How Do We Pray for America Now?

How do we pray for America now, after Donald Trump faced an assassination attempt? That’s the question I’m answering today based on a prayer session I had with God today.

How Do We Pray for America Now?

At 3:00 a.m. this morning, right after I prayed for the former president’s health and safety, and comfort for the deceased attendee’s family.

I vividly remember the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan though I was only 4 years old at the time. I remember feeling scared, like our world wasn’t really a safe place. Maybe you’re feeling like that today.

As I was searching God’s heart on how to pray for America now, he surprised me with his answer.

A single word clearly flashed on my inner vision screen: Opportunity.

That one word naturally contains a flame of hope.

What America Looks Like Now

Then God redirected me back to a portion from East of Eden, a novel by John Steinbeck, that I was reading three nights ago.

Steinbeck is a great American novelist. He was a secular writer who often wrote on biblical themes.

In the early 1950’s, Steinbeck wrote about the attitudes of Americans during westward expansion before the turn of the 20th century.

As I read this passage on Thursday night, I thought how true it still rings today – Americans don’t trust themselves anymore because God is no longer primary in their lives.

But as I read this passage, I also saw an opportunity. Everyone is made to worship someone or something. In a nation brimming with suspicion and anger before this year’s election, distrust abounds. Whether they realize it or not, people are desperately seeking someone stronger than themselves to worship.

It should be obvious our human leaders are incapable of this responsibility, especially after what happened yesterday. They are just human beings like we all are. However, we must pray for them as the Bible instructs us to do, and I’m committed to doing that on a daily basis.

The Opportunity to Pray for America Now

Back to the word “opportunity.” The most recent Barna research on Gen Z, people ages 25 to roughly 13, proves that only 31 percent of them believe in the God of the Bible. Yet Barna found something new – Gen Z is the most open generation in American history to hearing the Gospel. They have a great distrust in authority and institutions, yet they are ravenous for Truth.

After thinking about this, God reminded me of this Scripture passage:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Mt. 9:36-38 NLT

Do you see Jesus’ focus on opportunity here?

• He saw great opportunity in the giant harvest field of confused and helpless people who acted as if they had no leader.
• He had compassion on them.
• Note he also said the Lord is in charge.

Then he issued a call to pray in these circumstances. He wanted the disciples, and us, to pray for more harvest field workers (and be those workers too).

Pray for America Now

So this is how I’m praying for America now.

Between now and the end of the year, when I feel:

– fearful

– angry

– anxious

– confused

– frustrated

– suspicious

– despairing

– hopeless

– helpless

– disgusted

– sad

– apathetic

about our nation, I am considering those feelings a call to prayer for hope and opportunity.

I will pray with compassion for all other image bearers on both sides of the aisle.

I will be praying that God’s will be done, and that he would draw people closer to him in this time – ones who have never responded to him before, and those who are complacent in their faith.

I will pray for the current harvest field workers – the church leaders and the missionaries in America. I will also pray for more harvest workers, including myself.

Before I walk out the door, I will pray that God will reveal opportunities to me wherever I go. I want opportunities to shine light in the darkness of our culture. I desire opportunities to show consideration, encouragement, and kindness to strangers in our angry, distressed culture. This might be the only picture of Jesus they see, and I want to pique their curiosity with love, joy, and peace.

Join Me to Pray for America Now

If you would like to join me in prayers for America, you can follow me on YouTube and TikTok. I will also be sharing them daily to my Instagram stories.

A final note: I firmly believe in the power of prayer to turn our nation around. In my own past two years of personal hell, thousands of people prayed me through it. My counselor of 15 years repeatedly told me there is no other explanation for how well I’m weathering the storms than the power of many people praying for me. If God can carry me through my intense trials by the prayers of others, surely he can work revival and hope in our country through the prayers of many committed Christians.

Will you join me in praying with hope for America?

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