President elect Barack Obama

I happened to come across this listing of scriptures dealing with the Christian's posture towards praying for our government leaders. Tonight's election outcome dramatically underscores that the Christians chief contribution to government is not the power of the vote, but the power of prayer. To that end, and in accordance with God's word, I sincerely wish to honor and pray for Barack Obama, the President Elect of United States.

"Don't withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it." Proverbs3:27

"I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men: for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4.

I pray that our soon to be President and government leaders will

Love the Truth:

"And with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

Have Wisdom:

"Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth. Don't forsake her, and she will preserve you. Love her, and she will keep you. Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you. She will bring you to honor, when you embrace her." Proverbs 4:5-8.
"Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for your commandments are always with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have kept your precepts." Psalm 119:98-100.

Display Courage and Integrity:

"He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out." Proverbs 10:9.
"The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them." Proverbs 11:3.

Be Sharp In Insight and Quick in Discernment:

"Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil."1 Thessalonians5:21,22.
"Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1.

Surround themselves With Good Staff Members and Advisers:

"Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers." Psalm 1:1.
"If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked." Proverbs 29:12.
"For by wise guidance you wage your war; and victory is in many advisors." Proverbs 24:6.

I pray that our leaders will recieve God's Protection Over Themselves and Their Families:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won't be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; Though the waters of it roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling." Psalm 46:1-3

I pray that the Lord will strengthen the Church specifically in the United States to be an example to the nation by her honor, her courage, her wisdom, her selflessness, her peacefulness, her courage, and her consistency with the character of Christ, and the principles revealed in God's word. May she honor Jesus Christ more then herself, and fear God more than man.

Let every soul be in subjection to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those who exist are ordained by God. Therefore he who resists the authority, withstands the ordinance of God; and those who withstand will receive to themselves judgment. For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same, for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn't bear the sword in vain; for he is a minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil. Therefore you need to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God's service, attending continually on this very thing. Romans 13:1-6

Blessings precious saints,

MC

Amen.

Amen and amen.

[i][u]“the Christians chief contribution to government is not the power of the vote, but the power of prayer.”[/u][/i]

By the Grace of God, NOW the prayer that go goes up will be prayer, not that this man or the other is elected, but prayer and repentance that leads to revival.

Praying for the future President...and for the lives that can be impacted by any of his decisions (including the lives of the unborn). I remember that the heart of the King is in the hand of God -- and He can turn it as He wills.

What a great testimony it would be if Barack Hussein Obama would truly meet Jesus! Perhaps there is a Paul out there who would be willing to speak the truth to him? Anyone want to "appeal unto...the President?"

;-)

MC

Praise God for your leadership in this manner. :)

MZ

Amen! Thanks for the positive post about our responsibilities as Christians.

what a blessedness to actually pray for our leaders instead of railing and uttering offensive gestures and thoughts in our hearts.

God Lives!

God Almigthy allowed Israel to have & choose whatever Kings they wanted not only by vote, but by the condition of their heart.

Morality is the issue because, it is through this issue coupled with real fervent prayer which we Americans if you will, will receive from God whom and what we choose....

We choose our leaders according to what we want as humans, and as secular as it might seem, it is God our Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has allowed for such a time as this...

let us ensure we do our part, pray, and pray until we really find ourselves praying, I will say again, we have one foot in the depths of love for the world, and we are trying, but not hard enough to get the other foot in heaven. We are trying to hard to get our feet in heaven by carnal and half-hearted measures.

Don't take my word, really look at yourselves, and you will continue to see just how we, not so much the church, but I and we are lacking an affectionate love for Jesus...

I am ever still attempting to digest such my own Mess, but I ask a friend and brethren, what is it that we are actually seeking for? Do we seek Jesus? His friendship?, His presence?

OR,

Are we hyped or happy about the idea that we are right in our menial conversation and arguments...... I sense a deep shallowness about our lives and intentions, and many of you all will say speak for yourself, but please let us pray until something really happens.....

As Paul Washer stated, we must sacrifice if we want such anointing and if we want to truly say like Paul, " I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives IN me, and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who Loved me and Gave himself for me"

With Love Family,

Amen!
But let us still be ever vigilant for the devil roams as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (Perhaps Obama will facilitate this process? Now that would be an odd turn of events! :-o )

ginnyrose

...of course, I would still vote the same way if the election were held today. Righteousness still matters.

:-)

BTW, did you realize that Obama received nearly the same amount of votes as President Bush did just four years ago. Back then they called it a "squeaker" in regards to the popular vote. Last night, they made it sound like a landslide. Skewed perspective?

*EDIT: In Public Policy classes, we have often looked at how "close" the election really was. We determine the vote differentiation of the closest states that would have been turned the election the other way. For instance, Bush won in 2004 because he won Ohio by about 120,000 votes.

In this election, it was probably a series of small states. Obama might have won NC by a total of only 12,100 votes (still too close to officially call). It is likely, after looking at the current map results, that this election was decided by less than 1M votes (less than one third of one percent of the total population...and about one percent of the total voters yesterday). This is a reminder of the collective importance of each voter.

I pray that the Lord strikes Barack like he did Saul of Tarsus.

A little testimony...

A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."Jer 17:12

Jeremiah 17 paints a intimate and comforting portrait of a brokenhearted man who is comforted in the midst of national judgement. His profound grief, both outwardly and inwardly, piled up into a tipping point that caused him to abandon all hope that judgement could be escaped. Yet, somehow the tipping point released the waters of peace into his troubled heart.

He longed for the very throne that was issuing severe judgement as a sanctuary! Where decrees and dispatches of destruction were issuing forth, he saw a place of safety and security. And then he says O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

As I watched President elect Obama give his midnight speech from Chicago I have to admit I felt a little like I was watching the fictional character Nicolae Carpathia in one of those Tim LaHaye Left Behind movies on television. I mean seriously, watching how the world is treating Obama as a messiah is starting to make Jack Chick look like Michael Crichton.

Yet shortly later that evening, my attention turned away from the momentous event on my television screen, once again to this momentous chapter of Jeremiah. By the grace of the Holy Spirit, a light came on in my heart that flooded me with peace...and love for those that were previously a threat to me.

As a sincere social conservative, I voted my conscience the best I knew how. In all honesty if given another chance, I would vote the same way. However, as I reflected upon Jeremiah 17 I became aware that I had missed something so utterly simple and so profound that when I received it I literally went to sleep that night like a baby in a mothers arms.

Jeremiah called God the fountain of living waters. He then said in the midst of national disintegration and shame Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. This rapturous hope in God Jeremiah was experiencing was the promise of the gospel, the promise of the Lamb of God to come that wouldn't be fully revealed for many centuries later.

Today for many Christians, Barak Obama understandably is the final proof that America has become not just post-Christian, but anti-Christian. (I realize not all Christians feel this way.) His election is the tipping of the bowl that will spill out judgement. Now all our fears, our invectives, even our Schadenfreude accusations threaten to pollute the airwaves, blogs and even pulpits of our Churches for the next 4-8 years. Indeed, while conservatives were appalled at Reverend Wright's 'G---D America...we find many angry Christians coming strangely close to the same sentiment from a different perspective. They are especially angry and confused at other Christians who voted for Obama. How could they do that?!

But the Jeremiah of the bible prayed for a healing that did not involve Kings and laws. It involved himself. Heal me and I will be healed...save me and I will be saved. It was enough softening of the heart for him. More importantly, the important of the text seems to imply that it was enough for God.

The reason I wish to pray for Obama is not to demonstrate some noble or spiritual virtue. In all honesty it is out of shame for my past behavior of not praying for our leaders enough. My prayers for Obama, are the softening of my heart to trust in God. I had lost sight that God was the fountain of living waters, and so kept hoping for some other breakthrough. I did not rest in God as i ought in recent weeks.

God is the fountain of living waters, not man. Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

God is the fountain of living waters, and no great and powerful leader is going to stop that. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

Now if someone is still reading this far, you might be thinking, ""is this another one of those, nothing good comes from politics, speeches?" Not exactly. I think God can use Christians in politics. I also think he can use any political leaders.

For instance I give glory to God that he used Barak Obama to take my eyes off of what's going on down here on Earth and to remember that God alone is the fountain of life. Obama, or McCain could try to pass all the death legislation their hearts could imagine, but God is still the fountain of living waters.

My motive for respectfully, and lovingly praying for Barak Obamna is not some attempt to be spiritual...but a very desperate desire to crawl into my Fathers lap and be strengthened in this uncertain hour. And through that I felt the Lord grace me to let go of my fears and resentment. I'll let God judge the President, and rest that his judgement will be righteous.

It was never up to Barak Obama, John McCain, or even Sarah Palin to save lives. They would be the President of the United States, and to some even the world. Yet we are the Church of the most high God who is the fountain of living waters. If man is healed by God then he will be healed, and if he is saved by God then he will be saved. There are no middlemen in this process.

Church, if John McCain had been elected, I'm nearly sure we would've considered it another conservative victory...one that would have put us back on our laurels and heritage for another 4 years. Indeed, my prayers for Obama are also a repentance for becoming wicked and lazy regarding praying for President George Bush. (Who I think many others in the church here sinned against in their fleshly defamation.)

Now that Obama is elected, we seem to already know how the story will end. Little prayer, much prognostication.

But does Christ destroy his church, or build her up? And if we pray accordingly, will we not prosper in the Lord? By praying I do not mean plotting...I mean trusting. There is the mystery of lawlessness, and the mystery of Godliness. And in the middle is the simple man who runs to God's arms saying Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.

Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

Our God is the fountain of Life. We might not be able to change the political and cultural apostasy of the societies of the US and Europe, but we can be used to flow more life into all of these nations, then we ever thought possible. With that in mind, I do not understand why all that seems to come into people's minds is pain and death now that conservatism is receding. Are we denied the promises of God now that Republicans have become scattered and confused?

Certainly the body may be killed or die, but praise God we are promised the fountain of living waters! All men can see death coming for them, but the prophet of God saw the fountain of life! Everyone is so quick to cry out the danger they discern. The airwaves are jammed with this frightful cacophony even among the pagans...enter the Christian who knows their God is the fountain as Jeremiah knew.

So let's pray for Obama to do the job of government that God has ordained for him righteously. I do not say we should support any leader in unrighteousness. Only let us pray for his safety. Let us pray in faith for his soul, that he would fear God! Yet regardless of Obama's heart, God may do wonders through him just to humble us Republicans. Wouldn't it sting some of us republicans if America became a more righteous nation under a democrat!?*

Hey, don't say it's impossible. I know, I know.... I know all about liberalism, and secular humanism, and evolution, and the evil plans of George Sorros. I get it. I'm a realist...in all likelihood we are going to experience some frightful dissapointments. But brethren, God is the fountain of life, not the Republican party. He can make water pour out of a rock, and he can use a democratic administration to answer our prayers for righteousness. Not because of their policies, but because of his purposes. The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. I am not prophesying anything...I don't have to. I've read God's word. God is the fountain of Life. Pray as if God is indeed the fountain of life, and not the exiled Republicans. Sanctify ourselves and let's see if God will not do wonders among us tomorrow.

If I've said something that doesn't make sense, or is old news to you, then chalk it up to my incoherent babbling and just go meditate on Jeremiah 17:12. A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."

PS Don't worry...I'm not going to start lecturing on why politics are bad ect. I just wanted to give a report from this sector of God's church...compare my notes with yours brethren.

MC

*Forgive me my democratic brethren...I was making a point. ;-)

A little testimony...

Nah, this is no little testimony, this a testimony of faith, without which no one can please God..

God is the fountain of living waters, not man. Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD

God is the fountain of living waters, and no great and powerful leader is going to stop that. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is..

I will carry these Words with me for many days to come for sure.

I know many of us will be praying...and continue to be praying, that all God's children will have the peace from their governments to go on living for Christ's glory, with Obama or anyone else.

I am very blessed and encouraged by your posts, brother Mike, may God continue to oversee your growth in His grace and knowledge...

In Christ,
Margaret

Ginny Rose and Mamaluk,

thank you for the preciousness of those posts,

LEt us remeber RICH MULLINS when HE said with conviction, that Our God is an Awesome God, HE reigns, HE reigns over heaven above with wisdom power and love Our God is an awesome God

Lord, Strike barack from his high horse, and meet he and his family with the Jesus of reality......

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Hi everyone,

From Mike's post...

"Let us pray in faith for his soul..."

Tonight I was watching the beginning of a program on public television here. The program opened with a still photograph of the President Elect speaking before a huge crowd. In the backdround you could see a capital like building, which the moderator of the program descirbed as having been a place that slaves were once sold from.

As the program began from there, the moderator described several events from our nation's past, very ugly and cruel, that white Americans inflicted upon those that were black.

I was somewhat stunned in being confronted again with how despicable black Americans have been treated in a country that has described itself as being largely Christian. That people who were black, many of them Christians, could have been treated as sub-human beings in such a land as this!

It is unimaginable that white Christians could have tolerated these things while sitting in Churches week after week. But that is an era that is before my own, and it would not be wise for [b]me[/b] to look upon them with the glasses of my own time in history only. I can only look with sadness and wonder how such a thing could have been.

And I can perhaps, shed some tears of remorse on behalf of those who may never have repented of such unimaginable evil.

I do not know if white American Christians ever reached a collective point of soul-striken grief over the evil they and their forefathers commited against black Americans in this country. But I can hope that [b]we[/b], those who call ourselves Christians in this country today, can look with righteous disgust on what was done in the past, and that we can boldy pledge to ourselves and others, that it should never happen again while we are alive on this earth.

Let us indeed pray for our soon to be President. And let us pray for ourselves.

Chris,

It is still happening - only below the surface. I sit amazed as hear the things that some of those who profess to be Christians say about black people. While it is not for me to judge others, somehow I find it impossible to reconcile the fact that one could have Christ in them and then hate their brother simply because of the color of his skin. It just can not be.

Actually I have been pondering this for some time and it has come into my mind that maybe a lot of the atrocities that have been done have been due to guilt. God put the black people in a land rich with natural resources - extremely valuable resources. Both the land and the people have been raped by the greed of others. In order to justify such actions, the people would have to be "painted" as something other than human - something easily accomplished with such a difference of skin color. If this was a test of our Lord, to see if we valued life over money, we have failed miserably.

I hope I haven't gotten too far off subject here.

MC, I really enjoyed what you have written. Safe in the arms of our Lord - if only the people knew the true Saviour . . .