Praying Righteously for Politicians
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Praying Righteously for Politicians
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“He was a drug dealer. Then he shot someone. Then he got shot,” one woman told her friend.
Connect with others in your state in prayer.
I was shocked to overhear this in the elevator. Who were they discussing? A neighbor? A friend?
“Now he doesn’t want to act in that crime drama anymore,” she said.
“Yeah, once you’re on that show, you get typecast,” the other replied.
This conversation may not have been unusual in my building, which is filled with actors, but I still smiled with relief upon learning that the man under discussion was an actor tired of portraying the seedy side of life on television.
Soon the Lord began to speak to me.
How often do I typecast people? How often do I limit their possibility or doubt their spiritual transformations? Is this laziness on my part? Or is it simply mean-spirited?
I seem to typecast particularly when I consider those in public service — politicians and government officials — who claim Christ as Savior and Lord. Why am I hardest on them?
Many argue that these who aspire to lead the country deserve the greatest scrutiny, coming under this Scriptural condition: My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body (James 3:1–2).
I have yet to hear of a politician who is perfect, according to James!
But neither am I. And neither are any people I know.
I return to my question: Why am I hardest on politicians who claim to be Christian?
When something is out of whack in my life, I review my relationship with that thing. In this case, Holy Spirit seems to be pointing to a semisecret idolatry in my life.
When did praying over what politicians do and say become more important than praying for the Lord’s character to be formed in them? When did these people assume such weight in my mind that their human frailties fail to generate any compassion in my heart?
Scripture exhorts those who encounter and accept the atonement of the living Christ to be transformed:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1–2).
Accepting Jesus as Savior certainly transferred these politicians from the kingdom of evil to the kingdom of God. According to Paul, they are liberated from the demonic compulsion to sin because the presence of Holy Spirit within them gives them the grace, strength, and desire to resist sin. Therefore, the apostle writes: … reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11).
Even as this transformation is instantaneous at the point of salvation, we work out our salvation as we grow in holiness, obedience, and godliness. We change, and yet we are also being changed.
Some folks seem to be on the slow boat in experiencing life and character change, though.
This frustrates me into typecasting them. I doubt the politician’s claim of faith. I am not willing to be “tricked” by someone’s smooth performance of virtue only to find that person really is rotted at the core.
While it is true that many politicians claim faith disingenuously, some are in the unenviable position of working out their faith in the glare of the public eye.
Laziness contributes to my typecasting. I don’t really have the capacity in my overly busy life to consider all the aspects of the people about whom I pray. It’s easier to label them one thing or the other.
But mainly, I lack the grace toward these politicians that my Savior has toward them. I transfer ungodly expectations to them. But Jesus — ah, Jesus! — He, His Father, and His Spirit always see the best, hope the best, work the best in each of those who have received Christ’s atonement for their own. And He is always calling and wooing those who have not yet said yes to Him.
As my husband, Rich, also an IFA contributing writer, proofread this article for me, he too fell under conviction. Just before reading this, he had reacted sinfully to a communication from our New York state senator. This man, actively pursuing an ungodly lifestyle, lambasted a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling about in vitro fertilization.
As we move into this election season, the temptation to typecast is high. I’m too eager to receive the negative word about those with whom I disagree — especially in an opposing political camp. I’m too eager to see them fail in the natural, and too slow to ask the Lord to redeem them in the spiritual.
What might the Lord do if I move from typecasting candidates into seeing them as He does? What if I asked for the Lord’s prayer for these who are willing to take on the dangers and risks of politics? What kind of a government might we elect then?
Dear Lord, I repent of having typecast politicians based on limited data. Change my heart toward them, so that I’ll see them as You do and pray for them as You want me to. Give us the grace to pray for those who know You and are seeking Your will in the governmental arena, and also for those who are not yet in the kingdom. Bring them all into the fullness of salvation and increasing holiness. Grant us government officials who seek the kingdom. In Jesus’ name — amen and amen.
How is the Lord calling you to pray in this election season?
