Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Praying for Mr. Trump (After Eight Years of Praying for Mr. Obama): Five Requests

Praying for Mr. Trump (After Eight Years of Praying for Mr. Obama): Five Requests

Last updated on: November 29, 2016 at 1:05 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Praying for Mr. Trump (After Eight Years of Praying for Mr. Obama): Five Requests 2016-11-29T13:05:30-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

God save our Republic.

Recently I marked a change in my daily prayers: I began to pray for the President Elect after praying for President Obama for eight years. The old order is changing and is giving way to the new. That is the way of a Republic.

I pray for our head of state, because I should.

Why?

I am an American and will stand before God as an American. Every nation, tribe, and people will stand before God and I am American for good and bad. This is my national family, my people, and so I need not justify her evils or cover up her harms. We have been imperfect, but then I am imperfect.

This is home and so I pray my home may be safe and governed wisely and well. Our head of state is the President of the United States of America. Whatever one thinks of Mr. Trump as head of government, the person making policy, he also represents us to the world. As a result, I pray for him.

Mr. Trump needs prayer because his job is so hard and dangerous.

God will not transgress the free will of the President Elect, but God also is balancing what is best for the billions of people on this planet and their own wills. He is bringing what is best given considerations that are cosmic in a cosmos that interlocks.

What blessings would I have placed before Mr. Trump? God will (as He always does) set before our President life and death and Mr. Trump will choose. The choices will be complex and hard to judge except from the divine perspective of the millennia. Trump could reject good gifts, but in submitting to what will be and those things that must be, my prayer is an action to contribute to a positive spiritual climate.

Ideally, my will will become one with the will of God and so create more harmony in this nation. Perhaps if enough of us choose wisely, then our prayers, our harmony with what would be better for our nation, will help persuade President Trump to choose wisely. Perhaps not, but one does what one can, must, and should, and leaves the outcomes to God.

May Mr. Trump have wisdom.

Solomon, son of David, was offered whatever he wished from God and chose wisdom and so blessed himself and his nation. No man can govern well without wisdom and so I pray Mr Trump values wisdom above all things.

May Mr. Trump be safe.

God help us, but at the start of my life one president was murdered, in high school another great president was shot. I have prayed every day for President Obama that God would protect him from the hatred that beset him as our first African-American president. Mr. Trump is hated by many and also faces threats to his safety. I will pray daily that God keep him safe.

May Mr. Trump love people more than programs, politics, or polls.

People are eternal, nations fail. People are immortal, politics are temporal. People are interesting and complicated, with desires and needs that cannot be quantified in simple minded polls.

May Mr. Trump keep his oath to our Constitution, under God.

No nation commands our absolute allegiance, but no human being should put himself over the fundamental laws of the commonwealth. In our case, we swear allegiance to the Constitution and not to a person. The only person to whom we submit is God: one nation, under God. May Trump recognize that he is not Lord, but in the order of America, the Constitution is lord, and in the order of Heaven, Jesus is Lord.

May Mr. Trump be humble before God and the American people.

Proud men risk becoming fools or tyrants. The incompetent are protected by their incompetence and so only become idiots with power. We might survive that as a Republic, but pride in the competent is very dangerous. The proud man pushes himself over the Constitution and God and so becomes dangerous to all of us.

We must pray that in his heart the office humbles Mr. Trump and that he approaches each decision with the knowledge of his limits.

Christians are hopeful people who have seen bad men become great rulers and good men fail. We know that we do not know the future. Many of us did not vote for Trump and many did. Now all of us pray for him: wisdom, safety, love, loyalty, humility.

God save President Obama, President Elect Trump, and our God blessed Republic.

Politics

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

November 28, 2016

Advent: Between Thanksgiving and Christmas

Next Post

November 30, 2016 Exegesis of "A Visit from St. Nicholas" or Why Santa is a Spelling Error for Satan

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the prophet that confronted King David about his sin with Bathsheba?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Samuel Isaiah Elijah Nathan

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »