It's the second month of the year and with a new year, often comes new changes. And that includes government changes. Whilst in the UK, the past year saw three different prime ministers in just one year, without a public election, other parts of the world are currently electing new government leaders.

At St John's Church, we have a wonderfully diverse community, including Nigerians and Sri Lankans. The Nigerian presidential elections are set to take place on February 25th this year. Nigeria has seen political unrest, from the #ENDSARS movement of police brutality in 2020 to the 2022 Nigerian floods killing over 600, which the government didn't declare as a national emergency. The mood of Nigerian citizens seems to be eager for a change in government leadership.

Sri Lanka also has upcoming elections, but on a local level, on 9th March. This is the country's first election since mass protests against the former president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration due to months of food shortages, fuel and electricity since 2021. Police brutality was sadly involved in the midst of the process of these protests. Following this major unrest, the current president, Ranil Wickremesinghe replaced the deposed Rajapaksa and has since reversed tax cuts and raised prices across the board as inflation peaked at a near 70% record, which resulted in the country’s $46bn external debt in April 2022, according to Al-Jazeera.

As Christians, we are to care for global issues, and there are many elections and events coming up later this year in plenty of other countries as well. So, we have some tips from our Reverend Abigail at St John’s Church, who is of Nigerian heritage, on tips for how to pray for upcoming elections.

1. Pray that God will intervene

Pray that God will intervene in the elections and that his Sovereign will comes to pass. There are many scriptures that see God intervening in times of unrest socially and even politically. With the appointing of people to positions of power – from King David (1 Samuel 16) to even Saul's conversion to Christianity (Acts 9) after previously being a persecutor of Christians. Regardless of what the situation looks like, God is able to intervene and so we should push to pray for this.

2. Pray that God will speak to the hearts of those in power

One of the ways that God can intervene is by speaking to the hearts of those in power. In 1 Samuel 16, God spoke to Samuel and told him that He chose David to become King (1 Samuel 16: 1). To be a good leader of a nation, you should be compassionate towards people. Otherwise, it leaves room for greed and power to dominate in leadership. So praying for compassionate hearts among those who are in leadership demonstrates hope for a compassionate government. Pray that God will direct the leaders on what to do and what not to do.

3. Lean on scriptures for help when praying

When praying about anything, it is always useful to have scriptures to lean on for support. As well as the aforementioned scriptures, here are some other scriptures you can lean on when praying about the upcoming elections in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere.

• Psalms 34:18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed - Psalms 34: 18
• Matthew 6:9-13 - The Lord's prayer - This structure can help when praying. Praying for God's kingdom to be done on earth as it is in heaven - vs10.
• Colossians 1:16–17 - "For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him, all things hold together."

God bless,

St John's Church Have a look at our January blog post here.