Praying for our country

For a while now, Dwayne and I have been stopping every night at 9pm local time to pray for our country, its leaders, law enforcement officers and the military, the black community, the candidates running for office, our church and God's church throughout the US and the world and its leaders, and other things that might be heavy on our hearts.

We have been guided by this passage of scripture:
1 Timothy 2:1-4: I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

So, we first pray for the salvation of our leaders, law enforcement officers and military, black community, and candidates, and then we pray that we might live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness under the authority that God has placed over us.

Our church, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist in Irving, TX, is doing a series on Sunday evenings on Race, Politics, and Faith. A week ago, Anthony Moore from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft Worth talked with us from 1 Corinthians 8 on "Race, Racism, and Racial Reconciliation" (http://www.macarthurblvd.org/sermon/race-politics-faith-part-1/).
  
Be careful of asking God to examine you! Just yesterday, I was convicted while praying of racism that was within my own heart - so thankful that I could confess it and ask to be cleansed of it.


Last night, our pastor, Josh Smith, preached on "Citizens of a Nation, Part 1" (http://www.macarthurblvd.org/sermon/race-politics-faith-part-2/) from Jeremiah 29 where God is instructing exiles on how to behave in the nation in which God has placed them...

Jeremiah 29:4-7: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

...as we are foreigners and exiles while living in this world, waiting for God's kingdom to come.

I Peter 2:9-12: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

As we have been praying, I have felt so discouraged about the choices that we have in our presidential race this year. Someone had rightly said, "It is a choice of the lesser of two evils, but whichever you choose, you're still choosing evil." But... one of our lay pastors said last night, "Every election is a choice of the lesser of two evils..."  I had not thought of it that way before, but as long as we are voting on humans, the person we are voting for is inherently evil; they may be forgiven, they may be more morally upright than the choices we are faced with this year, but... nonetheless, every human is inherently evil. I appreciate the fact that the discouragement of this election season has encouraged Dwayne and me to join together in concentrated prayer each evening. I appreciate that as we have been praying for each of our leaders and the candidates and their families by name, I care more about each of them, personally, spiritually, as an individual. I appreciate the wisdom of my husband and the way that he leads our family. And I appreciate that regardless of who is in the White House, King Jesus is still on His throne and will be forever!

* Bible verses from New International Version (NIV)