Prayer & Politics

We live in a world of diversity where we are not only set apart by our race but by our opinions and beliefs. Though it was never intended for the world to be in agreement at all times, the omission of prayer for the sake of saving face welcomes defeat. While it is not my duty to play judge and jury, I believe that the least the world could agree on is the fact that we are in need of prayer. I am not claiming to have the same beliefs as each and every being. Nor am I trying to use my opinion to beat anyone over the head. I do, however, wonder what the world thinks we are missing on a whole. When our children have lost faith in their parents and themselvesâÂ?¦when we find ourselves tangled in a never-ending warâÂ?¦while homeless men and women stand accounted for as the “norm” in a particular geographical areaâÂ?¦gangs, guns and drive-bys dictating the outcome of innocent lives and we shrug our shoulders in defeat.

What is it that we need, if not prayer? Can we honestly say that the world will soon be a better place if we build more jails or assign more blame? Why does prayer offend so many in a world where the value of someone’s life is equated to a pair of tennis shoes? Am I wrong for believing that prayer will change the current state of the world and bring things to perspective for so many? Some may ask why I believe what I do. Why does prayer seem to be the answer? My answer to that could only be that I have seen the effects of getting down on my knees and calling out for change. Again, I know who I pray to but am not here to speak my religion over the world. Believe me, I can not quote scriptures like the back of my hand but I do believe that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

I believe in the power of prayer over politics, because prayer has propelled me further than any world belief I know. It was prayer that kept me alive, when I believed that suicide was the only way out. It was prayer that sustained me, when I thought I would lose my mind. Prayer kept me strong in the face of adversity and feeling as if I would never overcome the overwhelming shame of being raped, written off and abandoned. On bended knee, I found myself learning to love a girl who sought love outside of herself, before realizing that love was in her face since the beginning of time. Clasped hands continue to teach me how to be a mother to two sons and how to be a wife to a man from an altogether different background. Prayer has taught me how to keep on keeping on, even though I sometimes feel like giving up�forgetting my dreams and letting go.

I can’t name a political party that has kept me standing strong the way prayer has. I have found that, in a world crumbling beneath the debris of its own selfishness and bickering, prayer comes to conquer wrong ideals. It is said that all things done in the dark are soon to come to the light. I believe that prayer flushes out darkness and banishes it to an unrecoverable place. Crying out for something better, I find my children protected from the evils of this world. I conquer my enemies without saying a word or physical contact. I overcome pitfalls made to devour and suck me free of fight. My marriage becomes stronger because there is great power in the tongue. The tongue utters life and deathâÂ?¦my words have the power to build up or tear down. I can only offer my opinion and hope that one day the world will acknowledge change brought about by getting down on bended knee and ushering in change for the world. It is my honest belief that without prayer there is no promise.