Saturday, November 21, 2009

Pray Righteously, Please

Apparently there is a new prayer being offered and which is being put on teeshirts and posters, which reads something like this: "Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8." A fellow Christian I know was talking about the Psalm 109:8 slogan on Facebook and he was talking about how wrong it is. I, as a Christian and conservative, would have to agree with my my FB friend. I do not want to defend our fellow Christians who would put forth such sentiments. The proper Scripture we should all have for this President, as well as all presidents, is 1 Tim 2:1-2. God has instructed us to pray for our leaders, and He did not qualify it by saying that we should only pray for those with whom we agree. I would venture a guess that the people who were in authority in Paul's day were not righteous leaders. Even though I do not agree with the policies of the current administration and I do not think Mr. Obama is good for this country, I still pray for him and the others in office. I pray for their well being and safety as well as their hearts. I know without a doubt that this is what the Lord wants us to do.

Certain people who are familiar with this Psalm 109 slogan are saying that its intent was that folks would pray for a one term office, but if that was the intent, it is totally out of context. The passage in question is clearly asking for the death of the psalmist's enemies. I for one am very disappointed on hearing about this being on teeshirts and posters and hope that it will soon come to an end. I saw a lot of hate filled photos and posters against President Bush and I abhorred that. Now, I am sorry to say, many conservatives are stooping to the same level. So sad. I haven't met anyone personally who is posting or wearing this slogan, but if anyone reading this is in agreement with it, then you and I are not on the same page. I don't want to get into an argument about it, but I do want to express my heart. I am quite upset about this slogan, because it is a misuse of the Word of God and a misrepresentation of Christians. I hope you will reconsider if you think this is the way that God would have you voice your opposition to a leader whom you don't like.

Have a nice Lord's Day tomorrow, worshipping our great God who alone reigns and is King of King and Lord of Lords. We look to Him, not any leader, no matter what his political party or affiliation. Even those we consider good men, are men at best and sinners who will fail us in one way or another. I hope we don't get too carried away with our desires to see the America we want to see. I hope our desires are grounded in a love for God and our fellow man, as Jesus said they should be. I hope as we fight for freedom, we remember that more important than anything else, true freedom is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ and that America will only have true freedom if she returns to Him.


Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Be blessed.

12 comments:

Sandra said...

I agree that we are to pray for our leaders and do pray for them to hear the voice of God.

I wasn't aware of this happening.

Susan said...

Not familiar with this T-shirt and have not heard anything about this. I wonder if it is something primarily from in the Eastern states. I agree with you 100% Maxine. We must be careful to remain true only to the Word of God and the Word only. I always appreciate your gentle but direct approach in confronting issues at hand.
Susan

Cathy said...

I didn't like that suggestion either, Maxine. The verse you recommended would be a good prayer for this president.

Debra said...

Maxine you and I are definitly on the same page on this issue. I also have not seen this t-shirt and if I did it would be difficult for me to not say something. It's just terrible that someone who calls themselves Christian would misuse scripture this way.

God bless our President and our country...

God help us all. Blessings my friend.

Laurie said...

I agree with you, Maxine, and I pray for our president no matter who he is. The Presidential Prayer Team has been a good resource for me, and even though I do not agree with all President Obama stands for, our Lord does tell us in His Word to pray for our leaders. I have not seen or heard of these t-shirts or posters, but I do hope our fellow believers will not follow such retoric. I enjoy reading your blog, Maxine! Don't you just love being a Nana aka Nanna?!

Patti said...

I don't know about the T-shirt you are talking about. But I certainly do not think we should be praying for our president's death. I pray for his heart, that he would become a man who will lead this nation in righteousness (wouldn't it be awesome to see that happen!!!), but I also pray that if his heart will not change, that he be rendered powerless to do any damage. And by that, I do not mean that he die...rather that the political process just results in a quagmire, with nothing being accomplished.

I agree, in so many ways, I see conservatives behaving in exactly the same ways that they complained about liberals behaving. Instead of living by the Golden Rule (doing as you would have done to you), it's as if the thought is do to them as they did to you. Not a teaching of Scripture.

Blessings,
Patti

Maxine said...

Yes, indeed, I love it, Laurie! Glad to have you as a friend!

I knew all you guys would agree with me. Let's hope we can spread the word around our circles to be on the lookout for this sad representation of Christianity.

Djames said...

The verse clearly is praying that Obama is a 1-term president. Unfortunately, liberals read the next verse which is clearly a death threat.

Denise said...

Oh girl...... I so agree with this.. We as believers need to turn to the Father God about our leaders.. I have not heard about this slogan or the tee shirts but we as Followers of Christ need to NOT use the word of God to promote hate.....

We pray for our leaders....

Brenda said...

I wasn't aware of the prayer and/or T-shirt you've mentioned. It does bother me when folks take scripture completely out of context to justify their stand on 'righteousness'.

... said...

i haven't heard of this either but it makes me sad. i agree with your sentiments. as christians, we are called to prayer, and to love - not hate. what a different world this would be if this was the priority.

thank you for sharing the thoughts and feelings of your heart and your faith.

sweetchez@earthlink.net said...

i all so heard of this and was grately disappionted and hope the we relizes that people are closed minded that this the time to pray for the who would even try to miss use Gods word for the evil!