Prayer For Election Day

Father, we come to you on election day because we know you are in control and that you care for your people. We ask that you would be orchestrating the details of this day.

First, we thank you for the democratic principles forming the foundation of the United States. We are blessed to live in a country with free and democratic elections. We pray that we would not take that for granted. Would you please allow these democratic principles to continue for many more generations?

We pray that in this democratic process that people would value fairness. Please help election officials to act with diligence and truthfulness. We pray that all people would have access to voting, and we pray against any discrimination in voting due to the structures (or lack of structure) in place. We also pray that you would persuade voters to act with integrity and not engage in fraud in any way.

We pray for the hearts of the candidates. We are disgusted at some of the tactics used and truths revealed during these campaigns at the local, state and federal level. We pray, Father, that you would soften the hearts of these candidates and their constituents. The ugliness that has been portrayed is not the way forward. We know you are a God who is in the business of changing people. We have seen your work in our own lives, and we pray that you would be at work in the hearts of all of the candidates. We pray that you would allow the candidates, both the winners and the losers, to respond in a gracious way. Help the candidates value things and people in a way that
pleases you. Would you please be working in all of our hearts, and specifically those who are elected and will have great influence, that we would all value integrity, justice, and mercy?

We pray for contentment with the results. We pray that the media would report the results and not incite or stir people up. We pray, Father, that we as a people would respect the results of the election. We pray against any violence or acts of revenge once the results are announced.

And Father above all, we pray that through this election and its results that we may come to rely on you more as our God. Self-reliance can so easily convince us that we are actually in charge of our lives. Father, would you incline our hearts through this process to cling to you more fully? We admit that we can watch advertisements or read statistics and become anxious. Please replace that anxiety with peacea peace of knowing that you care for your people, a peace possible because it recognizes that you are greater than any one leader or nation. We cry out to you now, Father, please increase our reliance on you (and not ourselves or anyone worldly leader).

Thank you for Jesus, the one leader who saves us, redeems us, and makes us right.

Amen.

God of mercy, our nation is in a time of great transition.
With all of the injustice and fear in our world today,
we ask you to inspire us and guide us as we participate in the upcoming presidential elections.
We seek a government that upholds and protects human rights and justice for all its citizens,
regardless of race, class, gender, or religion.
Move and inspire us by your presence among us in the most vulnerable in our society.
For their tears are your tears, their pain is your pain, their suffering is your suffering.
In gratitude for the right to vote, we pray.

O God, we acknowledge You today as Lord,

Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank You for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to You.

We thank You for Your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.
We thank You for the opportunity that this election year

puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that Your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their
salvation,
Their response to You requires that they be politically
active. It's Election Day, Vote!

Awaken Your people to know that they are not called to be
a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to You in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read Your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken Your people to a commitment to justice,
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when Human Lives
Begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of Your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Lord God, as the election approaches,
we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our city/state/country,
and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.

We ask for eyes that are free from blindness
so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters,
one and equal in dignity,
especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.

We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned,
Men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.
We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom.

We pray for discernment
so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word,
live your love,
and keep in the ways of your truth
as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles
and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.

We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our Father and Our God,
we praise You for Your
goodness to our nation,
giving us blessings
far beyond what we deserve.

Yet we know all is not
right with America.
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We deeply need a moral and
spiritual renewal to help us
meet the many problems we face.

Help us to turn to You in
repentance and faith. Set our
feet on the path of Your
righteousness and peace.

We pray today for those
seeking public office. Give
them the wisdom to know what is
right, and the courage to do it.
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You have said, "Blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord."

May this be a new era for
America, as we humble ourselves
and acknowledge You alone as
our Savior and Lord.

This we pray in Your holy name,
Amen

GRACIOUS AND LOVING GOD, LET YOUR SPIRIT BE WITH ME TODAY. HEAR MY PRAYERS, AND INCREASE IN ME THE WILL TO FOLLOW YOUR SON JESUS. HELP ME TO DRAW ON THE RESOURCES OF MY FAITH AS I USE THE OPPORTUNITIES OF OUR DEMOCRACY TO SHAPE A SOCIETY MORE RESPECTFUL OF THE LIFE, DIGNITY, AND RIGHTS OF THE HUMAN PERSON, ESPECIALLY THE POOR AND VULNERABLE. I ASK THIS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.