Capital Prayer Alert -- 11/4/24

As you know, my wife, Carol, prepares a monthly prayer alert. I hope you will share Carol's thoughts with your friends and fellow worshipers. Thank you for taking an interest in her monthly devotion. -- Gary

The nation is poised to participate in a most consequential Election Day on Tuesday. Hundreds of speeches have been given. Thousands of tweets have been posted. Millions of signs have been made. Hundreds of millions of emails have been sent. And multiple billions of dollars have been raised and spent on TV advertising, mailers, robo-calls, and text messages. The good news is that the end of this phase of the election is in sight. Whew!

It truly has been a roller coaster ride of an election season. The contested Republican primary seems like eons ago, as does the Trump-Biden debate in late June. After President Joe Biden’s meandering and shocking debate performance, what followed was a most undemocratic effort to replace him with a new candidate who did not get one vote in the 2024 primaries. The move to replace Joe Biden was behind the scenes at first, followed by strategic leaks to the press, and then followed by a full-blown effort of party elders.

We were told there would be no coronation and that the nomination would have to be earned. Even talk of a shortened summer primary bubbled up. But before our heads could stop spinning, Kamala Harris was the anointed one, and the new Harris-Walz ticket came to be shortly thereafter. All the while, the Democrat Party loudly proclaimed that they were the “party of democracy.”

Here we are just hours from Election Day. Millions upon millions of voters have already voted early in-person (like me) or by mail-in ballots. The candidates are carefully selecting their final campaign stops. Ad buys have been finalized, and lawsuits are being filed as voter registration fraud is uncovered in numerous locations.

It does seem like Get-Out-The-Vote efforts have been refined this year with deep involvement and financing by special interest groups separate from the apparatus of either party structure. At this point, all eyes are focused on getting your voters to the polls, while each candidate jockeys for the few remaining undecided voters by tapping into newsworthy moments in the last hours of the campaign.

The stakes are high, and each campaign has had the opportunity to make its case with originality and late breaking news. Joe Biden handed a gift to the Trump campaign with his statement about Trump supporters being “garbage.” Donald Trump made the most of it in the ensuing 48 hours.

Kamala Harris made her closing argument in a speech on the Ellipse in Washington with the White House in the background. She used it to promote abortion on demand and to call Trump a “fascist.”

Some people bemoan the process, the cost and length of the campaigns, and our choice of candidates. Yet here we are working within the structure we have with the candidates before us. The discussion of how we go about choosing the next president can and should be held for another day.

As for now, this day, we only have two options. Let us be somber and prayerful as we focus on the choice before us, recognizing that we are not voting for a Savior. We are voting for a set of policies and a person to implement those policies within a governmental framework, which will give us the freedom to practice our faith.

Lord, we come to You with anxious hearts, well aware that true peace can be found only in Your presence. Still our hearts as we turn to you in this time of high tension for our country. Guide our fellow citizens to prayerfully come before you seeking Your guidance in the affairs of men.

Prompt us to remember that we are not looking for a Savior in a president but are looking to affirm the candidates who would champion our right to practice our faith. Remind us of the precious nature of our right to elect our leaders and of our responsibility to choose wisely for our families, our neighbors, and our fellow believers.

Father, we pray for peace in America’s body politic as tensions run high amid the enormous stakes. If there are those intent on violence against candidates or supporters, shut down their desires and thwart their plans.

And Lord, we ask that You not lift Your hand from this nation in the coming months between the election and inauguration. Guide us, protect us, and still our anxious hearts.

May God Bless the United States and her people.