Election Prayer 2012 [#8]

I have asked my Senior Pastor and long-time friend, John Owen Butler, to have the prayer for this election day. This prayer is adapted from John Newton's letters found here.
-----

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Lord, today, I am reminded of the truth "The Lord reigns! Let the nations tremble!" (Psalm 99:1). Help me to keep that truth before me. As I draw near to vote today, let me draw near to your throne of grace. You have commanded us to seek the peace of the place where you have placed us. You have put us here at this time, in your sovereign design. But Lord, the times look awfully dark indeed; and as the clouds grow thicker--the stupor of the nation seems proportionally to increase. If you, Lord, had not a remnant here, I would have very formidable apprehensions. But you love your children; some are sighing and mourning before you, and I am sure you hear their sighs, and see their tears. I trust there is mercy in store for us at the bottom of this; but I expect a shaking time before things get into a right channel--before we are humbled, and are taught to give you the glory.

The state of the nation, the state of the churches--both are deplorable! Those who should be praying--are disputing and fighting among themselves! Alas! how many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government--than for their own sins!

We and our fathers have sinned grievously against you. Our sins are many, deep rooted, perverse. We say “In God We Trust,” but we really bow down to the idol of our personal peace and affluence. We deserve your righteous wrath and curse. But you also reveal yourself as the “compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and truth.” Remember, Lord, your mercies, declared to us in the Gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Heal us, revive us, reform us!

You tell me that the powers that be are ordained by you. They are appointed by you. Work your holy will in our lives as a nation through this election. In the outcome, give me grace to walk humbly before you, to give honor to whom honor is due, to submit to their lawful government, and through it all to glorify you.

Guide me, Lord, as I vote today. Help me to sort through the political hype and trash-talking. Give me wisdom and discernment in casting my vote.

Help me, O Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

John Owen Butler
Senior Pastor, Heritage Presbyterian Church (PCA), Edmond, OK.
----
Mike

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?" (Rev. Ed.) by John Fea. A Review

Image
  John Fea is a professor of history at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, PA. A university founded in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. He originally published "Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction" in 2011, and it was revised in 2016. This 328-page paperback is packed full with Colonial and American history, drawing from original sources to answer that question. It is a book written "for the historically minded and thoughtful reader who is looking for help in sorting" out this question, avoiding polemics (xix). Since we live in a sound-bite culture, Fea recognizes that it is difficult to have a sustained dialogue on this topic, but he makes a valiant effort toward having that sustained dialogue. The book reads fairly straightforward, and doesn't seem to get bogged down in the contentious mudpuddles or bogs. In the end, Fea seems to get his point across. To answer the reigning question if America was founded as a Christian...
Read more

Union with Christ - An Application

Image
  (This was my weekly letter to my congregation on Wednesday, 21 February 2024) This morning in my devotional reading, I was working through 1 Corinthians 8. Though I’ve read these words a huge number of times over the years, today one verse caused me to stop and take stock.  Paul wrote, “ Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ ” (1 Corinthians 8:12). What struck me is a couple of things. First, in God’s saving work, we are – by grace alone – united (hitched, bonded, ingrafted) to Christ so much so, that what happens to us happens to him, and what is his becomes ours (think of Galatians 2:20, for example). As Sinclair Ferguson put it, “through union with Christ all that is his by incarnation becomes ours through faith” (“The Christian Life,” 110). Let that percolate in your heart for a while. Your fear, anxiety, tears, and so forth, he feels. And his “ Peace, be still ” is yours. Second, the way we treat one an...
Read more

"Ah, Lord! We are Animated by Anger and Anxiety, Fear and Fury..."

Image
I hesitate to put this out there because of the combative environment we are in at present. But I think some souls will take courage from this, and some will also join with me as we get to the end of this little composition. I am struck by the words of God in Zechariah 8. As he rehearses the waywardness and faithlessness of his people in the past, he clearly declares that he " set every man against his neighbor " (8:10). That got me thinking long ago. I started putting the pieces together and realized that one of God's acts of judgment is division, setting a man against his neighbor. That's what happened when he divided his people into the northern tribes and southern tribes (see 1 Kings 11:26-40). Because of Solomon's turning aside, allowing his wives to turn his heart away from the God of his father, David, the Lord brings about a rift in God's people. And this pattern of divisive judgment runs throughout Scripture. On the other hand, truthful unity is the g...
Read more