The Fayette Citizen-Religion Page
Wednesday, October 28, 1998
The Rev. Dr.
John Hatcher
Religion Columnist
What kind of prayers
for our President, leaders?

I've been off the page in the last several months while a lot of stuff has happened. Stuff to do with my line of work: stuff like sin. Perhaps that's been good in that it's given me time to reflect on what all it means.

Last week a sweet lady visited me in my study concerning some personal needs. As we rose from our chairs and she was about to leave, she brought up a subject we had not even touched. She asked out of the blue, "Do you pray for our President?"

Well, being in the business I'm in, thankfully, I was able to answer "yes" without telling a little white lie. It just so happened that our regular Monday night prayer group prayed for the President that very week. In fact, one of our prayer warriors had read 1 Timothy 2:2 that calls for believers to pray for all who are in authority.

The greatest sin of the church is prayerlessness. Our greatest prayerlessness is for the leaders of our country. We seem to be reminded to pray for them in a crisis. But we don't do a good job praying for our leaders while the crisis builds undetected. What if the church had faithfully prayed for our President since the day he was elected?

So, let's just say that you and I can say, "Yes, we pray for the President." Next question: what kind of prayers do we pray? Republican prayers? Rush Limbaugh prayers? Democratic prayers? Independent prayers? Do we pray with prejudice?

For example, "O Lord, humble the President. Help him see how weak his repentance has been. Lord, help him resign for the good of the country." Or, "O Lord, help the President to stay focused on national issues; keep his mind off himself." Or, "O Lord, embarrass the President."

Too many of our prayers are prayed in the name of our own particular politics. Yet, politics and prayer indeed are strange bedfellows. You and I have the right to campaign for the religious right and even the religious left, but when we pray before a Holy and Righteous and Loving God, we'd better pray in the center of His will.

Do I think President Clinton has violated the trust of his office? Yes. I think the framers of the Constitution exercised magnificent wisdom in writing the impeachment and removal clauses. But that's the responsibility of our elected officials to fulfill. I voted for them for that. As a Christian and a Bible-believing Christian at that, I have another responsibility. One that I have failed miserably. To pray for my President. And if you are honest, too, I believe you would have the same confession.

So, maybe it's time for a holiness check. We hear a lot of reality checks. Maybe we need to covenant to pray for our leaders at least as much as we protest them. After all, we're Christians!

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