Praying for President Obama - Agreeing With Him Has Nothing to do With It
Contributor
Written by
Contributor
Written by
Have you ever tried to pray for a person that you dislike? You know, how the Bible says to pray for your enemies and all that? I walked through a lesson on this early in life. There was a mean girl who strongly hated me while we were in the 6th grade together. (We both liked the same boy.) "Jane" promised me that she was going to beat me up after school, so I had to have my mom pick me up every day for a week instead of walking home as usual.
My Mom had some advice that was as horrible as the torment I was enduring at school. She suggested I pray for Jane. WHAT?
As the days passed, Mom asked me if I was praying for Jane and I said yes but it was super hard because this girl was being so rude and cruel to me. She asked me to describe the girl to her and I thought that at last she was going to confront the girl and save me.
I described Jane's dirty clothes, stringy hair and grouchy face. "Maybe she is jealous of your pretty dresses and nice hair. Maybe she doesn't have enough money for the nice things you have. Do you think that might be why she hates you?"
That night my prayers for Jane were sincere and honest.
I know that my mom must have been already praying for Jane, and God had given her the wisdom to figure out the truth behind the torment. As I look back on this event and I consider the view from my mother's perspective, I am not sure that my first response to a bully bothering my kid would be to pray FOR the kid. And maybe it wasn't her first response. She probably had to go through the process to get to the point of wisdom that helped me get out of this scrape.
Because it did get me out of the situation. After praying for Jane a few more nights before bed, I got the idea to write her a letter. I really don't recall what I said in the letter anymore. But the tone was one of offering friendship and something about her and the boy being a good match.
The next day she crossed out some of the words and showed it around, making it look like I said some stupid stuff in the letter. But I kept smiling at her whenever I saw her and a few days later I got a small smile back and I never did get beat up.
There is a reason I am telling this story. God pulls a bit of a 'bait & switch' on His children. When He instructs us to pray for our enemies or those who persecute us, He knows that we cannot keep hating them. So sneaky! As we bring this person to God and ask Him to help them, bless them and show Himself to them; our view of the person goes through a change.
We begin to see the person through the eyes of God.
You cannot keep hating the person if you are honestly praying for them. Not just about them.
This is going somewhere important. It is a departure from my normal blog post subjects.
PART 2 After the picture......
 |
I know what you're thinking... |
PART 2
Yesterday I told you a story about my first experience with God's version of the 'Bait & Switch' system of changing our hearts towards those around us. Back in the 6th grade I learned an important lesson on praying for someone I did not like.
Today I come to you and ask you to consider a new way of discussing and posting items about our President, Barack Obama. This morning I had a tough time finding a picture of him that was not captioned or cartooned with rude or crude insults.
The inspiration for this post comes from my heartbreak and shock at seeing Christians/believers clicking a big old "LIKE" on so many of these negative posts and pictures.
 |
| This is one of the more "mild" negative pics I have seen. |
We know that we are supposed to be praying for our leaders right? The Bible talks a lot about praying for our teachers, bosses and kings. Agreeing with the beliefs and policies of the leader was not a requirement.
My question is; do you really think that it is OK to click a LIKE on crude items with one hand while raising the other hand in prayer for the same person?
I know that when we honestly pray for someone; our hearts and minds are changed towards them. There is a big difference between praying for someone and praying about someone. The sound and tone are completely different.
When you pray about a person, you are telling God what to do to them and what he should make them do. There was a joke t-shirt online a few years ago that had a picture of praying hands and the words, "Praying for Obama - Psalm 109:8" ...that passage reads, "Let his days be few and let another take his place." The following verse says "Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow." (http://gawker.com/5407568/christian-conservatives-praying-for-god-to-kill-obama)
When you pray for a person, you will be bringing them before God's attention and asking Him to help them, bless them and reveal Himself to them.
When we pray for someone we find ourselves seeing them through the eyes of God. And God loves President Obama. Whether you like that or not, He does. If you feel like this president is your enemy, you are still not off the hook to pray for him. (Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those ...)
When you are praying for someone, you are agreeing with what The Father wants for them. You are asking Him for His thoughts regarding that political official. It may be completely the opposite of our idea for that man or woman. The "bait & switch" happens when we begin to see a change in our feelings and thoughts toward that leader. We are beginning to allow God's thoughts to be our thoughts! And His thoughts are always for the good towards His creation.
God is sneaky that way.
I do not jump into controversial political discussions in person or online. But when I see the way some of my fellow believers are treating our President, it hurts me and confuses me. I find it hard to believe that the same people who post this stuff can honestly be praying for our leadership. The two do not go together.
As I did some research on praying for our president, I came across this from Max Lucado. He suggests 4 simple prayers for President Obama and his family. From "How to pray for Barack Obama"
- Protection over his family - John 17:15
- Wisdom - James 1:5
- Reverence - Psalm 111:10
- Strength - Hebrews 13:20
Use these four requests to begin changing the way you pray for our leader. Do you believe we can alter our country's direction if we alter our own prayers for it? Why not?
Since every good writer includes their sources:
Share
part of the SparkPoint Studio Family
You just never know what will grab readers do you? Ha! Thanks for reading me Kate! Susie
Wow. I cannot believe this has not started a thread as long as my arm -- it is such a good post!
This is an interesting post. It reminds me of my own practice, and I wonder how many other types of practices like this there are in the religions of the world.
Before I say anything let me say that I was raised in the Catholic and Methodist religions, and so, have a good background in Christianity. I became a buddhist as an adult.
In the Buddhist tradition they have a deep practice called tonglen, or "taking and sending." When you are first practicing you use friends and those you love, but quickly they teach you to chose someone you hate or dislike or are angry at in order to really learn compassion. The process of "taking" is hard to describe to someone not buddhist, but imagine taking on the person's load or negativity or whatever as you breathe in. When you breathe out, you see the person in a healthy state, or happy state, or calm state, or peaceful state -- whatever positive state you can imagine for them. It is very much a type of prayer FOR them, you "enemy."
I have been practicing this for 20 years and it is the most moving, forgiving practice I know, one which will leave you surely in peace toward the "other" and I believe, is a prayer for them as well.
Thank you, Kate