Election Prayers: Jump to a Section
Elections are stressful.
It doesn’t matter if you’re running for office, simply paying attention to an election, or trying to avoid getting swept up in the sea of election chaos. It’s all too common to find election season to be a challenging one.
Reminders of the election are everywhere: from yards to TV to social media feeds. The tension feels both suffocating and inescapable.
Luckily, in moments when we feel overwhelmed, we can turn to God for peace. And in moments when our country feels divided, we can unite in prayer.
In 2024, Hallow is launching a prayer challenge, One Nation Under God, to help us all come together in prayer for America.
Join the challenge today and use the prayers below to help you navigate the election season with a little more peace.
Election Prayers: Bible Verses
One of the most simple forms of prayer is spending time with Scripture and listening to how God is speaking to us through His word.
These Bible verses feel especially relevant during election season:
- “He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:14
This verse from Daniel reminds us that regardless of who sits in the White House or any political, corporate or governmental office, God is ultimately the King. His reign is forever, unlike any positions human beings hold on earth.
- “God’s way is unerring; the Lord’s promise is tried and true; he is a shield for all who trust in him. Truly, who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is the rock?” – 2 Samuel: 31-32
This verse reminds us that, while we sometimes feel like the weight of the world depends on the outcome of the ballot box, we ought to place our trust ultimately in God.
- “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.” -1 Timothy: 1-4
In Biblical times, as it is now, it’s important that we pray for all of our leaders and our country, regardless of who wins and loses an election. This verse reminds us that we can all come together in prayer.
- “If you live in accordance with my statutes and are careful to observe my commandments, I will give you your rains in due season, so that the land will yield its crops, and the trees their fruit; your threshing will last till vintage time, and your vintage till the time for sowing, and you will eat your fill of food, and live securely in your land. I will establish peace in the land, and you will lie down to rest with no one to cause you anxiety.” – Leviticus 26:3-6
This verse from Leviticus speaks to how abundantly God provides for His people. It’s a lesson that we can forget when we drift into a mindset where the weight of the entire world hinges on the result of a particular relection.
Short Prayer for Peaceful Elections
These original short prayers from Hallow can help you pray for our country as well as draw closer to God during election season.
- Heavenly Father, we ask you today to be with us and our country now as you have been since our first days as a nation. Help us to listen less to harsh rhetoric and more to the Holy Spirit. Help us to feel how Your Spirit will guide us, no matter the election’s outcome. We pray for peace, love and hope, in Your name. Amen.
- Christ, our King, we pray today that we can look beyond the current political landscape, in a moment when it seems like it’s the only thing everyone is talking about, and remember that we are builders of Your kingdom here on earth. Prince of Peace, help peace flourish amid division, and strengthen us to live generously and charitably in Your name. Amen.
- God, may Your Spirit unify us. May we recognize that we are all created in Your image, regardless of which political candidate we vote for. As we approach this election, open our eyes to recognize that people we may disagree with are still our brothers and sisters, Your children. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen.
USCCB Prayer Before an Election
The USCCB offers us a prayer we can pray as elections approach.
Lord God, as the election approaches,
we seek to better understand the issues and concerns that confront our city/state/country,
and how the Gospel compels us to respond as faithful citizens in our community.
We ask for eyes that are free from blindness
so that we might see each other as brothers and sisters,
one and equal in dignity,
especially those who are victims of abuse and violence, deceit and poverty.
We ask for ears that will hear the cries of children unborn and those abandoned,
Men and women oppressed because of race or creed, religion or gender.
We ask for minds and hearts that are open to hearing the voice of leaders who will bring us closer to your Kingdom.
We pray for discernment
so that we may choose leaders who hear your Word,
live your love,
and keep in the ways of your truth
as they follow in the steps of Jesus and his Apostles
and guide us to your Kingdom of justice and peace.
We ask this in the name of your Son Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Prayer for After an Election
Hallow has created a simple prayer for the hours, days and weeks following the election:
God of all creation, we ask for Your blessing today as we seek to move forward following the election.
After months of words, claims and promises, we pray that we may unite over actions: loving our neighbors, pursuing justice, becoming peacemakers.
In His Resurrection, we know that Jesus conquered death, securing for us the promise of salvation. On this day, let us focus on the hope we enjoy as Christians. Let this hope sustain us during any challenges moments that may come our way. Let us never succumb to division, hate, or hopelessness.
In Your name we pray. Amen.
Prayers from Presidents
Prayer has deep roots in America. Praying for our country is something millions of Americans have done across hundreds of years.
It’s also something that predates our country, with roots dating back to the Second Continental Congress in 1775 (one of the reasons we still celebrate a National Day of Prayer!)
See how prayer been prominent in America’s history through the words of our various presidents:
FDR’s D-Day Prayer – June 6, 1944
And for us at home – fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas – whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them – help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too – strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
(View the prayer in its entirety)
Theodore Roosevelt, Thanksgiving Prayer, 1902
Nevertheless, decade by decade we have struggled onward and upward; we now abundantly enjoy material well-being, and under the favor of the Most High we are striving earnestly to achieve moral and spiritual uplifting. The year that has just closed has been one of peace and of overflowing plenty. Rarely has any people enjoyed greater prosperity than we are now enjoying. For this we render heartfelt thanks to the giver of Good; and we will seek to praise Him, not by words only, but by deeds, by the way in which we do our duty to ourselves and to our fellow-men. (Source)
Woodrow Wilson, 1918
Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the thirtieth day of May, a day already freighted with sacred and stimulating memories, a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens of all faiths and creeds to assemble on that day in their several places of worship and there, as well as in their homes, to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify our hearts to see and love the truth, to accept and defend all things that are just and right, and to purpose only those righteous acts and judgments which are in conformity with His will; beseeching Him that He will give victory to our armies as they fight for freedom, wisdom to those who take counsel on our behalf in these days of dark struggle and perplexity, and steadfastness to our people to make sacrifice to the utmost in support of what is just and true, bringing us at last the peace in which men’s hearts can be at rest because it is founded upon mercy, justice and good will. (Source)
More Prayer Resources
If you’re looking to find peace and relieve stress at any time, Hallow has plenty of prayer resources to help you spend some time with God.