Prayer & Politics

Prayer and Politics, what a combination! I really think that prayer is meant to be a two-way conversation. I think that that’s a really easy concept to grasp (though hard to practice) on a personal level. The rub I see thinking of prayer as a conversation when it comes to groups, or even nations. I think that we aren’t very good at public prayer as a conversation.

I think that that is evidenced by a lot of one-way prayers prayed from the pulpit and in public. Maybe it’s because we’re afraid that we will not all listen, or that we will hear different answers to our questions. Maybe it’s because we’re praying for our holy wants, needs, and desires rather than saying, “God – you come first. God, you be elevated. God, let your kingdom come.”

I know that one of the things that has deeply affected me from the Kingdom Encounter [an intensive course taken this month] and reading Eugene Peterson is this notion of prayer. I’m returning to a place of saying, Jesus, will you teach me to pray. And every time I do I am reminded of the Lord’s Prayer; which was his response to his disciples asking the same question. It’s intimate, but not about us. It reminds us that we are dependent upon the Lord for the things that we take for granted all too often – forgiveness, daily bread, the others in our lives. It reminds us that the thing our heart must seek first is the Kingdom of God and that the Lord’s will to be done and that his Kingdom will come. God loves us, and cares for us. Our deepest hearts’ desires do matter to him – but I think not as much as his own will and heart’s desires. I think it’s not until we individually and corporately understand that that we will see 2 Chronicles 7:14 (“If my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND.”)come to pass.

So yes, prayer is political. But it’s not about the government of the United States of America. It’s about the Kingdom of God, the place where our true citizenship lies. I think it’s easy to confuse prosperity and peace in America with “health and strength.” I don’t think we’re healthy or strong, and won’t be until we enter into that divine conversation with God, ask what his heart is, and then pray it into being.

What do you think prayer is? How does it relate to politics?