My Post-Election Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

Yesterday, America voted, and Donald Trump will become the next President of the United States. As I read through the many angry and sad Facebook posts from friends with diverse backgrounds, I confess that I share many of their sentiments. LORD God, please help me to love my neighbors and pray for those who persecute me. Help me to show love to the people who so strongly support Trump and so much of what he stands for. He says things that are so hurtful toward women, toward people of color, to people with different religious backgrounds, and people with different gender identities or sexual orientation. Father, you call us to love the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the stranger. You do not give people a spirit of fear, but love casts out fear. You are sovereign and you are good, and yet, you allowed this to happen.

Father, I don't understand what you are doing. But please send us your Holy Spirit to intercede for us. And to help us love as Jesus loves. Don't let this make us angry and bitter, but let this spur us into action to serve the people that Donald Trump speaks out against, and also to love the people who support him -- even when it hurts.

Lord Jesus, you loved us even while we were still sinners. You loved us even though we mocked you, and crucified you. You even endured the punishment meant for a criminal even though you had done nothing wrong. Make us more like you, O Lord. Make us humble. Help us walk in your paths. Help us cling to your truth. Help us trust in You alone.

Father, I pray for Donald Trump and the leaders of the Republican Party. Don't let them fall prey to the devil's schemes. Don't let their pride and greed gain the thrones of their hearts. Please, Lord Jesus, be their Savior and King. Help them to truly know and believe the gospel of your grace and love and mercy and truth. Let these good things sink deep into their souls and inform their actions and manifest as good fruit. Help them to think and act in selfless terms, to do what is best not for themselves, but for the people of our country as a whole. Give them your servant's heart and your infinite wisdom. Give them your love for the broken and hurting. Help them reach out and serve the struggling.

LORD, I know that you are able to change hearts, and you do it in such a gracious and winsome way! I am reminded of the story of Zaccheus. He was a rich and corrupt tax collector who stole money from the poor for his own personal gain. No one understood why you would want to visit with such a deplorable man! And yet you did. You called Zaccheus by name and went to his house, shared a meal, and your act of love and grace changed his heart in such a beautiful and miraculous way that he truly repented and chose to return all the money he had ever cheated anyone out of -- and to repay it fourfold! LORD God, I pray for that kind of heart change in Donald Trump. Not just fine-sounding words, but words put into action. Let this be like the story of your grace in Zaccheus's life, and may you be so glorified in that. Father God, bring about this kind of joyful repentance.

I love you, LORD, and I trust that you are working all things out for the good of those who love you.

In Jesus's Name,
Amen