Praying for the President

There's almost nothing more difficult for me (other than the discipline of regular exercise) than praying for President Obama. I intensely dislike him and everything he stands for. I believe he has kidnapped our spirit/freedom/wealth and sold them into slavery. But. However. Notwithstanding. Therefore.

Christians are clearly commanded to pray for their government's leaders, whether they be Roman Caesars, Romanian Communists, or Haitian dictators. And oddly enough, the Christian church seems to thrive under that sort of government, more than when they are invited to partake in the evidence of earthly powers by electing Methodist pastors to the state house or community organizers to the White House, with that call and post, old time, negro rhythm so appealing to agnostic liberals.

I remember way back in the 80s when the Communist regime in USSR was just beginning to thaw a bit, it was discovered there was a huge group of Lutherans in Siberia no one knew about--they were descendants, as I recall, of POWs of WWI from Germany who had intermarried with the local women, and they had stayed true to the church despite no longer even understanding the German language they used in their liturgy. Several weeks ago we had Chinese immigrants speak to our Bible study group and the stories they told us about how the church has thrived in mainland China under the Communists, but is weak in Taiwan where they had freedom to worship, were just amazing. They told us things about the Communist system which actually aided the growth of the church, even though at the time, there was terrible suffering and death.

So, how do you pray? I got a clue watching a program a few weeks about a mother whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered; she described how she prayed for her daughter's captor. She realized that her own bitterness and fear was bad for her, crippling her ability to function for the rest of her family and she needed to forgive him (at this time, she didn't know her daughter was already dead, only that she had been taken). She began by praying about very simple things . . . things that didn't matter at all, like maybe if he were fishing he'd have a good catch, or he'd have a sunny day, or a good meal. She reasoned (incorrectly on that point) that if life were better for him, maybe he would treat her daughter well. She was able, day by day, to lose her own bitterness by praying for a person who was evil, and who had hurt her terribly, and eventually came not to hate him. By the time he finally called to taunt her, about a year later, she was calm and caring, completely catching him off guard. She was able to keep him on the phone by expressing genuine, not fake, concern built by hours of real prayer. This lead to his arrest. Then it was discovered that he had murdered the child shortly after her kidnapping. And he then committed suicide awaiting trial. Not a happy "answer to prayer," or was it? She had refused to participate in his evil, and prayed for him.

So there are some little things I can pray sincerely for Obama--and that is his relationship with his daughters, because that I can tie in directly with his pro-abortion views. Only God knows how a man conceived and birthed by an unmarried teenager (her putative "husband" already had several wives back home) can be so bitter toward the unborn, but perhaps he was made to feel unwanted by his birth family and grandparents. Whatever the source of his hate, I can ask God that his daughters shower him with love and kisses and warm his cold, cold heart. Yes, indeed, I can do that!

Christians don't need evolution taught in the schools, or Christmas carols sung at public events, or plaques with the 10 Commandments, or government grants to feed the hungry; we need some good, old fashioned persecution by a hostile president, and boy, we've got that! Alleluia, let's get started! He has helped by destroying that golden calf of consumerism to which our knees had bowed. We can expect great things to happen during the Obama reign.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a holy and righteous God and that you love us and our President far more than we can even imagine, that your son Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died a perfect death for us. Protect and enlighten our President. Guard him from false advisors and information, so that he in turn can lead the nation. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

A prayer for the President

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus who died for all, I ask you to hear my prayer for the president. I read that he got very angry with people over the failures in the stimulus package. That's certainly understandable, and I'm angry too. Remind me and him that we can take our anger to you--you are a great big God as the children's song says, and you can handle our tiny, weak fists beating the air over things that are out of control. Your word is so clear; we are not righteous. Only you are. Be with those for whom this face of anger is a new thing. Forgive them for making the President, or any king or dictator or despot or official, more than a mere mortal who has flaws and makes mistakes just like the rest of us. As it says in your holy practical book of James, may we, the president and I, be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Yes, Lord, that would be good. And thank you for that good word. Amen

Pray for the president

Obama on the radio news break is a good time. I pushed the off button while leaving the coffee shop and prayed:

Oh Lord, your servant, our president, is feeling the responsibility placed upon him, and we know he is unworthy, as we all are. May you abundantly bless him with a believing heart, and make him a valiant soldier of the cross. Protect the smallest and weakest in our world by raising up legislators to defeat legal measures to kill them. Give him and the women visiting the PDC for an ultrasound today a tender heart for the unborn in their wombs. Amen

Obama's people create jobs

"Washington trash trucks hauled away at least 130 tons of garbage after the inauguration of President Obama, with more to go. National Park Service workers picked up almost 100 tons on the Mall and near the White House. "

Yes, right on the heels of that inspiring rhetoric on the 20th, Obama's followers were busy creating jobs . . . for sanitary engineers. No volunteers, please. Pros (i.e., union jobs and civil service) were needed for this massive clean up on the mall after the inauguration. I don't know what happened to all the global goodness-me people who could have handed out canvas tote bags with the Obama logo in order for his fans to take their trash home to their own neighborhoods--or at least to the nearest trash container. One hundred and thirty tons!

Today's Obama Prayer
Father God, in the name
of your Son Jesus,
I pray for President Obama.
Increase his faith,
Help him remember his charge
and his heritage.
Pull him into Your Word
where he will find truth and righteousness.
Amen

Today's new word is RECTITUDE

Today's is another good, solid lofty word you probably don't use in everyday conversation or correspondence. The piece I was reading was 100 years old. It comes from the Latin word rectus meaning straight or right, like rectangle. However, rectitude implies motives and judgement. It means strict observance of standards of integrity. Correctness of judgement. Rectitude is in such short supply, I can't even imagine using it. I'm not sure this is a word we would toss around the halls of Congress or the White House.

And now for today's prayer for President Obama, based on Psalm 62. The Psalms are great for Presidents; the book of Job instructive for pantheists who think they control the climate.

In God alone is our hope.
Jesus is our only fortress and rock,
and he is unchanging.
Whether high born or low born
our leaders are nothing without the Lord.
Make our President strong
so he won't be injured in falls from lofty places
where worshipers have put him in place of God. Amen
A grandmother told me this. Her grandson, attending a Lutheran pre-school in another city, watched the inauguration on Tuesday (most schools at all levels did this--we also did it when I was in grade school). He told his mother when he got home that "someone just like God was going to take care of them and nothing bad would happen."

If Congress approves Timothy Geithner

they prove what a phony President Obama is (I prayed for him this morning; did you?*). They won't need to wait 100 days, which is around the time we would expect to find out he has feet of clay in that mouth with a golden tongue. There aren't enough Republicans to stop this ridiculous slap in the face of honest Americans who struggle with that bizarre tome called the tax code every April, or quarterly the way this financial wizard nominated for the Obama cabinet refused to do, people who spend hundreds of dollars and even more hours wrestling with obscure phrases and filling in little lines, "if line 457d is less than the sum of P and Q of line 560, then go back and refigure line 30z and start over."

If they approve tax cheat Geithner, Congress confirms that nothing Obama has said about "change" is true, except that he will continue to push the envelop on ethics and morality, not just in matters of life and death of fetuses and embryos, but in matters of personal behavior.

* Heavenly father, be the father he never had. Lay your hand on him and guide him into righteousness, respect and obedience to your holy word, into a knowledge of history and a new found humility. Protect him, his family, staff and our nation from the terrorists within and outside our country's borders. In the holy name of Jesus, Amen.

Some of us meekly comply, others just cheat their way to the top.