Column for Sept. 2, 2010

What has been on my heart for a couple of weeks to share has been prayer. I am a believer in Jesus, the son of God, as my savior and my Lord. I make no apologies for that. I was not always a believer in Christ but I always had a belief in the existence of God. I have always had strong opinions on politics and religion, and those views have been refined over time as my relationship with God and my understanding of history grew.

Since I became a Christian in 1991, I have seen an awful lot in our nation and in our churches; some good, some not so much. One thing that I am reminded of from time to time is that I am supposed to pray for our leaders. I must admit that I have been remiss in my personal prayer life when it comes to praying for our governmental leaders.

Ye Olde King James Bible says in 1Timothy 2:1-4 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Though I do remember from time to time to stop and pray, I am often quick to comment, instead. Believe it or not, I have been endeavoring a lot over the past several months to be more temperate in the expression of my views and have on many occasions withheld my tongue when I thought I would jump on a topic with both feet.

For several years now, I have contemplated organizing a prayer gathering here in Selma. Whether such a gathering would be once a month or once a week, I have often thought about getting together with other believers who would be willing to gather at some place like the gazebo behind Town Hall some evening for the purpose of praying for the leaders of our nation, our state, our county, and our town.

I have not sat down to look at my calendar yet as to dates and times, but I would love to hear from anyone else so inclined to pray for our leaders. My email address is at the end of every column in this newspaper. You can also find me at the web site within that email address and I am also in the phone book. I am sure you can reach me through this newspaper’s normal communication channels, as well.

Well, enough talking about it, I am going to at least start my dedication to public prayer right here.

Father God, in the name of Jesus I come to you now and I ask the readers of this publication to join me in bringing our requests to you. It is in answer to your instruction to pray so I know that you will hear me and the others who come to you. You ordained human government through civil authorities. I personally ask for your forgiveness for not being slow to speak and slow to anger when it comes to your servants, as you call them in Romans 13.

I thank you, God, for your ordained government in our nation. You, in your grace and wisdom, gave us a long lasting and wonderful form of government that transcends all the way down to our local levels of government. I realize that it takes great wisdom, great moral character, and your hand of guidance to rightfully run such governance. Therefore I ask you to bless every elected, appointed, and hired official in governance over your people and over those who are not your children; the just and the unjust alike. I pray first and foremost that the blessing that Peter spoke of in Acts 3:26 “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Let your Spirit have free course to reprove of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment in the hearts of your servants.

I pray that you would grant wisdom to every government official, that they would take decisions according to your will, and that they would be rulers who would truly not be a terror to good works, but to evil.

In my limited space here Lord, this is my pondering and my heart’s cry. I pray it would also be that of every believer, and that every non-believer would be transformed to be one of your own. I thank you for this privilege and opportunity. I love you, the only father I have. Amen.