An Inauguration Day Prayer for President Obama

An Inauguration Day Prayer for President Obama January 21, 2013

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Great and sovereign God, the Just Judge of all men, the Hand of Providence to which so many of our Founders appealed so often for direction and purpose, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the One who exalts Presidents and nations for Your purposes and before whom every knee must one day bow — to you O God, my Father, I offer this prayer for the newly re-inaugurated President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

You are the one who ordains all who come into authority. You have placed President Obama in this time and place for your purposes. I confess that he would not be my choice, yet He is, apparently, yours. May I and each citizen of this nation which You have seen fit to abundantly bless, give honor to those to whom it is due.

I pray for our President that you would grant him wisdom, for wisdom, you have told us, is the main thing. May President Obama trust in You and not lean on His own understanding. May he acknowledge you in all His ways. And may you direct his path to do justly and love mercy as he walks humbly with you.

Stir up his heart each day, I pray, to seek your truth and be faithful to it. Protect him from those who would misdirect him for their own benefit. Grant him discretion to see through such false advisers. Grant him the gift of wise counselors and the humility to listen to them.

Merciful God, May you direct President Obama’s paths into all truth. Guard his heart and mind from falsehood in all its forms. May he be first and foremost be true to You and authentic with himself, knowing the ease with which all of may deceive ourselves. May he love truth as you bring alongside advisers who do the same. Shut out those voices that seek his ear to advance their own unrighteous cause.

Make him, above all, a servant to all and a tyrant over none. May he be fair and just ruler as you define justice. May he uphold the law yet resist the temptation to trust in it. May he respect the role of the Legislature and Judicial rulers, yet act confidently and boldly in those realms where he is authorized to act. May he neither overstep the limits of his authority nor fail to step up to those responsibilities given him.

When he makes a mistake, gracious God — for all of us are prone to do so — please override his efforts by your grace. Any action which he might take that would do harm to this nation, may it be frustrated and turned to nothing — both for his good and ours. Likewise, God of all wisdom, may you reveal to me when I am amiss in my criticism of his policies and leadership. May he, and all of us, seek common ground on which we can together, advance the cause of liberty that provides such fertile soil for your gospel.

Protect him, I pray, as a husband and father. May the pressures of the office not destroy his marriage. Instead, in some way that can only be attribute to You, may his marriage become increasingly one that glorifies you. And may you protect his children from slings and arrows, verbal or otherwise, intended or unintended. May they not become bitter or resentful of his duties. Instead, may you bless his role as a father. May his example be one that all young men would be encouraged to emulate in our painful crisis of fatherhood in this nation.

As the Commander-in-chief of our armed Forces, may he be blessed with great clarity in his decision-making as he first defends the people and land of this nation. May you give him wisdom to ask the right questions when assessing military action. May he do so only in the cause of justice. And in that moment of decision, bless him with abundant wisdom. Turn his heart, O Lord, as rivers of water, to the direction that would cause the fewest number of casualties on both sides. But may he never lack the resolve to do what is needed to defend innocent in the face of those enemies who seek to destroy us.

As to me, Father, I confess to lacking confidence that President Obama will be the ruler I pray him to be. I confess that this prayer tests my faith, not in him, but in You to answer. Help my unbelief, O God.

May I pray for President Obama often. May I respectfully oppose him when I cannot with clean conscience support his policies. But may I do so with love.  Grant me grace to do so when I just don’t feel like it.

Righteous God, may this nation during the presidency of Barack Obama experience a revival of passion for truth, for virtue, and for love of one another — and may it begin with me. May it experience of revival of  personal  responsibility, of positive freedom to do good and lay down our own self-interests for the good of the nation.

May you grant us peace and protection, though our sins are truly great. Move us gently but firmly, I pray, to a place of repentance for our sins so that we can rejoice in your forgiveness.

May you have mercy upon our nation, our Congressional leaders, President Obama, Vice-president Biden, our Supreme Court Justices, our State Governors and Legislators, and the many local officials — bless them with a love for what is right, a hatred for what is evil, and the wisdom to know the difference.

May God bless President Barack Obama and may God bless America.


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