s will is done in our nation.
Psalm 86.11 — Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.
America needs a president who walks in God’s truth and assists every citizen to follow his example by the decisions he makes, and by his godly character. God can teach the president his way whether he is open to it or not. Ask God to.
2 Chronicles 7.14 — If my people, who are called by my name [that’s you and me], will humble themselves [instead of trying to figure out everything on your own, trust God from the bottom of your heart] and pray and seek my face [him, not the things he gives us] and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Oh, how America needs forgiveness. Ask God to forgive us as a nation for turning from him and replacing his standard of morality with our own.
Oh, how we need healing for the multitude of things that divide us. Pray that God will heal prejudice, hatred, and division, and ask him to bring Americans together in unity.
Oh, how we need revival in the land. Pray for revival, that Americans return to God. Without revival bringing the blessing of God, we will continue the downward slide we’re on now.
Friend, you are not a pawn controlled by the U.S government. You are a driving force who can steer the direction our country takes regardless of who is president.
You have more power than the president because you have access to the greatest Mover and Shaker in the universe — God himself.
To release God’s power, we must pray. According to James, we “don’t have because we don’t ask God” (James 4.2). You’ll get the kind of nation you pray for… or don’t pray for. Pray.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.