In every election cycle, American Christians have amazing opportunities sandwiched between grave dangers. We are privileged to be a part of a nation of people who have the responsibility to choose their own leaders.

For those believing that godly leaders are a source of blessing to a nation, elections provide us with great opportunity. However, when we begin to put our hope in leaders rather than in the Lord, we open ourselves to serious peril.

God’s Word is very clear about having an undivided heart, trusting only in the Lord. King David, the mighty warrior, says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).

Awareness of this verse can create a tension in the thinking Christian. Some have overreacted and rejected the political process completely. Such people will be less motivated to pray over the elections.  A balanced and biblical approach, however, allows us to fully participate in the electoral process without falling into improperly placed trust.

In Paul’s teaching on prayer in 1 Timothy 2:1–4, one of the major thrusts is praying for those in authority. According to Paul’s reasoning, we want good government that allows us to live “peaceful and quiet lives”—ultimately freeing us to evangelize those who are lost.

Paul would have been amazed that Christians could someday actually take part in selecting those leaders. I believe he would have been even more amazed (and appalled) that many of those Christians didn’t even bother to get involved in selecting their leaders for the purposes of God to be fulfilled.

Praying for the electoral process is the first step in seeing the fulfillment of what Paul is writing about to Timothy. I don’t believe we should wait for a leader to be selected before we move into obedient prayer for those in authority. In prayer, we invite the Lord into the process of electing those leaders who will ultimately allow us to lead “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (v. 2).

So why pray for the elections? There are four compelling reasons:

• The Bible commands us to pray for those who are in leadership, which would include those who are vying to become leaders.
• Godly leaders can help slow the erosion of religious liberties in our land, providing an increased window of opportunity for the Church to pray and evangelize.
• The selection of leaders who understand and lead according to God’s righteous standards can bring great blessing to a nation (Prov. 14:34).
• Scripture also says, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisors make victory sure” (Prov. 11:14). The determination of who leads our nation will also determine who advises that leader and how we are guided.

This blog is adapted from Praying for an Election: A Non-Partisan, Scripture-Based Prayer Guide by David Butts.

Click here to order this powerful prayer guide!

I am amazed at the clear insight God granted King David in so many areas, including giving and possessions. In his later years, David gathered everything needed for his son Solomon to build the Temple of God, a place of worship. As you read his heartfelt prayer (and, I suggest, you read all of 1 Chronicles 29 to get the full picture of this extraordinary generosity that was displayed by the people of Israel), we can learn three important principles about generous, prayerful giving.

“David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,

“Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.”

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you” (1 Chronicles 29:10–17).

1. Extraordinary generosity comes from the realization that everything we have comes from our great, powerful and majestic God. So few people today understand this, but David nailed it more than 3,000 years ago! It is this understanding of God as the Owner of all things that forms the basis for extraordinary giving…not just of our finances, but also our time and our talents.

Prayer: Father, I recognize that all of my finances, possessions, time and talents come from You alone. Help me to continually remember this! Show me how to hold loosely to all of these things, so that giving them up for Your use is a pleasure and a joy rather than something I dread or do out of guilt or a sense of “duty.” Help me to consider the amount of time I waste each day that could be utilized for Your purposes! Give me a passion for Your kingdom and ideas about how to use my discretionary time. And Lord, please give me wisdom and creativity to use the talents I have to bring honor and glory to You!

2. Extraordinary leaders give generously by example from willingness and from the integrity of their hearts. King David had insight to know that he needed to lead the way. He could not simply ask others to give without demonstrating his own desire to be generous. David went above and beyond, freely out-giving everyone! His generosity was an encouragement to others.

Prayer: Father, I know I can never out-give You! Show me how to lead those at work/school/in my home/at church, etc. in generous giving whenever there is a kingdom task You direct Your people to step into. May I have the courage and privilege to be extravagant in whatever ways You direct my heart. Use me to help others see how Your people can make a difference in our culture simply by giving in extraordinary ways of their time, talents and finances!

