Crisis Prayer for Elections?
In the weeks leading up to our national elections I received several emergency prayer emails asking me to pray for the elections. All of them said something like, “This is the most important election in decades” and “please pray and fast each day leading up to the elections.” This struck me as an awkward theological problem at best and possibly an unscriptural request at worst.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the power of prayer and the lessons we can learn from Jesus’ story of the widow and the judge (Luke 18:1-8) as well as the Apostle Paul’s admonition to pray continually (Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17). I also believe in God’s sovereign ability to impose his will in any and every situation, but I think this particular kind of prayer request ignores some scriptural underpinnings that are fundamental to understanding our role as believers in our 21st century American culture.
Praying for God to change people’s minds?
God doesn’t need anyone or anything. He is self-sustaining and all-consuming, able to create the world by his own power and redeem all of mankind by his own strength and will. However he has chosen to express his will primarily through people here on the earth. We are his hands and his feet. We are his voice and his loving arms in this world. The cross of Christ has provided salvation for every person on the planet and as we receive this gift we are then called to engage in good works (Eph. 2:8-10; 1 John 4:12).
God allows people to express their own will here on the earth. Jesus tells his disciples to pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” precisely because it is not always done here on the earth (Matt. 6:10). We are the ones who then become the answer to our own prayers as we obey his will here on earth and bring his kingdom to those around us. So, instead of praying for God to change people’s minds on how they will vote, we should be working with the Holy Spirit to change their hearts.
Change their hearts and you will change their votes! Unfortunately, changing their hearts begins a lot earlier than a few weeks before an election.
Elections are report cards on how Christians are doing.
My question when I received these emails was, does God even hear these prayers? Are they empty prayers, or maybe they’re just ill-timed? It seems like these prayers might have been better directed toward friends and neighbors two or three years ago and focused on God’s desire for their hearts to turn to him. Maybe these prayers are too early, needing to be focused on the new leaders who will be swept into office by the will of the people. If we want people to change others’ votes a few weeks before the election, we should be working for a political campaign, going door to door, engaging in the public policy discourse, making the best case on economics, foreign policy or domestic agendas, but probably not praying for God to change people’s votes.
Whatever the case, I’ve come to the conclusion that these elections are not an opportunity for prayer as much as they are a report card on how useful Christians have been in God’s quest to change hearts. Think about it, every four years we get an evaluation of our effectiveness in sharing the gospel based on the type of person voted into office. We have a representative form of government. Our representatives reflect us, our values and our ideas. Granted, presidential politics by its very nature many times eliminates those who are most qualified because of the rigors of campaigning or the invasiveness of the press, but they do in general represent who we are as a nation. As Christians, we get to ask ourselves the hard questions about our effectiveness every four years. What a great country!
Elections are a blessing, not a necessity for Christianity.
It is also important to remember that our Constitutional Republic is a blessed experiment that is unique in the world. We are a nation that has Judeo-Christian values imbedded in our laws and foundational government ideas. However, Christianity does not need a democratic form of government to succeed. Indeed, Christianity is strong and even flourishing in many other countries of the world ruled by tyrannical dictators and other anti-Christian religious influences. The Christians in these countries have no votes, no voice; only actions and prayer.
We are blessed to have the opportunity to vote. We are blessed with many benefits provided by our God-fearing founding fathers, but we must keep our citizenship in heaven first and foremost in our hearts. Our first allegiance is to Christ and his rule in our lives, not to any national citizenship or political party affiliation.
We are coming into a post-Christian era in America and we are going to have to change our strategy for communicating the message of love and hope that is found in the gospel. Followers of Christ need to embrace the blessings of America by being involved in the political process. But we should not rely on our legislative or political influence alone. We must demonstrate our message by acts of love and kindness, not just proclaim our ideas through the platform of politics. We will always be responsible to set our priorities, values and ideals according to the Bible, not the Constitution. We are Christians first who pray for those who hold political office no matter who they are.
The Bible teaches us to pray for leaders not elections.
Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2:1-4 instructs us to pray for those in authority over us. As believers we are responsible to pray for our leaders regardless of our agreements or disagreements with their ideological governing principles. Elections are wonderful but are not necessarily worthy of too many prayers. People should be the focus of our prayers. Leaders should be the beneficiaries of the blessings that we are capable of through prayer. Our authorities should have confidence that even when we disagree with their views (maybe especially when we disagree) that we will be the ones who will not curse with our words, but who will pray for them to have wisdom, understanding and right judgment in every decision they make. When we do this, we may find that we don’t need any crisis prayers for our elections.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Amen to that theological perspective. We can sometimes get so caught in all the madness of an election year, that we (more I) forget God is still seated on his throne, no matter what happens,and that always brings peace to my heart. Greetings from Puerto Rico, where we get the day off to make sure our voices are heard.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:01 am
AMEN
November 11th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Amen. My country is so-called democratic….. but its really not. Like you said, we have to pray very hard
I believe that in all things, God reigns supreme… and He sees everything that man does, good or bad, in public or in secret. In His time, He will reveal His purposes. May God continue to use America to bring His salvation to the nations.
