Preparing Your Heart to Pray for the Federal Election

Preparing Your Heart to Pray for the Federal Election

6 May 2022

8.4 MINS

While praying for the federal election, here are some spiritual principles to observe, that we may pray with clean hands and a pure heart for the good of our nation. Let us turn to the Word of God and examine our inner dispositions, that our prayers may be effective with the grace of God.

Twenty-one days of prayer and fasting 

This message was released at the 24 Hours of Prayer call on the 30th of April as a prelude to entering into the 21 days of fasting and prayer, beginning May 1st 2022.

These 21 days are an appointed time for the Ecclesia of Australia to come before the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, through prayer and fasting. Like Esther and Daniel who received instruction to prepare their hearts, minds, souls and bodies, to humble themselves in repentance before God for their nation’s sin and desperately entreat God’s intervention for deliverance, we are being summoned in this hour before God for such a time as this!

This is a crucial election like none other, in a season of great upheaval and shakings in all spheres of life as we know it in Australia and the world. The depravity of conscience in politics and government, resulting in evil laws by which a society is now mirrored, is now untenable to a God-fearing people who have now awakened to stand for what is right in the kingdom of God, or we shall perish.

This warfare is spiritual. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. Hence, a preparation to fight the good fight of faith and action.

Psalm 24 was impressed upon us by the Holy Spirit as a guiding pattern for these days of preparation:

1 The earth belongs to the Lord and its fullness the world and those who will dwell in it.
2 For He has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

This establishes the sovereignty of God.

Here are some required protocols to follow while entering a solemn assembly:

Faith vs the Sin of Unbelief

The most important requirement to approach God is to have faith in Him. A whole generation of Israelites who saw mighty miracles and came out of 400 years of slavery never made it to their ultimate destination, the Promised Land, because of unbelief. God addresses their unbelief in Hebrews 3 and 4. The consequence of unbelief is to never enter His rest.

Hebrews 11:6 ~ “Without faith it is impossible to please God,
for he who comes to God must believe that He exists
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

Psalm 24:3-4 ~
“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?
Who may stand in His Holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
Who has not lifted his soul to vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

In approaching God’s presence as His Ecclesia on His holy hill, especially in these 21 days, God is requiring us to examine our hands and our own hearts.

The work of our hands blesses God! Our hands minister to Him in the purity of actions from pure thoughts and motives of the heart, and bring glory to His name. God loved David as a man after His own heart, but when it came to building a temple for Him, His Holiness could not accept the blood on David’s hands. Let us examine our hands.

We are being called to be watchmen on the walls of our nation and family in this hour.

God’s call as a watchman according to Ezekiel 33:7-9 has a serious consequence ~

7 Now as for you Son of Man:
I have set you as a watchman to the house of Israel.
Therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me.
8 When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die,”
and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity.
But his blood I will require from your hand.
9 Nevertheless, if you on your part warn the wicked to turn from his way
and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity.
But you have delivered your soul.

There is a higher calling to the Ecclesia to come into maturity and know our calling and where to stand and watch and pray.

The work of our clean hands brings forth fruit, much fruit that will remain, as Jesus said in John 15;16.

May King David’s repentant prayer from Psalm 51:10-12 be our prayer too.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

Forgiveness From the Heart

Mark 11:24-26 ~
24 “Therefore I  say to you whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you will receive them, and you will have them.
25 and when you stand praying,
forgive if you have anything against anyone,
so that your Father Who is in heaven
may also forgive you your sins.
26 But if you do not forgive,
neither will your Father Who is in heaven forgive your sins.

This is a serious reason for unanswered prayers.

Family

In this season as we draw close to God as the Ecclesia in prayer, let us examine our hearts like King David in Psalm 101:2-7 ~

2 “I will consider the path that is blameless.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.
I hate the work of those who turn aside: it shall have no part of me.
4 A perverted heart shall be far from me:
I will not know anything wicked.
5 Whoever privately slanders his neighbour, him I will destroy;
6 Whoever has a haughty look and a proud heart, I will not endure.
7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who tells lies shall not remain in my sight.”

These were the protocols of King David as He ministered to a Holy God in the tabernacle every day.

Unhindered Prayers

1 Peter 3:7 ~ Husbands, likewise dwell with them with understanding, giving honour to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Let us repent and walk with an upright heart in our own homes, with forgiveness and with love and grace, and offer the truth of the Word with no complacency or apathy. God, give us the courage and the gift of obedience to speak and obey the Truth of Your Word.

Psalm 101 is also a prophetic prayer for the kind of candidates and leaders we want in our Parliaments and House of Representatives.

