How I'm Thinking and Praying Through the 2026 Midterms

If you have a TV, a phone, or a 12-year-old, you've heard the noise. My son has been quoting the campaign ads back to me: "Ken Paxton protects child predators!" "James Talarico thinks God is non-binary!" Unless you live under a rock, you've heard them too.

I only point this out because my main concern isn't the noise. It's how we, as followers of Jesus, handle what feels like a pivotal vote. I'm not writing to tell you who to vote for. I'm writing as one of the pastors of The Door Church to show you how I'm thinking and praying through this election, to point us back to the Bible and to the true King, Jesus, and to equip you to vote your values and your conscience.

1. Jesus Is King, No Matter the Outcome

Whatever happens on November 3, Jesus is King, and nothing can shake his Kingdom. Hebrews 12:28 calls it "a kingdom that cannot be shaken." His name is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16), and no election changes that.

God is sovereign over every ruler. He sets them in place, and he turns their hearts:

"The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will." (Proverbs 21:1)

"He removes kings and sets up kings." (Daniel 2:21)

Scripture is full of questionable rulers that God still used for his purposes:

• Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, yet God said, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you" (Romans 9:17; Exodus 9:16).

• Cyrus was a pagan Persian king, yet God called him "his anointed" and used him to send the exiles home to rebuild (Isaiah 45:1; Ezra 1:1–4).

• Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death, yet Jesus told him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11).

• Nero was the Roman emperor when Paul wrote Romans 13, and he later persecuted the church. Paul still taught that governing authorities are "instituted by God."

God is in control. He is working his perfect will whether or not we can see it or understand it (Isaiah 55:8–9; Romans 8:28).

2. Your Vote Doesn't Make You a Christian

How you vote doesn't make you a Christian or not a Christian. What makes you a Christian is faith alone, in Christ alone.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Your vote is not a salvation issue. It isn't your vote that saves you. It's your belief in the finished work of Christ for you, a sinner (John 19:30; Romans 5:8). That means believers can land in different places on a ballot and still be brothers and sisters in Christ.

3. Your Vote Still Matters

Your vote doesn't save you, but it does matter. Christians should exercise their vote. We live in a great country where men and women have bled and died so that we could have a voice. When you vote, you honor those who sacrificed for your freedom, you let your voice be heard, and you can help shape society for the benefit of others.  

And whoever wins, we keep praying. Paul urges us to pray "for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way" (1 Timothy 2:1–2). 

4. A Biblical Framework for Government

God established government to restrain evil and promote good. Paul lays out its main role in Romans 13:

"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." (Romans 13:1).

"For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:3–4).

In short, government exists to protect its people, to commend what is good, and to execute justice against the wicked. Scripture also tells us that God himself determined the nations' "allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place" (Acts 17:26).

But government isn't meant to do everything. Caring for the poor, the widow, the orphan, and "the least of these" is the calling of citizens, and especially the church, in the name of Christ (James 1:27; Matthew 25:40). A lot of the time we complain about our government without looking in the mirror. Before we ask what Washington or Austin is doing, we need to ask ourselves: how am I loving the people in my own sphere of influence?

5. Where Scripture Is Clear

Government has increasingly overstepped its bounds into questions of morality: the definition of marriage, what is moral and immoral about sexuality, and the taking of unborn life. On these questions, the Bible is clear.

• Marriage is between one man and one woman. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Jesus affirms this in Matthew 19:4–6.

• God created us male and female. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27).

• Life is sacred from womb to tomb. "You knitted me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13). "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). And to the end of life: "Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you" (Isaiah 46:4). Every person bears the image of God (Genesis 9:6).

• Every person is created equal and deserves dignity, regardless of race or sex. God “made from one man every nation of mankind” (Acts 17:26), and men and women alike bear his image (Genesis 1:27).

There are many other issues to consider, but these are clear from Scripture. 

5. The Policy or the Person

This one is tough. Every candidate is a sinner, no matter who you vote for: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). But some politicians seem to, in Paul's words, "glory in their shame" (Philippians 3:19). Weighing a person's character against the policies they'll pursue is a hard decision sometimes.

Here's what I'd ask you to do. Pray, and ask God for discernment: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5). Then think hard about what your vote, your voice, is actually voting for.

Our Security Is in the King

Know this for certain: your security, and the security of the person in the voting booth next to you, is not decided on Election Day. It's decided by who they say Jesus is (Matthew 16:15–16).

So vote. Pray. Love your neighbor. And rest assured that we serve a King who rules and reigns, and our future is secure. Praise God!