Election Choices and Prayers

Some of you reading this know that I’ve just self-published a small paperback book, The Busy Person’s Prayer Book, mentioned on the blog home page. One prayer I should have written for that first book in the series should have been for guidance when facing choices in elections. I will be sure to place it in Volumn II.

Elections are something we all face. Political (primary, national; city, state, federal), company (stockholder boards, unions), school, and even non-profit groups or any group we belong to. Sometimes the choice is obvious and easy. Most times, it takes some thought. Choices can be made based on logic, experience, or statistics. However, these choices should also be made on faith, according to God’s plans, rather than our own.

The tricky part of praying for guidance regarding election choices is that I (and maybe you, too) tended to always pray that my choice would be elected. It took a long while, until just recently, for me to realize I was asking God to “fix” the election and make it result in my choice.

This past year or so, I have begun to phrase my prayers so that I am asking God to guide me in my choice. I’m trying to keep my mind open. Being human, I have already decided who I’d like to vote for, in my heart. However, these days, I also try to keep my mind open to God’s whisper as to his choice, not mine. That whisper could even come at the last moment, as I enter the booth to cast my vote. The important thing to me is that I no longer tend to “tell” him what to do. I no longer ask him to “let so-and-so win.” Now I ask him to tell me who fits his plans, God’s own plans.

Please, Father, guide me in my choices in this important upcoming election, that when I cast my vote, not my will, but thy will, be done.