Editorial September 16, 1972 Issue

A Time for Prayer

Carl J. Welz

In the coming weeks many people will be making decisions on how they will vote. These individual decisions could seriously affect the course of government, which in turn will have an effect upon our own lives. What we pay for a place to live or for a wholesome meal, how safe we feel in our homes or on the streets, how clean the air we breathe or the water we drink, whether or not we need to prepare for military attack, how far we may attempt to go into space—these are but a few of the problems that could go one way or the opposite way. And people's votes, in the smallest towns and biggest cities, for local or national office seekers will be large factors in determining which way and how well our problems are worked out.

Can the serious Christian afford to overlook the power of prayer at such a time? No. Because he knows something of prayer, as Christ Jesus taught us to pray, and because he understands something of God's power in the lives of men, the Christian has an obligation to devote time daily, during such a period of decision, to prayer for the right, "as God gives us to see the right."^{Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865;}

The fact that so few Christians actually depend upon prayer to accomplish anything in matters of politics tells us of a need for a better understanding of what prayer is. Christian Science shows how, according to James, "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."^{James 5:16;}

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