3. Extraordinary giving is birthed out of joy and a desire to please and worship God. The building of the temple was a joyous process, as the people of Israel knew it was to be a place where the Lord their God would come to dwell. From David’s extravagant worshiping heart came a prayer that God’s people, following his lead, would give beyond their means, their fears and their uncertainties. And give they did! As an act of worship, both rich and poor gave in abundance and with great joy to build the House of God in Jerusalem. They did not give under compulsion or coercion. According to David, generous giving tested their hearts spiritually and revealed “uprightness of heart.”

Prayer: Lord God, help me to become a joyous, worshipful giver in every way. Teach me to expand my heart to embrace Your kingdom with excitement and anticipation as You allow me to have the privilege of serving You as You have created me to be – a generous, talented creation with so much to offer others! When You look at me, may You see only “uprightness of heart” and continue to build me into a house of prayer – the temple that now exists in the world to glorify You and extend Your kingdom to the ends of the earth!

Here is a prayer that incorporates all three of these principles: “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.” Lord God, I believe with all my heart that everything I have comes from You. Help me to live as a good steward of all that comes from Your hand. May my generous giving of time, talent and finances bring pleasure to You. Teach me to give joyously, as an act of worship and gratitude. In the powerful Name above all names, Jesus Christ, my Lord, Amen!

This blog has been adapted from The Giving Church by David Butts.

© Harvest Prayer Ministries

I often hear pastors speak of their desire to have a church that prays more.  I certainly understand and appreciate that desire. A praying church is a powerful church in so many ways. While there are many things that can be done to help a congregation grow in prayer, I believe the first and easiest step concerns the prayer life of the pastor(s).

A praying pastor can become an amazing influence toward the church becoming a house of prayer. Let me focus today on two of the many reasons why this is so critical. The first has to do with the power of prayer itself.

 When pastors, who are already in a place of spiritual authority and influence, begin to pray solid, biblical prayers for their congregations, they are lining up with the will of God. The will of God in such matters is not a mystery. God wants His church to be a house of prayer. When the pastor prays for the church to become a praying church, he is not trying to talk God into doing something He doesn’t already want to do. Because of what Scripture tells us, we must believe that prayer is powerful when we pray in accordance with the will of God.

 In a real sense, when a spiritual leader begins to pray for those for whom he has responsibility, he operates as a priest before the Lord. He stands in a place of effective prayer between the congregation and God. God has committed to hear his prayers. Pastors who persistently pray biblical prayers for their congregation to become a house of prayer will begin to see significant changes in the prayer lives of their people.

 Pastors who pray kingdom-focused pastoral prayers over their congregations from the platform/pulpit encourage and teach their people to pray! A pastor should spend significant time privately praying and growing in intimacy with the Father. But there must also be times when the congregation hears their pastor pray out loud in a public setting. People learn much about how to pray from hearing others pray, especially their pastors!

 I have spent a lot of time reading the epistles of Paul. Over and over again I heard Paul praying for the Church. I put myself in the place of those early Christians and I realized how they learned to pray. They listened to their spiritual leader. Paul poured out his heart, privately and publicly for his people. They didn’t so much need sermons or lessons on prayer. They could just listen to Paul pray for them and found they could pray as he prayed.

 One of my concerns for the Church today is the absence of the pastoral prayer and pastoral leadership in prayer. How will we know our pastors are praying for us if we do not hear them praying publicly?  How can we learn from their lives of prayer if we do not hear regular, powerful, biblical prayers coming from them week after week?

 My preacher for the first thirteen years of life was Neil Kuns. I know Neil preached good sermons but I confess that I don’t really remember them. What stands out in my mind was Neil’s pastoral prayers. Oh, I was a normal kid and I remember thinking about how long some of those prayers were and shuffling about as we stood for the prayer. But through the years, what has emerged from my memory is having a pastor who prayed for us. My life was and continues to be impacted by those prayers.

 Pastors, if you will examine your own life of prayer and commit to allowing God to transform you by spending much time in His presence, you will be a person your congregation wishes to emulate in prayer. If you will begin to pray over your people, model prayer publically, and equip your people to pray, they will learn to become a praying people…and you will see your church on a journey toward being transformed into a house of prayer for all nations.

I’m often asked about my own prayer life. It’s always embarrassing to answer because I don’t feel like a great man of prayer. But the opposite is true also. I hate to answer because it looks like I’ve got it all together. So can I just say that I’ve learned a lot through the years and am praying better than I used to, but still feel like I’m on a journey with a long way to go?

