How I pray for Donald Trump
Seeking God’s intercession in uncertain times.
For me, the most convicting part of our Sunday church service comes not during the sermon or even in those moments of self-reflection before Communion, but during our time of corporate prayer. In those moments, the congregation stands together to ask God’s blessing on our church, our membership and our world. And in the last month, there have been six words that have caused me to stop in my tracks:
“We pray for Donald, our president…”
Praying that phrase is the hardest part of our service. Because, if I’m completely honest, I don’t want to pray for Donald Trump.
I’ve made no secret that I am not a fan. Aside from a brief moment where I found The Apprentice entertaining, I never have been. Even before he ascended to the presidency, I found him arrogant, mean-spirited, off-putting and a caricature of greed. His first administration was a mix of ineptitude and callousness of which we’re still feeling the effects. In the first month of his second term, he’s doubled down, enacting a regime driven by revenge and cruelty that seems intent on pushing our Constitution to the breaking point. I am legitimately afraid and concerned for our country as to what the effects will be of his presidency. He might very well be the worst public figure of my lifetime.
And every Sunday, I’m put in the position of praying for him by name. I have to make the decision as to whether I’m going to go silent or pray for a man who I truly believe is ruining our world. And throughout the week, in my own personal times, I’m brought to that decision point, whether praying with the Book of Common Prayer that God will be with those who govern us or taking a moment in my own prayers to consider the state of the world.
I believe that God ordains leaders and brings them into power – either for our blessing or possibly for our judgment, but always for His purposes. The Bible asks me to pray for those in power and submit to their leadership so long as it doesn’t violate my conscience. It encourages me to believe that God is still on his throne and that the pillars of the Earth will not be shaken, even by reckless and evil rulers. So, I pray for Donald Trump. And in deciding to pray for him, I have to ask myself how to pray for him.
Sometimes, I’ll be honest, all I can do is pray for him by name and ask God to work His will. But as I’ve examined myself and considered how I can best pray for the president in a way that also engages me and brings me in a position of greater faith, I have found three prayers constantly on my lips.
Help him
Part of my prayer is that God will equip Donald Trump to lead well. As ill equipped as he may be for the presidency, I am more so. I do not know what it is like to have the weight of a country on my shoulders, nor all the intricacies that come with leading a nation. I imagine it is intimidating for anyone who steps into that office.
And so, I pray that God helps and supports Donald Trump to lead in a way that contributes to the nation’s flourishing, the health and safety of all people, and the betterment of the world. I pray that he will listen to expertise and guidance, make choices with intelligence and compassion, and put the needs of the United States and the peace of the world above his own interests.
I pray that God will often temper me. The news will highlight the extreme choices he makes that will enrage me and make me afraid, but I know that some decisions he makes might just be things I disagree with from a political perspective and could be wrong about. I ask that I will submit to leadership and obey without complaining when it does not go against my conscience or the good of others, and I pray that God gives me the humility to highlight and acknowledge decisions he makes that are good (getting rid of pennies and paper straws isn’t a bad start, for instance).
Change him
But we know that Donald Trump is a man who is often driven by his own desire to be esteemed and receive press, and that he often seems driven by petty insecurities and jealousies, eager to get revenge and act in a way where cruelty and chaos seem to be the point.
It’s in those moments that I ask God to change him. While Donald Trump is in a position of high human authority, he is not God. Proverbs 21:1 says that the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, and the Lord will turn it which way he wants to go. And my prayer is that God will soften Trump’s heart, radically change his personality and mind, and fill him with a compassion, empathy and kindness that can only come from supernatural change.
