A Prayer for Primary Day

“Almighty Father, we do come before you aware of the fact that government is not an accident nor is it our invention, but rather it is your gift to us in the very structures of creation as you have given us — that which will lead to righteousness and justice and human flourishing. We understand that you have created government and given it to us, to your human creatures, in order to restrain evil and uphold that which is good. And Father, even as we recognize that here in our own state, with the caucus and around the country, with so many primaries and political events today, Father, we mean to pray in a way that is honoring to you. Father, you have set forth in Scripture a model of the kind of leaders we should aspire to have, and the kind of leadership that we should be—as a people aspiring to be—in order that leaders who uphold righteousness and justice would emerge from us. So we pray this day that you will bless this people. And with a horizon far beyond what takes place today, but with today very much on our minds, Father we pray that you will give us leaders, eventually a president of the United States, who will uphold righteousness and do justice, whose personal character will befit the office, and whose convictions and understanding will lead to flourishing amongst this people. Father, we pray for the sanctity of human life to be upheld. We pray for the dignity and sanctity of every single human life to be valued. Father, we pray for the goods you have given us to be honored. And Father, we pray for the least of these among us to be protected. And Father, we pray for a government that we acknowledge we do not deserve, but we pray this in confidence that it is not we who rule, but you, and we commit this to you as your thankful people. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.”

A prayer by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, in the chapel service, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Tuesday, March 1, 2016.