A Prayer For The President and The People

Gracious and Loving Father,

We thank you for bringing America through what is in many ways another failed presidency. Another failed attempt to fix our problems. And success at tearing us apart. Americans are not standing united, but we are standing, and we recognize that if it wasn’t for your grace and mercy, we would’ve taken our hostility toward one another to even more destructive heights than we did. Restrain us, Lord. Instill in us a love for our neighbor, no matter how different they are from what we see in the mirror, and teach us to converse about our troubles with dignity, truth, and kindness. 

Your Word says you turn the king’s heart in whatever way you wish, and we trust that you have kept that promise, that Obama’s heart was indeed turned to accomplish your will. Perhaps the last eight years was an unleashing of your wrath, but perhaps you were simply being merciful by allowing us to see the wickedness lurking in our hearts.

Lord, we are divided in our beliefs. Not only our religious beliefs but our belief in what has happened in the past. History, is not the same in everyone’s mind, and we know that history, if not known and heeded, has a propensity to repeat itself. So I pray for clarity, that truth will prevail when it comes to our past, and even our present. Our history books have been re-written as the years have ticked on, and I pray that the truth will be recognized, resurrected, and re-taught.

While social media is a blessing, it can also be a curse, and we confess to making snap judgments about alleged perpetrators and victims. Give us the patience and wisdom to wait for courtroom verdicts before we decide to lash out in protest. Help us to return to the wise proclamation that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Let us not take justice into our own hands, without the due diligence of a trial.

As we embark on a new presidential term, we pray for our new President, Donald Trump. Many fear, Lord. Many worry. Many rejoice and have hope. Help those with negative emotions turn to you in prayer and faith. Help those with positive emotions to not put their trust in a mortal man. Most of all, help President Trump and Vice President Pence to have no confidence in their flesh, and every confidence in you who are willing to guide in all wisdom and understanding. I pray they become keenly aware of their weaknesses and that those weaknesses will drive them to seek your face, your truths, your love and grace.

I especially ask that President Trump will quickly learn how to calm rather than ignite fears. It is true that fear is coming from every direction, from the hearts of conservatives and liberals and those who don’t consider themselves to be either conservative or liberal. So help President Trump to be sensitive to those fears, to learn to articulate his plans and intentions in ways that are truthful, but emotionally stabilizing. Help him to inspire the American people to live justly, to love righteousness and love and peace. And help the American people to understand that peace often comes at a price, and to know (and practice) the difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking.

Unify us, Lord. Some, including me, have feared we are bound for Civil War II, and Trump’s anger has served to keep those fears ignited. So again, still our hearts. Calm mouths. Calm fingertips typing at the keyboard. Help us when we are on social media to first know the absolute truth before we speak, and to speak with the understanding that on the other side of the screen, real people with real emotions, thoughts, flesh, and blood are peering back at us. May we love or neighbors, whether they’re next to us literally or virtually.

Thank you for upholding us through a very trying eight years. We trust you to do so once again for the next four or eight years – however long Trump is allowed to serve. And let his White House years be that, Lord: service to We the People. Not fame. Not fortune. Not an opportunity to increase his platform. Just humble service to you first, us second. I ask that you keep him and his loved ones safe, as there are many threats against either his life or his livelihood. Also be with those who are serving under him: VP Pence, Jared Kushner. Ivanka. Melania. His cabinet. Franklin Graham. He has a multitude of counselors, Lord. May those counselors be moral, upright, reasonable, and wise. To some, that seems impossible, but with you, all things are possible. Impress that truth upon the downtrodden, the fearful, the angry.

America needs you, Lord, and we are here simply to acknowledge that and pray for help. Nobody prays without first feeling great helplessness, so we admit our weakness, our lack of ability and even desire to conform to your ways. Help us! Come what may, may we commit to honoring and glorifying you. We submit to whatever you have for us in the coming years. You and you alone have sustained us thus far, and we trust you to lead us safely home. We love you and praise you in advance for the work you will accomplish through the new administration. Thank you for being in control, even when all seems topsy-turvy. We believe, Lord. But help our unbelief. For it’s in Christ’s name that we ask these things.

~Amen