George W. Bush is having a rough second term.  That's the impression even among his supporters.  The drive—by media is doing its best to make sure the President feels the pressure of his low poll numbers, by highlighting them daily.  And members of Congress in the President's own party are at odds with him various issues and legislation.  This lends to the overall feeling of an embattled national leader.  What can help?  How about prayer?

Bush once said this: 

'I am sustained by the prayers of the people of this country.  I guess an appropriate way to say this, it's one of the beautiful things about America and Americans from all walks of life is that they're willing to pray for the President and his family.  And that's powerful.'

Sure, during the 2000 presidential race, in the aftermath of 9/11, and again during the re—election campaign of 2004, Bush supporters prayed daily that he might have sustaining strength, heavenly wisdom, peace in his heart and protection for his body.  But now, into the middle of this second term, have many of those prayers ceased? 

This is not the time to grow weary in well doing.  We are a nation at war.  Though they are losing, our enemies have not laid down their weapons.  Neither should we.  America has always had prayer as its greatest asset in times of trial. 

Many of us have our own problems.  We pray stridently to persuade God to bring his touch to every aspect of our lives.  What we fail to realize in abandoning prayer for our national leader is the damage that can affect all of us if we do.  As mentioned, enemies of good do not cease in their march toward mayhem and destruction.  These enemies, both foreign and domestic, need to be bridled and defeated by prayer.

To help remind us of the daily fight is a website called The Presidential Prayer Team.  From the group's brochure:

'Imediately following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a rapidly growing group of believers responded to a simple call to prayer.  Today more than three million people are participating in prayer together...

'The Presidential Prayer Team is not a political or partisan organization.  We are simply a group called together to pray for our President, because whoever holds that office desperately needs those prayers...and our nation's future depends on our prayers.'

When I visited the site recently, I was asked to

'Pray for the President as he makes remarks on immigration reform and border security this morning...Pray for the members of the cabinet as they hold their monthly meeting today...'

There's also a section to Adopt our Troops in Prayer.  Additionally, the site provides inspirational quotes and hymns, and a section for faith in the news.
John Lind, the President/CEO of PPT, says

'while prayer may have been removed from the public arena by court rulings, it can only be removed from our hearts and lives by our failure to commit and follow through in the matter of daily prayer...Let us covenant together to do all that is humanly possible to support our President, our nation, and our military.'

Like Moses in the Bible, our national leader can only continue to be victorious in battle if the people 'lift up his arms' and pray.  I'll take this opportunity to apologize to President Bush because I'm one of those people who relaxed in prayer for him following the election of '04.  That was a mistake.  Evil doesn't rest.  Neither should the righteous.  That's why I'm grateful to The Presidential Prayer Team for their daily reminder to touch the glory of heaven and bring it to earth.

God bless America.

J. James Esrada   6 3 06