We’ve uploaded a new resource for praying for people in power. It’s available to download from our prayer resources page.
On 7 November 2012 our issue in focus was people in power. It was co-incidentally a significant day for those in leadership in our world as it had been announced earlier that morning that Barack Obama had been elected for a second term in the White House and the headlines were dominated by David Camerons talks with leaders of the Syrian opposition.
We found this a helpful way to get past the two dimensionality and dehumanisation that sometimes surrounds global leaders typified in the way we so often refer to them by their surnames alone.
We often try to get behind the vast numbers in statistics about those living in poverty and need to the individual as personally loved by God as each of us are but its important that we remember this about people in power too. We are instructed to pray for our leaders but sometimes our prayers get disconnected from our hearts and Gods for these people.
We are often angry (sometimes righteously) or distrustful and quick to reduce these individuals for all the attention they get to nothing more than stereotypes of cardboard cut-outs.
You could use this idea in a variety of settings.
We did it coming out of a time of sung worship focused on the power and humility of Christ which used songs such as Jarod Coopers King of kings, Majesty, Brenton Browns Humble king and Liz Baddaleys Kneel me down and we prayed together as a group for all of the leaders we chose in turn each person leading for a different one.
But you could use it as a station or an element of led intercessions…