January 23, 2009

• How to Pray for Obama

  In thinking about praying for our new President the subject came up on
  Facebook with a group of young people from our church… they were
  wondering if we should pray for his salvation.  Some thought he might
  already be a Christian since he said he was and we are not supposed to
  “judge”.  Other kids thought that since he didn’t exactly show the
  fruit of a believer (being pro-abort  etc) that we should pray for
  his salvation anyway. Well, here is a copy of my response to them on
  “how to pray for Obama”. 

  Blessings, Bee

  I think we can safely say that Obama is not a Christian by the
  “biblical definition.” (Which is someone who has given his life to
  Jesus Christ and has confessed Him as being the Son of God who is the
  only way to Heaven.) Obama talks extensively in this interview (link at
  the bottom) from 2004 about his “faith”, and this is not his confession
  as you can see from the excerpt at the end of this note.
  
  
  
  So we can begin by most certainly praying for his salvation! Then if he
  does get saved we can pray that his heart and mind would be renewed
  quickly by the Word of God and that his judgments would be made with
  wisdom and based on sound moral absolutes.
  
  
  
  He may however continue to reject Christ and so we should also pray
  that God will limit the damage that Obama does to our country while in
  power. Also.. we need to intercede in prayer that God will have mercy
  on our nation! Our sins are many and we do not deserve His favor so we
  must pray for His mercy.
  
  
  
  Ultimately, we know that God has a plan and His plan stems from His
  character of love, justice, mercy and holiness. We can trust Him, even
  if things end up looking very bleak. Habakkuk, a prophet in the Old
  Testament, had a difficult time in trying to figure out why God was
  raising up the “Chaldeans”, (they were a really bad bunch!) God’s
  answer to him is found in chapter 1 verse 5…
  
  
  
  “ Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded! For I will
  work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were
  told you.”
  
  
  
  God is essentially saying “trust me I have a plan”. So what is our
  response to this? You know if we want to respond in obedience and faith
  it has to be “O.K. God, I am going to trust you … no matter what”,
  and that is the conclusion Habakkuk ended up with also. (You can see
  this in the last few verses of the book.)
  
  
  
  The faith stuff is hard though… it really goes against our flesh, so
  we should also pray for one another. That we would be strong in the
  Lord and see the world through His eyes… look at things through the
  perspective of His character. We can only do that because the Holy
  Spirit (who is God) indwells us as believers enabling us to view things
  through the filter of who God is and what is on His heart. …And BTW
  what is on His heart is people!
  
  
  
  Which brings us to the other thing to pray for, which is the salvation
  of the lost. Because that is ultimately what this is all about. All
  nations and governmental systems will pass away… but people are
  eternal. Christ did not die to give us a perfect democracy He died to
  give us a whole new life with Him for all eternity! Pray that hearts
  are changed… and that will change our world!
  
  
  
  Blessings, Bee
  
  
  http://falsani.blogspot.com/2008/04/barack-obama-2004-god-factor-interview.html

  Excerpt quote from Obama:

  
  “So, I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are
  many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a
  higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there
  are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and
  there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as
  collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived.”
  

  • 9:13 am
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