With President Trump’s address to the nation comes an outline for his administration for the next four years. His record-long speech was filled with important goals to bring common sense to government and a pathway to peace in Europe.
Yet, if you watched the television coverage of his speech, division is obvious. The opposing party rejects every idea, every notion of potential delivered by President Trump. You might expect a party platform would divide elected leaders, but in areas where safety, peace, fraud, abuse and prosperity, are considered 80/20 issues, i.e., issues where a high percentage of Americans agree, it remains jaw-dropping to witness intentional resistance.
Can anything be done? Let me suggest something we can do, and it doesn’t matter your affiliation with any party or spiritual group. And before I go on, let me say, I don’t want to sound preachy. Everyone, me included, can and should make this a priority. Pray.
The Bible encourages believers to pray for all people, including our leaders, specifically mentioning those in authority. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about this: “Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God…” (New Living Translation).
It was refreshing to hear the prayer that began President Trump’s first cabinet meeting at the White House recently by Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner. “Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege, to be in your presence,” Turner prayed, standing over the newly approved cabinet, “Thank you, God, for President Trump, for appointing us, for anointing us to do this job.” Turner a former pastor from Plano, Texas also played nine seasons in the NFL.
Psalms and Proverbs urge leaders to seek God’s will, for discernment, knowledge and maintaining order. The ever-prolific wordsmith and a founder of our nation, Ben Franklin, made it clear that prayer to God was vital in crafting government: “I firmly believe this; and I also believe, that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: we shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach… I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business; and that one or more of the clergy of the city be requested to officiate in that service.”
There are plenty of American Presidents that have depended on prayer. On his first night in the White House, President John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit.” It is notable that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the phrase carved into a White House fireplace mantle. Other presidents have encouraged a return to prayer on many occasions.
Praying for our nation and the world costs only your time and focus. And perhaps it is time for us to rally around a common prayer of hope for America’s future. Secretary Turner asked God for clarity regarding the issues we face as a nation and continued, “Father God, as we serve the people of this country in every prospective agency, every job that we have, we would humble ourselves before you, and we would lead in a manner that you’ve called us to lead and to serve.”
I would be guilty if you asked if I have consistently prayed for our government and leaders. I haven’t, but I want to do better. Ronald Reagan, while proclaiming a Day of Prayer commented, “In 1775, the Continental Congress proclaimed the first National Day of Prayer ... In 1783, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the long, weary Revolutionary War during which a National Day of Prayer had been proclaimed every spring for eight years.”
Let’s be prayerful … and patient. May God bless the United States of America!
Editor’s Note: Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of the Murray Ledger & Times.
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