With that as an understanding, I’d like to share some prayers that I pray every day, or almost every day. The purpose for sharing them is to encourage others in their prayer lives. Sometimes it seems that we just get overwhelmed with life and our prayer life shuts down. There are, though, some simple ways to pray that allow us to keep going even when things are tough. Having a good biblical pattern for prayer keeps us on the path to intimacy with the Lord and prevents a crash and burn lifestyle.

The following ways to pray do not keep us from sin. I wish they did! But they do keep us closer to the Lord and cause us to turn from sin and back toward Him. These prayers also keep the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within us regardless of what is going on around us. Prayer ultimately keeps us connected to God and that is the place of growth, protection, and provision.

Fixing Your Eyes on Jesus

I rarely begin my prayer time without spending time in worship. Acknowledging the Lordship of Jesus over not just my life, but over every part of the universe is critical to keeping everything in perspective. The typical prayer that opens and leads to worship is based on the command of God’s Word to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2).  As I pray, “Lord Jesus, today I choose to fix my eyes on you,” it almost invariably leads into a time of worship as I begin to recognize the awesomeness of who Jesus is.

Cultivating Gratefulness

I begin every day with a “Thank You” prayer. Gratitude is huge for us spiritually. When we realize that everything we have and are comes from the Lord, it should create a continual flow of gratitude. Simply thinking through the many blessings we have been given can spark a torrent of thankfulness within us! Sometimes it’s just standing in the shower and thanking Him for hot, clean, water. There have been times when, overwhelmed by gratitude, I find myself simply repeating “thank You”, over and over. What better way to place ourselves before the Lord than in bowing before Him with gratefulness welling up within us? Some good Scriptures for cultivating gratefulness are found in: Psalm 136:1-3, Lamentations 3:22-24, Psalm 118:28-29 and 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Dwelling with the Lord

Every day I pray Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on his beauty, seeking him in his temple.” Dwelling in the house of the Lord is a place of intimacy, provision, and protection. David’s great prayer is a simple way for us to keep before us the simplicity of dwelling with the Lord.

Drawing Near

Closely tied to this is my prayer of drawing near to the Lord. It is based on James 4:8, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” How simple, yet how powerful to simply draw near in prayer, knowing that the Lord has promised that He then, would draw near to us in response.

Putting on Your Armor

An important part of every morning prayer for me is putting on the armor of God. In obedience to Eph.6:10, I include this as a part of my prayers each day. It can be as simple as saying, “Lord, today I put on your armor by faith.” Of course some days I expand on that and go over every part of the armor in prayer.  The important thing is that we do this. It helps us walk in awareness of the battle going on around us and of the Lord’s provision for our victory.

These are my normal, daily prayers. I offer them to you as a way to begin a life of prayer that honors the Lord and invites Him into your life in power and according to His purpose. There is, of course, much more for us to pray about, but this is my “Good morning, Lord Jesus” sort of praying that awakens my soul to the day and prepares my heart for the Lord to have His way.

I love this statement from S.D. Gordon on the power of prayer: “The great people of the earth today are the people who pray!  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still, less important and pressing than prayer. There are people who put prayer first, and group the other items in life’s schedule around and after prayer. These are the people today who are doing the most for God in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts, in keeping fresh and strong their lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field, where the thickest fighting is going on, and in keeping the old earth sweet a little while longer.”

I do not doubt that there is still spiritual power in the Church today. Lives are being transformed by the preaching of the Gospel. The Church is still being used by God today to make a difference. But, there is so much more that could be happening! When we look at the first believers in Jerusalem, the difference in levels of power is obvious. It comes down to a biblical principle written by the James, the brother of Jesus: “You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:2)

As we move toward the end of the age, the Church must face the fact that it is only through the power of God that we will be able to stand against the onslaught of ungodliness that will come against us. As important as our words are, by themselves they are and will be insufficient. The Apostle Paul was very concerned that those who heard him would not just hear words, but see the power of God at work. “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.” (I Cor.2:4) When the Church begins to pray, we will once again see that demonstration of the Spirit’s power. “God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil …” E.M. Bounds

Adapted from Forgotten Power by David Butts, PrayerShop Publishing 2016.