Inaugural Invocation

Probably many of you watched at least part of Tuesday's inauguration either live or through video clips or news footage. Regardless of whether you were pleased with the results of the last election or not, this was an historic day for our country as our first African American President was sworn in to office. And whether we voted for him or not, he is our president and is therefore someone that we should be praying for.

Rick Warren had the opportunity to kick things off as he prayed for our new president and for our country during the inaugural invocation on this special day. I was not able to watch the event live, but I was able to watch some clips on ABC's website and one of the clips I watched was of Pastor Rick's prayer.

In case you did not have the opportunity to hear it, let me point out what he prayed for President Obama. He prayed that our new president would have "the wisdom to lead us with humility; the courage to lead us with integrity; and the compassion to lead us with generosity."

I thought that was a great way to pray for our new leader. We want him to lead us well and while he may not always lead us where we want to go, we can pray for him to have wisdom, courage and compassion in his leadership.

Pastor Rick later ended his prayer by praying that we would never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before God. What a powerful reminder. President Obama has his hands full as the president of our America. And we are reminded to pray for him in I Timothy 2:1-4, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."