The Righteousness of God

  • By the Blood and the Broken Body of Jesus

Hebrews 10:19-21 declares,

“Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way that He has opened for us through the veil, that is to say His flesh, and since we have a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse them from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

  • Righteousness through Faith

Romans 3:22-26 ~ This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ,
to all upon all who believe, for there is no distinction.
For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood,
for a demonstration of His righteousness,
because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins previously committed,
to prove His righteousness at this present time
so that He might be just and be the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.

  • Faith is credited as Righteousness to the seed of Abraham

Romans 4:20-25 ~
20 “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief,
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
21 and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform.
22 therefore it was credited to him as righteousness.
23Now the words, “It was credited to him” were not written for his sake only,
24 but for us, to whom it shall be credited
if we believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 Who was delivered for our transgressions, and was raised for our justification.

Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach. ~ Proverbs 12:24

  • Hebrews 10:26-30 has a severe warning

26 For if we wilfully continue to sin
after we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a fearful expectation of judgement
and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who despised Moses’ law died without mercy
in the presence of two or three witnesses.
29 How much more severe a punishment do you suppose he deserves,
who has trampled underfoot the Son of God,
and has regarded the blood of the covenant,
that sanctified him to be a common thing,
and insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”
And again He says,” The Lord will judge His people.”
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Let us not partake of the body and blood of Jesus unworthily. Let us examine our hearts and confess our sins daily and walk in the forgiveness and victory of the cross.

Let us as the Ecclesia pursue Life in the Spirit.

Romans 8:2 ~ “For the Law of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.” There is power in the purity of hands, heart and motives led by the Spirit to pray the effective fervent prayers of the righteous that avail much. The Judeo-Christian values of our nation will be preserved because of the law of Life in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 24:7-10 is a prophetic decree to the heads of Gates and doors in the spiritual realm that have held back justice and righteousness in our land. It is the time and season to decree and proclaim and prophecy to the gates and welcome the King of glory to be mighty in battle, as we decree His finished work on the cross, His righteousness to enter and govern in every area of our nation.

God needed Ezekiel to prophesy with his mouth, life and Spirit to the dry bones to become an army. Jesus commanded His disciples to speak to the mountains to move. Jesus defeated the enemy only with the Word in His mouth by decreeing, “It is written,” “It is written,” “It is written,” even as He was filled with the Spirit.

The gates of a city or region/nation are powerful places of trade, transfer and authority. The gate is an entryway into an unknown place or a place of great significance. The elders of the city sat at the gates; kings addressed their subjects at the gates. Mordecai heard of the plan for the assassination of the king at the gates.

We as a nation stand at a pivotal place of transition depending on whom we elect to sit at the gates of our nation’s governance and security. It is time as watchmen to be vigilant and watchful in prayer to discern the enemy’s plans. Here is a vision and angelic encounter that my pastor Jimmy Njino shared at our Sunday service (starts at 11:02 min):

Jesus is alive and victorious over all that was, that is and is to come. Let us boldly declare Colossians 2:14-15 ~

“He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us and contrary to us,
and He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed authorities and powers,
He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them by the cross.

Psalm 118:19-29 ~ A prophetic decree:

Open to Australia the gates of righteousness;
We will go into them, and we will praise the Lord;
This (Canberra Declaration /your family) is the gate of the Lord;
The righteous shall enter through.
We will thank you that YOU have heard us
And have become our deliverance.
Jesus the Stone that the builders rejected has,
And now is the cornerstone of Australia.
This is what the Lord has done and it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we ask You, O Lord; O Lord we ask you, send now success.
Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD;
We have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
The LORD is God,
And He has shown us His Light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords,
even unto the horns of the altar.
You are Australia’s God, Israel’s God and we will praise You.
Oh give thanks to the LORD,
For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever.
Amen.

___

Photo by Nelson Ribeiro.

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2 Comments

  1. Viney 7 May 2022 at 11:11 am - Reply

    Well put together and supported by biblical passages which are cross referenced

  2. Jim Twelves 10 May 2022 at 5:57 pm - Reply

    Molly, thank you for your post on preparing our hearts for praying for the federal election. You heart resonates with me very much, thank you. My main concern is that it is so hard to keep our own passions and desires in check when praying for the election. It is so natural to pray quite carnally. But I am sure the Lord wants us to approach Him with clean hands and clean hearts. For me its so important that we all do pray and that we encourage all in our networks to pray and as we have been shown just recently, the Lord does hear and answer prayer with even more political parties now aligning with our traditional Christian values. God is so good!

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