November 11th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hey Ross - great perspective! I keep telling people that McCain and maybe even President Bush got voted out, but that God can’t be voted out … He didn’t fall off His throne when the election was called in Obama’s favor. I’ve heard people say that we need to even call a national day of mourning! Come on people! Continue to serve God and reach out to people. Nothing has really changed for us…our calling to people didn’t change last Tuesday night.
November 11th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Well said, Pastor Ross. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with praying for everyone, especially Christians, to have wisdom for any important decision, including an election. I don’t think such requests are necessarily an emergency mindset, but possibly just a timely one. Prayers usually do increase as an event gets closer. That’s just human nature. I may be praying for my childrens’ future spouses now, but I will pray even more once they meet and make plans to get married. Also, just because not everyone is praying for my children’s spouses doesn’t mean I shouldn’t. Since God says to pray for those in authority over us, I will definitely pray for the next leader even before elections take place. It was an important election because, as you said, we are moving into a post-Christian era and we should look to God for the best strategy in this situation. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Eph. 6:18 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philip. 4:6 We can pray for God to help the carpet cleaner guy do a good job, or our dentist to have wisdom, just as much as we can pray for God to bring people to Him, whether that begins in their mind or in their heart. Maybe a 5 year old doesn’t know as well how to communicate with his dad as a 20 year old, but the dad is going to hear the heart of each one’s request and not judge whether it was a correct request. Some Christians were anxious about this election and so they should pray more or fast more if they felt led to. There’s no condemnation in that. Some Christians were trying to “be alert.” That’s okay too. Not every one in the body is going to be doing the same things at the same time all the time. I don’t want to caution people from going to the Lord with anything and everything they want to talk to Him about. We can be bold, not fearful of praying the “wrong” thing. I think what another Christian talks to the Lord about is that believer’s call, not mine. First of all we should be working with the Holy Spirit to change people’s hearts but that doesn’t mean we can’t pray that the Lord would use an election to reach someone even if it happens first in their mind and then eventually their heart. God can use anything to reach someone. Who knows, maybe someone’s prayer that “Bob” would have wisdom in his election decisions eventually leads to him coming to Christ just because someone took the time to pray for him. We don’t know God’s every working. So, love, pray and pray some more. Some water and some plant. Watering and planting can be more exactly placed but they don’t have to be. The water and the seeds can go everywhere, just as long as we’re doing one of them. Watering is just as important as planting. Maybe watering is more parallel to praying, and planting to actually interacting with people. “The man who waters and the man who plants have one purpose.” 1 Corin. 3:8 What we need to caution Christians about is being unrepentant and staying in willful sin because that is the time when God may not hear someone’s prayers. Thanks for writing this blog. God bless you!
November 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Thanks for your mature perspective in this situation. I believe that God knew that Barack Obama was going to be the next president and NOW we are told by scripture to pray for our leaders. Look at our example in the Word, Paul was praying for his leaders in the Roman empire even as they killed Christians. We must remember that God is big enough to be God even while Barack Obama is president.
November 15th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Very well done Ross!
Greetings from Germany!
November 16th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Ross thanks for providing me the vocabulary to express what has been theshing around in my heart. as we move towards our next “report card” there is plenty of work to be done. some of it face down and some of it face to face with friends and neighbors. for me, i trust His word that promises that the heart of a leader is like a stream/channel of water in god’s hand’s. I want to diligently pray for our leaders … But I also want to diligently work through my relationships so I don’t feel a need to panic four years from now. Good word. Thanks so much for the encouragement. God bless you, Aimee and the family.
November 16th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Ross,
Great Blog,
I am currently working on a book along these exact same lines! I would be interested in your thoughts on my post-election blog found at the site listed above. Great minds think alike!
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
“We are coming into a post-Christian era in America and we are going to have to change our strategy for communicating the message of love and hope that is found in the gospel. Followers of Christ need to embrace the blessings of America by being involved in the political process. But we should not rely on our legislative or political influence alone. We must demonstrate our message by acts of love and kindness, not just proclaim our ideas through the platform of politics. We will always be responsible to set our priorities, values and ideals according to the Bible, not the Constitution.”
This is really important and something that’s being turned over in my mind a lot. I’ve been wondering lately if we, as Christians, have found it easier to “outsource” the Great Commission. Have you ever called an airline and spoken to “Jason” who, clearly, is from India? He can read the script but he doesn’t really understand the message. He sure can’t answer your questions.
Likewise - do we look for a candidate that can legistlatively affect outward behavior so that we have a culture that comfortably accomodates our beliefs, rather than letting “God in us” transform our culture? Will that even work?
This whole “Merry Christmas” issue is just beyond my comprehension. Is it the responsibility of some department store clerk to proclain the message of “God became man” by saying “Merry Christmas”? If she’s not a believer, she can read the script but does she even understand the message? Should we be demanding that the world make us feel good about the birth of our Savior or is that our message to proclaim to the world at large.
Hmmmm….maybe this whole “Joy to the World” thing is my job. If so, maybe I better figure out how I’m going to do what I’m called to do.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Thanks so much for taking the time to write on this subject. You are in a position of influence and I love to hear such an intelligent take on our mission as Christians. Let’s show the love of Christ and the power of God to the next generation who will some day run this country.