Prayers For Our Leaders

We have collected some of the best Prayers For Our Leaders to use in request to God. May these prayers for safety bring you comfort and peace of mind. May these prayers for strength encourage your spirit and strengthen your faith.

This is a collection of prayers for political, government, spiritual, and religious leaders and the people who elect them.

A Prayer for Our Leaders

Dear Lord,
You are the source of all life and authority. Help those who are in authority within government to realize that they have received the gift of authority from You, so that they will be good servants of their people and faithful stewards of Your gifts, particularly Your gift of human life. Give them wisdom and prudence to know how to protect human life from conception until natural death.

Grant them the courage to ward off any evil forces which threaten the gift of life.
Help them to nurture and support human life through just laws and sound programs.
Give them the humility to acknowledge their failings and seek Your guidance, help, and strength. Amen.

earth

Earth

Our Leaders

Omnipotent Father,

You are all-powerful!  Even Your thoughts produce action.  I pray for our leaders in the government.  Lord, they also have power, though it is limited.  I pray that they would use their positions wisely, for You are the One who has allowed them to lead us.  We need strong men and women of faith in these kinds of roles.  I pray that our men and women in authority will strive to live godly lives and to repent when necessary.  As in Animal Farm, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  If there is any corruption, I pray that our leaders would repent and ask for forgiveness, so that our country doesn’t fall apart.  I thank you for our leaders and pray for their safety.  I love you Father!  Amen

A Blessing for Our Leaders

Eternal God, Fount of wisdom,
we ask you to bless the national leaders we have elected,
grant that through their discussions and decisions
we may solve our problems effectively,
enhance the well-being of our nation,
and achieve together a fairer and more united society.

The New Zealand Prayer Book

Pray for government leaders and their families

God, thank You for the men and women who serve our country in leadership roles and for their families. Please provide our leaders with reminders each day of why they decided to dedicate their lives to public service, and use that commitment to encourage them. Give them peace when their work takes them away from their families. We also pray specifically for the wives, husbands, and children of our leaders. We ask that You draw near to them and give them the wisdom on how to best support one another while their loved one is away working.

Pray for softness in our leaders’ hearts

Lord, thank You for leaders who care about issues impacting the most vulnerable. We ask that You help all leaders to care for people in need, especially children. Press on the hearts of constituents a desire and drive to reach out to their government leaders on issues surrounding global poverty, and soften leaders’ hearts toward these issues.

Prayer for Those in Statecraft and International Relations

Sovereign Lord, We pray for the people who are charged with representing our nation as they bridge culture, race, and religion to painstakingly negotiate terms of trade and forge alliances of security. May they view their task as sacred and be filled with hope, creativity, and endurance so that the bonds they forge among nations may bring mutual benefit and lasting peace.

Lord, help our leaders to look beyond grand palaces and corporate offices to consider carefully the effects that the policies they are creating will have on the humble homes of average citizens. May America be girded by the spirit of cooperation and generosity that recognizes the needs of others alongside our own so that the entire world might enjoy a common wealth of food, drink, shelter, education, and recreation.

Lord, may America not succumb to imperial temptations; rather, through persons of character, remind us of our shared religious heritage of servanthood. May we use our power in concert with the international community so that we might together bring in a new era marked by justice and peace.

— Paul Brandeis Raushenbush in Prayers for the New Social Awakening

Prayers for Our Leaders

Give us, O God,
leaders whose hearts are large enough
to match the breadth of our own souls
and give us souls strong enough
to follow leaders of vision and wisdom.

In seeking a leader, let us seek
more than development for ourselves —
though development we hope for —
more than security for our own land —
though security we need —
more than satisfaction for our wants —
though many things we desire.

Give us the hearts to choose the leader
who will work with other leaders
to bring safety
to the whole world.

Give us leaders
who lead this nation to virtue
without seeking to impose our kind of virtue
on the virtue of others.

Give us a government
that provides for the advancement
of this country
without taking resources from others
to achieve it.

Give us insight enough ourselves
to choose as leaders those who can tell
strength from power,
growth from greed,
leadership from dominance,
and real greatness from the trappings of grandiosity.

