Our country is in need of a spiritual awakening. We draw a direction for prayer from 2 Chronicles 7:14.

"If my people . . . humble themselves" 

Repent of spiritual coldness, indifference, prayerlessness and disobedience in our lives and churches. Seek God for authentic humility and dependence on Him to mark our way forward. 

"If my people . . . pray and seek my face"

Hunger for God to pour out His Spirit in our churches with miraculous power and evangelistic effectiveness. Ask God to do whatever it takes to turn people back to God and encounter Jesus in our nation.

"If my people . . . turn from their wicked ways"

Repent of unholy affections and ungodly behavior in our personal lives and our churches. Seek God to turn back the sins of immorality, pornography, abortion, materialism, prejudice and injustice in our nation.

Praise God now for His response: 

"Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 

Pray for Our National Leaders
God clearly mandates followers of Jesus to pray for those holding positions of civic authority (1 Timothy 2:1, 2). We influence the direction and welfare of our nation this way. In fact, Paul seems to infer a direct link between praying for kings and the ability to live peaceful and quiet lives.

The influence of local leaders sometimes touches us more personally than leaders in federal government.

Today's call to pray for national leaders must rise above personal politics. Paul called the church to pray for the Roman emperors and their underlings-political leaders who were in large part brutal, power-hungry and perverted. These officials were not the kind of people we would want voted into office, and yet Paul puts them at the top of our prayer lists. As a pastor I have heard people say, "I just can't bring myself to pray for our president because I so resent everything he stands for." Yet as citizens of a kingdom not of this world, we must be bigger than that. This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with God's capacity to direct and guide our leaders, no matter who they are.

As God's people, we also need to keep our attitudes in check. The political rhetoric these days is so harsh and adversarial that it can infect our own spirits in ungodly ways. But Paul in Romans 13 reminds us that secular governing authorities are part of God's plan for us, and so we are to give them what we owe them: "if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor" (Romans 13:7). 

Pray for Your Local Leaders

I served as a pastor in Springfield, Missouri, for several years and during that time another local pastor in a leading Springfield church took the initiative to host a luncheon for other pastors (like me) every few months.

This was more than just lunch, though. The pastor invited one city leader to each lunch and interviewed them for 15 minutes after the meal. The interview gave us opportunity to understand the pressures and challenges these leaders faced in the community and to ask them how we could pray for them. Local leaders who attended included the mayor, police and fire chiefs, the school district superintendent and the chair of the county board of supervisors. Some were Christians, others not; some were Democrats, others Republican and Independents. But no matter who they were, they could all answer the question: How can we pray for you?

Each luncheon lasted only one hour, but we left much more in touch with our local leaders and their needs. Even those we disagreed with politically were "humanized" as we heard them describe needs in their families, stresses on their jobs, and ways they felt the church could serve the community.

The influence of these local leaders sometimes touches us more personally than leaders in federal government. These leaders protect our cities, educate our children, plan our communities, repair our roads and run our utilities. In Springfield I was also able to gain the favor and endorsement of both the mayor and school district superintendent through the local compassion ministries of the church where I served. 

We have the privilege as Christ's living church both to pray for and to serve our local leaders—to be salt and light in our local worlds.

This article is adapted with permission from Second Chronicles Seven Fourteen: a 28-day Journey in Prayer (My Healthy Church, 2013).