How to pray for wicked politicians

From Larry Tomczak on WND.com (Oct. 19, 2021):

In the early 1970s, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew occupied the White House as president and vice president. Behind the scenes, they were engaged in harmful activity. Ten minutes from the White House, our weekly meeting of 2,000 primarily young people prayed that God would raise up righteous leaders and remove the ungodly. In less than two years, for the first time in U.S. history, both politicians at the highest level of government were exposed and resigned.

In two years, national prayer ministry Intercessors for America will celebrate 50 years equipping people how to pray and fast effectively for our nation. I've been privileged to be a board member since the time period described above.

In our recent annual board meeting, we collectively thanked God for the phenomenal growth in the prayer movement today. The trajectory keeps skyrocketing, and it truly is a work of our Great Intercessor, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 7:25).

Pray for wicked leaders?

People often ask, "How are we supposed to pray for political leaders who are evil?" 1 Timothy 2:1-3 instructs us to first of all pray for those in authority to ensure a culture where the gospel can be freely preached and people saved. Then a logical question arises: "How do we intercede for wicked rulers, not necessarily on the level of Hitler, but the lying, conniving, self-serving deceitful ones?"

We need a biblically informed template to pray effectively, or we can be misled into praying for the success of politicians whose goal is to undermine our Judeo-Christian heritage and steal our covenantal destiny in God.

A beloved friend of mine told me days ago the importance of affirming our common ground as Americans "who all love this nation." I mentioned that not all people and certainly not all politicians love America, but want to see its transformation into a "progressive," socialist, secular nation. He admitted I was correct.

Everything starts with our patriotic affirmation from Scripture, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 33:12). Our goal is not simply to make America great again but rather to make God in America great again! And this requires the people of God truly being "salt" as Jesus directed to hold back decay and resisting those who are trying to steal away our country one piece at a time.

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Our crises needs informed intercessors

Because of our nation's critical situation, Intercessors for America recently published a prayer guide, "Praying for Wicked and Evil Politicians." It's just one of many free resources we offer to help patriots pray powerfully in this urgent hour. Go to Ifapray.org to have your practice of prayer enhanced. Also, listen to my four 15-minute "Here's the Deal" podcasts with prophetic prayer leader Bob Perry drawing from four decades of leadership serving 55 nations.

Here's some excerpts to get you started. My wife prays weekly with a prayer partner, and they use this as a template to stay on point and be fruitful!

"Father, we lift our voices and cry to You right now for Your help and justice in America. We ask You, Father, first and foremost, that if there are any unrighteous politicians in America who can still be saved – from the local town level to the highest level of government – we ask You to save them."

SAVE THEM

• Wake up their conscience to see the horrors of every sin they are involved in or perpetrating.
• Let them experience a holy horror at what they have done and are doing.
• Grant them a deep, heartfelt, gut-level, transformational repentance, and turn them around to go after the righteousness of Christ.

EXPOSE THEM

• Reveal their evil works of darkness to the world.
• Let Your light shine in the darkest places, and do not allow them to hide what they have done anymore.
• Let truth-telling witnesses and truth-telling whistleblowers come forward, and let them tell their stories at the right places, to the right people, at the right time.

HINDER THEM

• Let their evil plans come to nothing.
• Hinder and prevent them from carrying out any more evil. Bind their hands from doing any evil.
• Remove their resources: transfer those resources into the hands of the righteous.

BRING THEM TO JUSTICE

• As the great Judge of the earth, Father, we ask You to force the correct law enforcement department to get involved in each situation and case, according to Your will.
• Let reliable, solid evidence come forth and be preserved.
• Convict each perpetrator, Father, and cause them to be sentenced according to Your will.

REMOVE THEM

"Father, Psalm 109:8 says, 'Let his days be few, and let another take his office.' While we do not pray for the death of any person, we do ask that every wicked politician's 'days in office would be few and that a righteous person would take their place.'

"Thank you, Father. We depend on You to give us righteous leaders and righteous government. Let us rise up and vote Your will, but we depend on You to do the rest, which we cannot. Help us Father, in Jesus Name."

Here's the deal: Isaiah 59:16 records, "He saw that there was no man and was astonished that there was no intercessor. …" This will not be a description of our day. We will arise and believe God for a turnaround in America as we wholeheartedly respond, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8).

"The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much" (James 5:16). [read more]

Amen!