Savoring a Cup of Tea: Praying for our Leaders

I must first confess that I do not pray for our political leaders or our nation like I should. It takes a big presidential election, a national tragedy, or something similar to drive me to my knees before the throne of God.

That being said, it seems that the Holy Spirit has been hard at work convicting me of this during the last few days. Carrie posted an excellent post on Monday about praying for our nation and its leaders. A friend of mine and I committed to holding each other accountable for praying for our nation regularly; specifically, she's going to be praying for Supreme Court justices (that old ones won't retire and/or that new ones appointed will be conservative) and for issues related to protecting the unborn (abortion, stem cell research funding, etc.). She'll also be praying for our president-elect. To add to these two convicting points, our women's Bible study is currently studying Acts. What was our passage this week? Paul's (Saul's) Damascus Road experience. If Paul can be saved--he who was not only persecuting the early church, but zealously persecuting believers--than anyone can be turned around by the gospel. Paul not only was saved dramatically, but he went on to author (through the Holy Spirit) most of our New Testament. Clearly, my faith is weak. I hardly ever think of praying for the salvation of those leading our country; I hardly ever think of praying that the Lord will use them powerfully for the sake of the gospel, especially if their track record/stated beliefs are the to the contrary. Imagine what could happen if the Lord convicted whoever is our Commander in Chief and that man (or woman) went on to be the kind of zealous Christian Paul was! Hmmm.... Something to think about.

And then, the final convicting moment came last night when my husband handed me a list of ways to pray for President-Elect Barak Obama that he'd received at his book club. These are excellent and should be applied to any and every Commander in Chief! You can read them here (the thoughts/list were written by Presbyterian (PCA) pastor Ligon Duncan).

So, folks, let's pray for our country and its leaders!! By God's grace, anyone can become a force for the gospel, spreading its truth. By God's grace, anyone can be convicted of sin. By God's grace, our Supreme Court justices could become Christians. Our President and President-Elect could spread the truth of the gospel. Our nation could uphold the sanctity of life--human life that is made in the image of God. By God's grace, our freedoms to speak publicly of these very things could be upheld. So, add our nation and its leaders to your regular prayer list if you haven't already done so.