New York City–based Joyce Swingle is an intercessor and a contributing writer for IFA. With her husband, Rich, also a contributing writer for IFA, Joyce shares the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world through theater, speaking, writing, and film. Prior to going into full-time ministry, Joyce worked for about 20 major magazines and now works in pastoral ministry and Christian counseling. Read more about Joyce’s work at www.Richdrama.com. Photo Credit: Douglas Rissing/Getty Images Signature.
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Comments
70 out of 150 psalms contain impreccatory prayer, that is praying for the destruction of the wicked. Our country is suffering from decades of criminal politicians who have institutionalized countless laws that are diametrically opposed to scripture……
It is possible that a diabolical individual could make a death bed confession and be saved but until that time I pray the the wicked would fall into the pit they have dug for the righteous. God hates the workers of iniquity- Psalm 5– Read your Bible!
🤗 Thanks ✝️
🥰 Thanks ✝️
I have never held public office, but I have type casted as this article speaks about. However, every time that I have, the Holy Spirit has reminded me that the Lord is more merciful that I am.
God sees their heart. We can see their fruit, and can pray for it to be according to God’s will. However, if all we can see is rotten fruit our perception becomes reality. Unfortunately, it seems so many politicians have become immune to Godly correction and truth. Pray sincerely that their souls have not been eternally corrupted.
God sees their heart. We can see their fruit, and can pray for it to be according to God’s will. However, if all we can see is rotten fruit our perception becomes reality. Unfortunately, it seems so many politicians have become immune to Godly correction and truth. Pray sincerely that their souls not been eternally corrupted.
Indeed, excellent article……I have to remind myself daily to pray for their hearts to be turned toward God and His loving care, salvation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide them along their way!
I need to also pray that this conversion happens while they are in office instead of always wanting them to ousted!
It is a difficult thing to pray for those with whom we disagree – especially on biblical and/ or moral grounds! For me it does require extra work, and time getting in tune with the Spirit. Thank you for your frank discussion of the subject.
Thank you for this convicting yet encouraging article! Iron sharpens iron!
Excellent article! I pray this way, then find myself reacting to things they say and wishing they were out of service.
Thank you soooooo much for this article. In 2020, two days after the presidential election, I had a dream that I was in my home, and I heard someone yelling outside. I ran out and saw a lake. I looked out and saw a man out in the water, obviously struggling and drowning. I dove into the water and swam out to him. As I got closer, I saw that it was Joe Biden. He could barely stay above the water. I will never forget the look of horror and terror on his face. I grabbed him and swam to a nearby dock. There is more to the dream, but the point I want to make is, when I woke up the Lord said, “I died for him also.” So heavenly Father, I pray that You will infuse us with Your love, compassion and concern for the ones in political office who promote ungodly legislation. Their eternal destiny is the lake of fire and hell if they don’t repent and turn to You (Revelation 21:8). Please help us to pray first and foremost for their hardened hearts to be softened toward You and their eyes and ears to be opened…turn Sauls into Pauls, Lord, we pray.
Wow ! God bless you for this refreshing article. I am convicted as well. I pray many more will behold and see as the Lord sees the politicians and stand in the gap for them.
