A Call to Prayer for the President
Dear friends, I submit this to you for your discernment. If it does not bear witness, then please disregard.
I cannot think of another time, in my life, where people on the left and on the right are so sensitive when it comes to politics. We see this more so on the left, with the rise of Antifa, who beat up a Bernie Sanders supporter recently, because he was carrying an American flag.
Furthermore, the party of “tolerance” has proven to be anything but—with Jimmy Kimmel saying that a Christian baker “looked gay” (imagine a conservative saying someone “looked gay”) and black conservatives being told by Starbucks-drinking, Bernie-loving, white lefties what they should believe. Amazingly, Kanye West is easily forgiven for storming the stage at an awards event to proclaim that Beyoncé, not Taylor Swift, deserved the award, but is condemned for saying a few nice things about President Trump.
But last night, as I lay in bed thinking about the President and his demeanor, I was reminded of a Bible story. Now, I understand why many folks have a fierce loyalty to President Trump. He has taken up our cause and told the liberal elite that we simply don’t care what they think. I remember his first speech at Trump Tower. Except for the part about Mexico sending their rapists, I was inspired. Finally, someone who simply didn’t care about being politically correct.
Nevertheless, because of his past—especially with me as the father of three daughters—it was hard for me to see God’s hand in his candidacy. In the end, I voted for him (there was no possibility of me voting for Hillary Clinton!). To my delight, his polices have been great for America.
The question is: At what point is the rhetoric too much? At what point does “Pride lead to destruction, and arrogance to downfall.” (Proverbs 16:18) At what point does his longing for vengeance come back to bite him?
My concern is that the President enjoys division too much to seek some sense of unity. He seems to thrive on conflict. In fact, he seems to thrive on it to the point that when things have been going well for him, he takes to twitter to look for a fight.
I believe that God elevated him to this office and is using him. He has all but defeated ISIS and reversed most of President Obama’s disastrous regulations on business, thus stimulating the economy. His tax cuts have put more money in our pockets and caused unemployment to plummet. He has restored our friendship with Israel and certainly brought God’s favor on the nation by recognizing Jerusalem and moving the US Embassy. He has given many Americans, who were intimidated by the “PC” police, courage to speak up. And, it looks like we will have two conservative Supreme Court Justices in his first two years. From a policy standpoint—he has been terrific.
But, let’s get back to the Bible story. God was judging Judah through the Assyrian King Sennacherib. However, the king became arrogant and God had to judge him. My concern for President Trump is that he feels indestructible. He has been a better friend to evangelicals than other presidents who actually were evangelical. But he has done nothing to try and heal the divisions in our country—and, in fact, he seems to enjoy widening them.
I hang with unbelievers. I try and befriend those who don’t agree with me. While most on the left cannot point to even one thing that President Trump has done to make their life worse (in terms of his policy), they are so fearful of him that they live as if World War III is about to break out. For them, this is a real concern.
Clearly, this is not all President Trump’s fault—not by a longshot! The media has lied to the American people. While, I am an evangelical conservative (in principle), I try to be unbiased when it comes to news. CNN and MSNBC go out of their way to stir up hatred against the President and anyone who supports him. They knowingly twist the truth.
A good example is what they did with Rudy Giuliani’s verbal typo recently, when he said, truth is not truth. I went back and listened to the interview. It was not the best choice of words—since truth actually is truth—but I understood instantly what he meant. He meant that when you have two accounts of the same conversation, it just takes one person to lie—James Comey—to trap the President on perjury. And, if I knew that, then certainly the geniuses in the mainstream media knew it as well.
But the President does have some responsibility here. Just read his twitter feed.
So, why I am writing this? This is a call to prayer, not condemnation. Let’s step up our prayer for President Trump. Let’s pray that he has a genuine experience with Jesus. Let’s pray for humility, with his strength, to overcome arrogance. Let’s pray that he would have a heart for all Americans, not just those who voted for him.
President Trump often judges people based on who has been good to him, voted for him or given him credit and on his bad list, those who have opposed him. A just leader cannot be constantly thinking about how to get back at his enemies. And, please, do not fall into the lie that he is simply a novice at politics. He beat 16 other Republicans. He won the election. He has been President of the United States for two years. He has met Putin, Netanyahu, the King of Jordan, Kim Jung-un and all of Europe’s leaders. If he was a novice before, he certainly isn’t one now.
I am going to commit to praying for him, every day, to have an encounter with Jesus—to not rely on the strength of his own personality, but on the Lord. Will you commit with me? I am going to seek to bless him every day!
Midterms are coming up. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Democrats regain the House, they will seek to impeach him. If they succeed, then it is unlikely that they will get two-thirds (67 votes) of the Senate to remove him. Still, it will not be good for the country. I believe that President Trump can be just as strong as he has been, while projecting a deeper sense of humility that would come from a born again experience. I believe this would move the heart of God and bring some sense of healing to the nation. Let’s pray. Even if you don’t agree with me, it still would be good for us to unite in prayer fro President Trump.
Footnote: Just after writing this I heard Pastor John Kilpatrick issue a call to pray for President Trump because of the spiritual assault coming against him, to remove him from power. I bear witness with his warning, but would only add, that we should not only pray for his protection but also for a deeper level of humility—for it will be as armor against the coming onslaught.
