Fifty Days of Prayer for the National Election 2012 – Day 13

Day 13 September 30th
Focus: Strengthen Your People
The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.   Exodus 15:2
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 2 Samuel 22:33
The LORD gives strength to His people; the LORD blesses His people with peace. Psalm 29:11
Almighty and Most Merciful God,
Thank You that You always seek us first. In our arrogance, we believe we are the first to reach out toward You, but, in truth, You always initiate the relationship. You do not abandon us to our ways. You tell us to fight in the strength that we have; that strength is Your divine Presence. You tell us that You will be with us and that You will strike down our enemies, no matter how great they are. You can fell ideologies and cultural strongholds which seek to replace Truth. Because You know our weaknesses so well, You will give us all the spiritual resources we need to fight and to stand for Jesus’ sake.
You see that our faith is weak. We worry that You have abandoned our nation, because You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge. (Psalm 51:4) . We still hesitate. We still are not ready to sacrifice everything or to achieve the victory promised. You in Your mercy say to us, “I will wait.” You are patient, steadfast, slow to anger, abounding in mercy. Be patient with us, Lord, as we learn Your ways and test the depth and quality of the strength that is in us, placed there by Your indwelling Holy Spirit.
We want to clearly and unmistakably hear Your direction in this election and in all the challenges we face as citizens of this nation. We bring this small offering and sacrifice to You: a willingness to step beyond what we know and walk into the unknown power of a victorious life. Make us willing, ready, unified and bold as we venture forth in faith into the future prepared for us by Your loving Hand. (Judges 6: 14-17, 18)   
We pray, in Your mercy, for good government, for the election of candidates and the approval of issues that reflect biblical truth, virtue, and character. We pray that godly local, state, and national pro-life and traditional family candidates will be granted resources, campaign workers, and objective media exposure during these final days, and that they may be granted favor with voters. May the candidates we choose be used as instruments to advance Your the Kingdom in our nation and in the world. We pray that Christians and God-fearing citizens will exercise their privilege, duty, and responsibility to vote. Have mercy on the United States of America.  In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.  
“We do then most solemnly before God and the world declare that, regardless of every consequence, at the risk of every distress, we will exert to their utmost energies all those powers which our Creator hath given to us to preserve, that liberty which He committed to us in sacred deposit, and to protect them from every hostile hand our lives and our properties.”  (Thomas Jefferson, 1775) 
We, the People of the State of Illinois – grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He has permitted us to enjoy, and seeking His blessing upon our endeavors…  (Preamble to the Constitution of Illinois)