Prayer for a Humble Spirit

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Today, Jim Pfaff leads us in a prayer for a humble spirit. Jim is the host of the podcast Against Nice. He has also worked on Capitol Hill as a chief of staff for two wonderful congressmen: Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Jim has been involved in politics and engaging at various levels of government from the top to the bottom.

I have always felt that as a Christian, I need to show Christian values, understand what God’s expectations are for culture and for how we get involved in politics. I want to lead us in prayer and ask the Lord to do something really good in our society. I also want to pray for us, that we get engaged. Micah 6:8 says:

He [God] has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

Let’s pray that as a church, we would get back to that understanding. It has many, many ramifications in culture, if we’re willing to do it.

Prayer

Lord, we ask that You would move in the Church—people who claim the name of Christ around the country. We ask that You would work in their hearts to get back to the place where they would do justice; they would understand that law and what is expected in a society are founded in justice.

We’ve got people all over this country who don’t claim your name, who actually oppose You. They make cries of justice, but they don’t understand that justice comes from your law, your character and your holiness, Lord God.

We need the Church to understand that this needs to be countered in this culture, not just by going on a street and screaming at those who oppose us. More importantly, and in fact, fundamentally, that we would have hearts bound to justice, bound to your ways…a true understanding of your ways; not what we feel; not what’s in our emotions; not borne out of a mere anger with what we see in society, but that we would have a righteous and holy anger about the Church not standing up for justice.

We have failed this culture and we need to change those ways, but founded on your principles of justice.

We pray that we would do kindness, knowing that kindness doesn’t mean being nice to everybody all the time. What kindness means is that we have a desire for others to be able to live in your ways, to be affected by your character and your principles, that they might have the blessing that comes from humbling ourselves before You and that we would assert that in society.

This brings us to the third criteria of what you expect from us, Lord. I pray that we would have hearts of humility to know that we don’t know everything; that we are not perfect in our character; that we are aware of the fact that we must come to You to seek your ways, your Kingdom to come.

We can only do that through humble hearts, recognizing that You are the Supreme Ruler of the universe; that You are providentially leading this country and the whole world; and that You are performing your will. May we align with that will and allow your Kingdom to come in this country.

Lord, we lift up this country to You. I lift up the Church and ask that they would repent of how they have not followed what You commanded us in Micah 6:8. I pray that they would have a true understanding of what Micah 6:8 means, and that they begin to express that in culture and in their personal lives with their families, their spouses and in the local church. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.