How We Can Pray for our Country

by Sara Triplett

"The prayer of a righteous man (women included!) is powerful and effective."
James 5:16b

It well may be that the future of our country depends upon the prayers of God’s people. So how do we pray for America?

1. It begins with the confession to God of our sins that we as a nation have committed.
   
   We can learn a valuable lesson from Nehemiah. This great spiritual leader demonstrates by example what can happen when someone prays. When he received the report of conditions "back home" (1:1-3), he "sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."
   
   Listen carefully to his words as he prayed… "the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against Thee, and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes, of the judgments, which Thou commandment thy servant Moses." (1:6,7)
   
   Note how that Nehemiah does not set himself apart, but rather identifies himself with his people. That is true humility.
   
   So, what do we confess? For starters, we must ask God to forgive our national sings. We must repent for our sexual perversion we have so readily accepted as a legitimate lifestyle. We must repent that the foundation of our families has been destroyed, that we no longer hold marriage vows sacred as God does. WE must repent of our sings of legalized murder of literally millions of unborn babies, created in the image of God. We must repent for allowing our children to be indoctrinated with secular humanism in the public schools. We must confess to God every stand that our nation has taken contrary to His standards of righteousness.
   
   Then we must plead with God to have mercy upon America, to bring about a national obedience to His laws. John Wesley understood the power of prayer, to obtain God’s mercy. He wrote, "Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and preserve therein, and mercy will come down."
   
2. We must pray for our leaders.
   
   The scriptures command us to pray specifically for those who have authority in our nation. The Apostle Paul wrote to you Timothy to pray and intercede "for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." (1 Tim 2:2) Paul explains that if people will pray for their rulers, they will then have the freedom not only to live quiet and peaceable lives, but also to proclaim the gospel and introduce men and women to Christ.
   
   The majority of Christians in America have neglected to exercise their right as God’s children to influence by prayer the men God has allowed to be in authority. Because we have no labored in prayer to place godly people in government and to change the hearts of godless people who occupy office, God has allowed us to be ruled by people who are motivated by selfishness, humanistic thinking, and peer pressure. There is another group of people who need our prayers. In this hour of crisis, we must intercede for those whom God has raised up to lead His people in the fight against the forces of Satan in this nation. These Christian leaders are vulnerable to constant attack because of the stand they are taking for God. We need to pray that God will put a hedge of protection around them, that they may be able to discern what God wants to say, and that they will have the courage to speak God’s message without ever faltering or compromising.
   
3. We must pray for those who are enslaved in sin.
   
   Think of the millions of people in our nation who are bound by sin. How easy to simply sit back and criticize the sings that are destroying the very foundation of our nation. But we must love and pray for those who are slaves to alcohol, drugs, sex, money, and self. O how many are experience the empty, painful consequences of their rebellion against God! Moses, that great man of God, stood in the gap for his nation, between God and the blasphemous idolatrous Israelites who had erected a golden calf as a monument to their independence from God. Moses, one man, interceded for the Israelites and caused God to change His mind about destroying them. Let us join this man of prayer and put our trust upon God to deliver those who are shackled by the chains of sin.
   
   Do we sense it? Do we really sense it, that American stands on the brink of disaster? Your freedom is at stake! Your children’s future is at stake. The name and the character of God are at stake. Remember the question the psalmist posed, "Why should the nations say, 'Where is your God'"
   
   As never before, we are in desperate need of the forgiving, healing hang of God. Can we join together in earnest, effective prayer that God would sweep across our sick nation with a great revival of conviction of sin and commitment of obedience? Are we, as God’s people, ready to bend our knees and meet His conditions, to pay the price of humility and repentance, and persistent, prevailing prayer?