Politics and Prayer

Our LORD, everything you do is kind and thoughtful, and you are near to everyone whose prayers are sincere. You satisfy the desires of all your worshipers, and you come to save them when they ask for help.

(Psalm145:17-19)

On Thursday, May 7th there will be the "National Day of Prayer." Now there will be people on both sides of the political aisle on this issue conflicted over what to pray for, who to pray for and probably even some arguments on why we should be praying for our country. While we are a country greatly divided at this time, we should not be divided over the need for this country to seek God's wisdom and God's direction in moving forward. I guess for me, since I see prayer as a very personal encounter with God, it really doesn't matter if we are in agreement. What matters is that we all seek God's guidance in our lives and in the lives of those people we consider "shakers and movers." As the passage above says, "God remains kind, thoughtful and near to everyone whose prayers are sincere." I believe the power of prayer can transcend our issues. The power of prayer can change the course of any nation. The power of prayer can change individual lives, heal families, bring peace in chaos and strengthen God's people. Agreement on political issues may never be realized, but agreement on praying about every decision, every vote, every person who runs for an office and every issue that comes before us. This can and should be our agreement.

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 5:17- "never stop praying." What a profound and clear message. If we cannot agree on issues, let us agree and come to concensus that prayer is the answer. Prayer is the way to resolve whatever gets in the way, prayer is the thing that will lead us to think more about others than ourselves and prayer should be the binding force that we can agree on if the issues keep us at odds.

I am not saying that praying to specifically get our agenda to move ahead is the answer. The answer is simple, praying in truth and seeking His will brings us those things that will often be resolved in ways that we have never thought of. Prayer is not some slot machine that we drop in a coin and get back a prize. Prayer is an earnest and open conversation with the Creator. I have two favorite verses but one of them is Jeremiah 33:3 which says, "Call unto me and I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know." We have to be willing to see the great and mighty things that we don't know in order to see God's plan. We have to be willing to recognize that our mind is limited while God's grace is unlimited.

We have a promise that we can hold on to even in these turbulent times. We have a Savior in Christ who holds out His hand in love. We have the opportunity to come together in spite of the conflicts and seek God's help in healing our land. It isn't about the denomination we are in, the church we attend, the political party we support. Those are not bad things per se, but let us agree, in principle, to come together on May 7th and every day thereafter with an earnest plea in humility, confession, hope and cohesion that we will call upon God's wisdom so that we see Him do the "great and mighty things that we do not know."

Scripture says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” 2 Chronicles 7:14