Praying for Leaders, part one

Romans 8:26-27 

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

 Spiritual mysteries spark a lot of conversation in some church groups. We talk about what we think the Bible means. However, I’ve found that God says what he means and means what he says. Our problem is that we don’t know what he’s talking about sometimes.

It’s the day after the Presidential election, and some people are happy while others are sad. Some people are wondering why God allowed this to happen, and others are thanking God that it did. That’s the way it goes with elections.

But if you and I are brothers and sisters in Christ because of the unity of the Spirit, we can all pray together as one for God to use us to bless our country. We can show proper respect for our leaders just like God tells us to in the second chapter of First Peter.

I’ve seen the question on faces of people who voted and became frustrated when the other guy won. “How do I pray for someone I don’t agree with?”

God wants us to pray according to the Bible. There are many passages in the Bible which lead us to pray for the protection of others. But God also gives us power by the Spirit of God to pray those mysteries known only to God. This is how we pray God’s will when we don’t know God’s will.

In First Corinthians 14:14, we read, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” Our job is to trust God when we understand and when we don’t understand. Our job is to not let the world change us, but let God change us. Change for the better will occur, starting with each one of us, when we let God change us down deep inside. For that to happen, we must keep our focus on God, not social media, not politics, not the weather, not public opinion.

God is able to change anything. Do you want him to change you?