Our government is nothing more that organized crime! Yahweh has given us a mirror image of our rotting transgressions. Bible history REPEATEDLY tells of Kings/government who KNEW AND PROFESSED THE LORD, but they were unrighteous and continued to do the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the Lord told them to do. SEVENTY out of one hundred fifty Psalms are IMPRECCATORY PRAYER!! Praying just as Jeremiah did for their DOUBLE DESTRUCTION. READ YOUR BIBLE! Yaweh puts up governments and takes them down based upon the RIGHTEOUSNES OF HIS PEOPLE. RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTS A NATION! PRAYER WITHOUT REPENTANCE IS HOT AIR AND OUR PRAYERS ARE HINDERED!!! Most “professing” Christians don’t know their Bibles from a door stop. They attend typical 501 c 3 red brick lobotomy centers and are led around by the nose by by seminary indoctrinated denominational preachers who don’t know the Bible either! THEN, they don’t even obey what they do know! The Bible tells us that the “love of money is the root of all evil” and that “the borrower is slave to the lender and no one can serve two masters” Yet churches and individual Christians live out most of their lives buried in unscriptural personal and corporate debt! Communism by textbook definition has 10 Planks….the backbone of which is a private central bank and a progressive income tax system! EXACTLY WHAT WE HAVE! We have raised the laws of man superior to the laws of God! Yahweh is allowing our “elections” to be a controlled sham by the wicked. READ YOU BIBLE
Amen. Thank you for your thoughts. We need to stop type-casting even our politicians. We vote them into office on the basis of their fruit, but we need to pray for them, knowing God can change the worst heart. Look what he did for Saul of Tarsus. And we need to remember when we are condemning people: it is level at the foot of the cross! We all meet there!
I’d “bet” that what you 2 were “guilty of”, as R. W. Schambach used to say, “We’ve all had an apple out of that barrel”. We all require God’s Helps every day in our lives so we can be all He Wants us to, & glorify Holy Trinity.
We judge actions and words. Fruit inspection as they say. I pray daily for the three people on the list for that day that the Lord would send a faithful, pure, clear gospel presenter to them. One who cares.
Father. Will you please put a rush order for a visit from Holy Spirit on the Congress and pentagon. And fbi and doj and all administration. And the church especially as we all need to consider our children and the lack of ministering to families so they will be delivered and healed in order to know their identity was specifically created in them at conception. I ask you to quickly turn the souls and hearts and spirits to You so we can walk in freedom and be salt and light as we go. In every vocation on earth. I’m asking You to throw a monkey wrench into every diabolical scheme government has instituted and wreck it before it gets off the ground. May these politicians be convicted and turn towards good governance or leave office sooner rather than later. Give them good courage and boldness to stand up for righteousness. I apply the blood of Jesus over our constitution and bill of rights and decree no weapon formed against these documents will prosper. I open the door for the rightful candidates to be positioned and shut the door on those who aren’t called. May they be blessed on their way out. And those on their way in to be blessed. We desire our government to be one You would be proud to carry on Your shoulders. Make America a platform for the nation to be a carrier of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The light You desire us to be. Wind of God blow. River of God flow. Sun shine on all that we will glorify You on earth as in heaven.
Such a beautiful prayer, Jeane. Thank you.
Good writing Joyce. As you say, sometimes ,Many times, we know not what to pray for as we ought. That’s one of the reasons God provides a prayer language to all his kids who decide to receive it. Prayer in the Spirit is vital in our time; this new covenant grace age.
May the Lord continue to raise up leadship in this country that will look to Him for direction. May we allow the Lord to expose the truth; and then just as in important is the we the people be able to understand what we see and hear. Discernment of the general public is as important as the exposing truth. We as Christian are the ones who need to ask God to forgive our role in the demise of our country and seek His face. Then will He hear us and heal our Land. II Chron. 7:14. Oh, Lord continue to raise up men and women who will seek You for direction in our great country.
The main issue for me this election season, is to bind the evil spirits that have been able to influence our political system. Without this happening, nothing will change, as far as corruption and trickery are concerned We so need for a return to integrity and truthfulness in our political system. We desperately need God to be allowed back into our nation, and our government. Pushing God out of our government has allowed many evil spirits to have unfettered influence over politicians and non-elected government officials alike. Lord Jesus, in Your mighty name, we take authority over these evil and deceiving spirits. We bind them and drop the sword of the Spirit upon their ugly heads. We pray that they will be replaced by a spirit of integrity , transparency, and righteousness in our government and the 2024 election process. Thank You, Jesus We praise your mighty name!
Yes, we need to separate the sinner from the sin. The person is loved and is included in the “none shall perish”, the sin separates from God. We can pray against ungodly actions while praying for the persons heart.