It is easy for me to look at Donald Trump as an inhuman monster because that is often the persona he presents. But my prayers ask for help to see him as a human being whom God still loves, and consider whether I believe God can change hearts and minds. Are there ever late nights where Donald Trump is struck by the impact his decisions have made on the lives of others or fearful about the security of the world because of his actions? Does he ever lay awake when the press is gone and his yes men have left, fearful of the state of his soul and his eternal destiny? I pray God brings him to those moments, humbles him and draws him to repentance, and works about change that we can see only come from a supernatural hand. And then, I pray that God will have him govern in a way that puts the needs and flourishing of individuals above power, status and riches.
Thwart him
I believe that God still can and does change people. I also believe some people don’t want to be changed and will resist it to the point where their hearts are hardened. And I have to ask how I should pray when Donald Trump still runs wild with anger and recklessness, governing in a way that seems designed to hurt others, cause chaos and put our world at risk.
And in those moments, I pray that he fails.
The Psalms are filled with prayers against harsh, dangerous, callous leaders. There are cries for God to break the teeth of the wicked and thwart his enemies. There are entire books of the Bible in which God’s people are under the thumb of a corrupt government and they pray for those rulers to be ousted from the throne, embarrassed before the other nations of the world and laid bare in their powerlessness before God.
And sometimes, we need to pray that our leaders’ most reckless and callous impulses will come to nothing, that justice will overwhelm them and that they will be brought low. This isn’t isolated to Trump. During George W. Bush’s presidency, I prayed that God would reveal the misinformation that was sending our soldiers to die in a war waged on bad intelligence. Though I voted for Joe Biden, I prayed that he would have the good sense to step aside in the last election because his mental faculties had so obviously declined; I also prayed against and publicly called out his policy of sending weapons to Israel to kill women and children in Gaza.
And so, I often find myself praying that Trump will fail. That his ability to hurt, demean and disenfranchise others will be held in check. That our government will hold to the system of checks and balances that will thwart any illegal or chaotic actions. That people will speak out, protest and vote to make change, and that other world leaders will take the initiative to oppose him and hold him to account – even if it means we have a bit of discomfort in our nation. When all those look like they’re failing, I ask God to act, to give us the courage and ways to resist, and to put the needs of others before ourselves. I pray that no harm will be done, and particularly that the Church will be there to help those who are affected, hurt and misrepresented by the Trump administration.
As challenging as it is to bring myself to pray for Donald Trump, it’s even more challenging to know which of these prayers to voice in the moment. It’s easy and tempting to jump right to prayers for his failure. Sometimes it feels like a copout to just pray for God to change him and then sit back and refuse to take any action on my own. And it requires trust that even though my social media feeds and the news are telling me that this is all hopeless and we’re about to swirl down the drain, that I remember my hope is not in a political leader, a government or a nation, but the God who holds the pillars of the earth in His hand. And so, sometimes my prayer is just, “God, teach me how to pray for this moment.”
I empathize with wondering how to pray for him. I agree that prayer is a meaningful and energetic contribution.
However, the idea that you and I were both taught that God is king of the world, and that he sets up rulers and removes them is the view of some of the authors of scripture, especially those focused on a Jewish kingdom that was a physical reality. I don’t believe that the kingdom of God of which Jesus spoke functions in that same way. In fact, I think it is the antithesis of it.
I don’t view prayer as a means of summoning a Deus Ex Machina. Rather, I see it as aligning my thoughts and emotion and vision and focus in a way consistent with the values that I cling to that Jesus taught (as well as many other teachers over the millennia). I think there is an energetic function to that when my focus is on that which is consistent with the will of the creator and the design of the creator.
I don’t expect any of that will persuade you otherwise and it’s not my intent to do so. I guess I’m just letting you know that there are other perspectives out there about some of these things. And also that I appreciate the tension you feel and I respect your desire to do something meaningful and helpful.
We need more articles like this. No matter how much we may disagree or dislike our leaders, our faith still demands that we pray for them. Ever since I became more devout in my mid-twenties, I have (almost) regularly prayed for Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden during their administrations, despite the fact I consider all of them to be bad presidents. They are still loved by God just as much as everyone else. May we all be steadfast in our prayers.