We trust you, Great God,
to open our hearts to learn from those
to whom you speak in different tongues
and to respect the life and words
of those to whom you entrusted
the good of other parts of this globe.

We beg you, Great God,
give us the vision as a people
to know where global leadership truly lies,
to pursue it diligently,
to require it to protect human rights
for everyone everywhere.

We ask these things, Great God,
with minds open to your word
and hearts that trust in your eternal care.

Joan Chittister, OSB

Prayer for the Rulers of the Nations

Today, O God. I hold before you the rulers of the nations —
Kings, Queens, Presidents, Prime Ministers — all who
are in positions of supreme leadership.

I can be quick to criticize: help me, Lord to first enter
their dilemma. On most issues of state I have the luxury
of withholding judgment, of not committing myself,
of sitting on the fence. Even when I have an opinion,
it has little influence and seldom any consequence.
Not so with rulers of the nations.
To the extent that they really lead, they must
make decisions, even if they are poor ones.

Help these leaders, O God, in the loneliness of their decisions.
Put wise counselors around them.

Take, I pray, the bits and pieces of virtue that are
in each ruler and cause them to grow and mature.
And take all the destructive motives and cause
them to vanish like smoke in the wind.

Lord, I know that many — and perhaps most —
rulers do not know you, nor do they seek you.
But you seek them! Help them see how good right decisions are.
And where decisions must be made that are not in their
own interest, deepen their sense of duty. Having seen
the light, give them the courage to walk in the light.
Amen.

— Richard J. Foster in Prayers from the Heart

A Prayer for Our Nation

May we as a nation be guided by the Divine
to rediscover the sacred flame of our national heritage,
which so many have given their lives to safeguard;

Let the wounds of separation and division be healed
by opening our hearts to listen to the truth on all sides,
allowing us to find a higher truth that includes all;

May we learn to honor and enjoy our diversity
and differences as a people, even as we
more deeply touch our fundamental unity;

May we, as a people, undergo a transformation
that will draw forth individuals to lead our nation
who embody courage, compassion, and a higher vision;

May our leaders inspire us, and we so inspire
each other with our potential as individuals
and as a nation, that a new spirit of forgiveness,
caring, and honesty be born in our nation;

May we, as a united people, move with clear,
directed purpose to take our place within
the community of nations to help build
a better future for all humankind;

May we as a nation rededicate ourselves
to truly living as one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And may God’s Will be done for the United States,
as we, the people, align with that Will.

Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson in Prayers for Healing edited by Maggie Oman

Guide Our Government Leaders

Father, I’m praying for (name them) and other government and community leaders throughout our towns, cities, states, and nation…

Save those who are not yet Your own. Give those in authority wisdom in every decision, and help them to think clearly. Grant them discernment and common sense so they’ll be strong and effective leaders. (Titus 3:5; James 1:5; Proverbs 3:21)

Help them to lead and govern with integrity, and may their integrity guide them and keep them on track. (1 Kings 9:4; Proverbs 11:3a; Psalm 78:72; 1 Timothy 2:1–4)

Be merciful to give us leaders who are Spirit-filled and follow Your principles. Direct their steps according to Your Word— for their decisions have a great impact on our lives! (Ephesians 5:18b; Psalm 119:105, 133a)

Be their defender and protector, and keep them always on guard. Help those who are Christians to be strong and courageous, standing firm in their faith and influencing others for Your kingdom. Encourage and strengthen them, giving them the wisdom they need. Help them to have courage and faith in You, no matter what they’re facing day-to-day. (Proverbs 23:11; Psalm 41:2a; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Deuteronomy 1:38; 3:28; 2 Chronicles 1:10a; Acts 27:22, 25)

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

by Jim & Kaye Johns

Scriptures to Pray for our Leaders

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.—1 Timothy 2:1-4

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Psalms 2:10-11

For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers. Proverbs 11:14

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will. Proverbs 21:1

He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. Job 12:23-25

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2) turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— 3) indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4) and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5) then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. 6) For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7) He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8) for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Proverbs 2:1-8

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