I am very grateful for the IFA resource written years ago by Gary Bergel, entitled “30 Ways to Pray for People in Authority”. I still pray through these points, especially for those in government positions. But the prayers are also appropriate for those in positions of influence, responsibility and leadership on every one of the Seven Mountains. Thank You IFA for this timeless resource.
So I encourage IFA to remind us all of this gem. May God keep us all mindful. I believe there are Sauls about to be struck by the presence of Jesus who will turn into Pauls. I believe there are Peters ready to turn back and strengthen their brothers. Jesus prayed for Peter and Peter became the leader Jesus knew he could be. May our Christian brothers and sisters fulfill the plans Jesus has for them.
Jesus also knew who Judas was and he suffered the consequences of his own decisions. We pray for salvation for them but we also pray God will remove them from their positions of authority and influence and bring them to righteous justice. The IFA resource “How to Pray for Wicked Politicians “ is another great resource that I continue to use in prayer.
Holy Spirit inspire our prayers. Amen
Amen
I feel this is an over-simplification, when we name the name of Jesus we become His banner bearer and we must be expecting more of ourselves; even though we stumble we are pointed in the right direction when we do so, following Christ and yes we afford the same grace to our Brothers and Sisters as we have received; however we do need to have the discernment to know whether to be praying for a persons sanctification or their salvation.
We need to examine the fruit they are bearing for you will know a tree by its fruit.
Luke 6:43-45 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
As well, we are not speaking of one who desires to be a teacher (and this is not to bring down the position of teacher) but we are talking of someone who desires to be in a high level of leadership. Here is the scripture most suited for a Christian leader since this is exactly what is being discussed:
1 Timothy 3:1-5 “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)”
Father, help us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves; to understand the times we are in so we may know what to do and help us to have the spirit of discernment so we may be praying rightly for all of those around us, in leadership or not.
I too struggle with praying for people whose actions and words make them enemies of our country and of God. Although I believe as Scripture says, to pray for our enemies (which is very challenging out of the Spirit), it also does not call us to close our eyes to the evil they are participating in and to call it out. Being a Christian does not, unfortunately, guarantee one will develop character because we are people of free will, by the Will of God and we choose whether we will follow Christ after professing Him. Many do not. The best I can do is to pray for the individual to repent and turn to Jesus and to be removed from power if they supporting what is against God’s obvious will.
So true Mrs. Swingle! I’m guilty of not devoting prayer time for y’all that live in the big liberal cities. I certainly have type cast your politicians. I repent of having a bad attitude that says “the corrupt are getting what they deserve “.
Father we lift upALL politicians to your throne of grace this day. We boldly take a stand arrayed in th full armor of God against Satans minions affecting the lawmakers all across our land. In Jesus precious name we decree Maranatha !!!
God spoke something similar to me this morning. He told me that He sees their heart. He is with them when they try to sleep and when they wake up. He knows their fears. As different people came to my mind, I saw them! I mean I really saw them — an individual worthy of the Father’s love and deserving of my prayers.
Convicted! Thank you, Lord, for carding enough about our very persona, our souls, that You gently lead us to a point of repentance. May I honor You in the arena of prayer for politicians. Amen.
Thank you. Let us pray informed by God, especially when He takes the time and effort to speak to us prophetically about our politicians. Then, let us proclaim what He has pronounced, joining with Him at his invitation for our co-sovereignty under Him.
Pray Colossians 1:9-12 on every individual you pray for.
Decidedly thought and prayer provoking! With all the media blitzing us with subjective and often left of center and anti-Kingdom sentiment and opinions, it is so easy to fall into a critical and negative mindset. Thanks for the challenge to come back to praying with right hearts and motives!
Thank you for this. It spoke to me.
Yes, it is too easy to typecast people. Just by speech, clothing, tats, hair, body odor, and a myriad of other items.
I walk at a high-end mall and I typecast people by their ‘pushing through crowds’ and facial expressions – usually look abhorrent about being with the lower class.
I talk, when possible, with the workers and try to give each a little bit of hope.
Gods word says that if you shall confess with your mouth, The Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and rose again from the Grave ,you will be saved.