“Washington’s Birthday, also known as Presidents’ Day, is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of February. The day honors presidents of the United States, including George Washington, the USA’s first president.”[1] 

Despite what you think of the current president or the politics behind the White House; all believers must pray for the President of these United States regardless of politics, policy, or creed: “Christians do not discriminate in their prayers for leaders because we know that God has, by His own authority, put these authorities into their place (see Romans 13:1). And if God has had His hand in appointing our leaders, we should know that God works His purposes through them, even when we can’t seem to understand how He does.”[2] Take some time today and pray for our president that God may turn his heart toward Jesus Christ and govern accordingly. 

O Lord our Governor, whose glory fills all the world: We commend this Nation to your merciful care, that we may be guided by your providence, and dwell secure in your peace. Grant to the President of this Nation, the Governor of this
State [or Commonwealth], and to all in authority, wisdom, and strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth and righteousness, and make them continually mindful of their calling to serve this people in reverent obedience to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

“Heavenly Father, today I pray for our nation. I ask that You would give our President wisdom beyond his own understanding and the courage to choose the right path no matter how narrow the gate. I pray for all in authority over us that You would give them the grace and strength to stand against the temptation to use power as a weapon but rather to carry it reverently as one would a child. I pray for the spiritual leaders of our country that they would hear Your voice and know your heart. I pray that they would lead from their knees and by that simple grace bring each one of us to our knees before Your throne. Have mercy on our nation Lord, In Jesus’s name, Amen.”[3]

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.  For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.  For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.  Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” .

(Romans 13:1-7 ESV). Conf. (1 Peter 2:13-17 ESV)

Commentary:

“Paul and Peter wrote these passages under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. He exists outside the parameters of time and can see tomorrow as clearly as he sees yesterday. To suggest that something in the Bible is not relevant to us because God may not have really understood how things were going to be today is to insult the eternality and omniscience of God. The government at that time was worse than ours. The government that Paul and Peter were writing about in their letters makes ours look like a cupcake. Their government allowed and encouraged slavery. As a matter of fact, there were 10 million slaves in the Roman empire—about one-third of the population of the Roman Empire. That’s why, when Peter wrote this, he said, “Act as free men.” Many of the men to whom he was writing were not free. Government power rested in the hands of absolute rulers, often one person, during Peter and Paul’s day. Let’s not miss this: Paul and Peter were writing to people who lived under rulers who saw themselves as gods. In some instances, they demanded that the people they governed worship them as a god. Not only that, Paul and Peter’s government leaders allowed for extortion of the constituency using taxes. Roman law allowed collectors to prey upon citizens by demanding up to six times as much tax as was owed to the government—for personal profit. The government of Paul and Peter’s Day persecuted minorities and did so heavily. The worst of the persecution was of a class of people called Christians. It was not uncommon for them to be encased in wax by the authorities, then hung on a stake and burned at night to light the emperor’s gardens. Some were crucified, and others were thrown to wild beasts. So, before we read these verses, and think, “Well, God just didn’t understand how bad we were going to have it,” I encourage you to remember the context in which these verses were originally delivered. Some of the people who heard these verses had to sneak their way into the church service to hear them—for fear of being killed by their government for their faith.”[4]

Footnotes:

[1] “Presidents’ Day in the United States,” timeanddate.com, 2020, https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/washington-birthday.

[2] David Guretzki, “Seven Principles of Praying for Political Leaders,” EFC – Seven principles of praying for political leaders, February 12, 2018, https://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/Communications/Articles/February-2018/Seven-principles-of-praying-for-political-leaders.

[3] Lesli White, “Prayers For Our Nation and President,” Beliefnet (Beliefnet Beliefnet is a lifestyle website providing feature editorial content around the topics of inspiration, spirituality, health, wellness, love and family, news, and entertainment., December 20, 2019), https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/prayer/prayers-for-our-nation-and-president.aspx.

[4] Vance H. Pitman, “What Does the Bible Say about Government?,” ERLC, August 6, 2018, https://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/what-does-the-bible-say-about-government.