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The Rev. Dr.

John Hatcher

Religion Columnist

What kind of prayers

for our President, leaders?

I've been off the page in the last several months while a

lot of stuff has happened. Stuff to do with my line of work:

stuff like sin. Perhaps that's been good in that it's given me time

to reflect on what all it means.

Last week a sweet lady visited me in my study

concerning some personal needs. As we rose from our chairs and she

was about to leave, she brought up a subject we had not

even touched. She asked out of the blue, "Do you pray for

our President?"

Well, being in the business I'm in, thankfully, I was able

to answer "yes" without telling a little white lie. It just

so happened that our regular Monday night prayer group

prayed for the President that very week. In fact, one of our

prayer warriors had read 1 Timothy 2:2 that calls for believers

to pray for all who are in authority.

The greatest sin of the church is prayerlessness.

Our greatest prayerlessness is for the leaders of our country.

We seem to be reminded to pray for them in a crisis. But we

don't do a good job praying for our leaders while the crisis

builds undetected. What if the church had faithfully prayed for

our President since the day he was elected?

So, let's just say that you and I can say, "Yes, we pray

for the President." Next question: what kind of prayers do

we pray? Republican prayers? Rush Limbaugh prayers?

Democratic prayers? Independent prayers? Do we pray with

prejudice?

For example, "O Lord, humble the President. Help him

see how weak his repentance has been. Lord, help him resign

for the good of the country." Or, "O Lord, help the President

to stay focused on national issues; keep his mind off himself."

Or, "O Lord, embarrass the President."

Too many of our prayers are prayed in the name of our

own particular politics. Yet, politics and prayer indeed are

strange bedfellows. You and I have the right to campaign for

the religious right and even the religious left, but when we

pray before a Holy and Righteous and Loving God, we'd

better pray in the center of His will.

Do I think President Clinton has violated the trust of

his office? Yes. I think the framers of the Constitution

exercised magnificent wisdom in writing the impeachment and

removal clauses. But that's the responsibility of our elected officials

to fulfill. I voted for them for that. As a Christian and a

Bible-believing Christian at that, I have another responsibility.

One that I have failed miserably. To pray for my President. And

if you are honest, too, I believe you would have the

same confession.

So, maybe it's time for a holiness check. We hear a lot

of reality checks. Maybe we need to covenant to pray for

our leaders at least as much as we protest them. After all,

we're Christians!

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