Sitting in my living room in a rare quiet moment this morning, I began to pray. For the election, the candidates, the country. And I found myself questioning, why am I even praying for this? Why does it matter what I want the results to be? If half of us are praying for one candidate to win, and half are praying for another… what can we possibly expect the outcome to be?

We are all viewing the election, the candidates, and the issues facing our country through different lenses. It is often hard to know what to believe and what not to believe. Our country is terribly divided on what we want, who we want to win, and what we think the best answers are. And that’s when I realized…

It’s not about what any of us want. But how we pray reveals, to ourselves, much about our priorities and what is in our hearts.

What if… we just have it all wrong? What if our prayers aren’t meant to be directed toward the outcome we want? What if we pray for a certain candidate to win, and the answer is no? Does that mean God’s not listening? Does that mean the issues we care about don’t matter to Him?

No. 100% no. He absolutely is listening, and He absolutely cares. The question is, are we listening?

Even though we’re at a point where it looks like we have a winner, the results are still uncertain. And people are still hanging on to hope on both sides of the aisle.

But what if the person we want to win the election, doesn’t? Then what?

Maybe we’re not supposed to be praying for a certain candidate to win. Maybe instead, we should be praying for God to work in and through whoever does win.

We do not believe in a God of small capabilities. Our hope should not lie in the hands of anyone placed in leadership, not even the president. Our God is a God of miracles. He’s a God who forgives. A heart-changer. He gives eyes to the blind, physically and spiritually. He is able to do the things we cannot even imagine.

Jesus made it very clear that it is not up to us to throw stones. It is not up to us to make judgements on what each candidate is capable of. But it is up to us to pray for the leader of our country, whether we chose them or not.

The rest is up to God.

If He can change the heart of Saul, persecutor of Christians, into Paul, one of the most well known Christians of all time, then I think He can work in the heart of anyone. And today, He was certainly working on mine.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

~ 1 Timothy 2:1-4