The Supreme Court of the United States needs our continued prayers. Not only because they are deciding whether to hear a critical case about the federal mandates that required military personnel to take the COVID-19 vaccine but also because they have a slate full of weighty cases as they return from winter break.

Their caseload includes:

• the issue of whether the First Amendment protects social media platforms’ handling of user content;
• a lawsuit restricting access to the abortion drug mifepristone;
• the question of whether or not bump stock devices are considered machine guns and whether the Biden administration ATF bypassed Congress to ban them;
• the issue of whether a government regulator threatening entities like the NRA with regulatory actions for doing business with a controversial speaker — allegedly because of the government’s own hostility to that speaker’s viewpoint — violates the First Amendment;
• the issue of whether a court of appeals correctly determined that the indictments in three cases stemming from the January 6 Capitol Hill events permissibly included a charge of corruptly obstructing, influencing, or impeding an official proceeding, based on each petitioner’s violent conduct on that date.

These cases potentially have far-reaching effects on free speech, gun rights, government powers, abortion, social media censorship, and government overreach.

They reflect our increasingly complex world in which law is slow to catch up to issues created by technology, rapidly evolving demographic diversity, social and economic tensions, and politically tinted interpretations of constitutional law.

The Supreme Court was established at the 1787 Constitutional Convention under Section One of Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. Two years later, the 1^st United States Congress established its organization and legal parameters. The Supreme Court decides on the constitutional validity of rulings issued by lower courts and disputes between citizens and states, between states themselves, and between citizens and the federal government.

With the U.S. population at over 333 million and ethnic and political divisions deepening, pressures on the Supreme Court have risen sharply. Of the 7,000 cases presented annually, it is able to hear and rule on no more than 100. The court has also come under increased criticism for allegedly having too much power, overstepping its boundaries, ruling too slowly, and letting political ideology color its rulings.

Because the court is essential to the checks-and-balances system built into our government, and because its rulings have such widespread impact on our lives as citizens, the justices need our prayers more than ever.

They must have wisdom and insight beyond human limits to interpret the Constitution and evaluate the merit of increasingly complex and volatile lawsuits — and all the more given that our Constitution is based on biblical principles.

Scripture exhorts us to pray for divine wisdom:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

Perhaps we don’t know where our current justices stand in their relationship with God. Nor do we know whether they make this their daily prayer, but we can do so on their behalf.

Here are some suggestions for prayer on behalf of SCOTUS and its justices:

1. Pray that they hear what God wants them to hear when oral arguments are presented.
2. Pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit in their chambers as they decide which cases to hear and consider rulings.
3. Pray that they seek God’s wisdom to justly, wisely, and accurately formulate their rulings and opinions.
4. Pray that the Holy Spirit guides their thinking so they may safeguard the biblical roots of our Constitution and the application of each of its articles and amendments to case law.
5. Pray for the spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being of the justices and their families, and for protection against anyone who wishes to do them harm:
   – Chief Justice John G. Roberts
   – Associate Justice Clarence Thomas
   – Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito
   – Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor
   – Associate Justice Elena Kagan
   – Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch
   – Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh
   – Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett
   – Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Believe with me that God is deeply interested in their salvation and personal relationship with Him, as well as with their thought process regarding American law, and that He wants to guide them according to His will and kingdom purposes. He is calling intercessors to stand watch over the Supreme Court and to pray according to His will.

Please post your prayer for the Supreme Court in the comments below.

Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual-growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the U.S. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and pastored his first church in Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. in 1986. He and his wife, Jennifer, live north of Atlanta. When not writing books, he blogs at www.deeperlifeblog.com and assists his wife as a content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo credit: Supreme Court.