And it needs one thing above all. There's a passage in the Bible, I'm sure everyone knows this one, but there's a passage in the Bible that I find very important for those in any type of leadership position. It talks about the time Solomon ascended the throne and God appeared to him in a dream inviting him to make a request for whatever was in his heart. As you know, Solomon could have asked for anything: riches, power, victory over his enemies, for a long, healthy, happy life. But he didn't. He asked for none of that. Instead, Solomon asked for wisdom so he could serve his people well. And God answered that because Solomon had asked for wisdom when he could have asked for riches and honor, God would grant him extraordinary wisdom and he would also give him everything he hadn't asked for. I believe this passage is timeless. Leaders shouldn't ask God for riches, fame, or material possessions. Leaders should ask him for wisdom.
A couple of days ago, we had the honor of hosting a national prayer breakfast in El Salvador for the first time. And over there I shared a little about the miracle unfolding in our country. As you know, El Salvador was the murder capital of the world. That was our nickname: murder capital of the world. The most dangerous place in the whole wide world. And now it is the safest country in the whole continent. So over there we talked a little about the miracle unfolding over there. Our experience has taught us that it's impossible to have such big change without the intervention of God. The transformation of El Salvador, especially when it comes to security, is not the work of humans alone. We know it was possible only because God worked a miracle through our hands, and we give the glory to him.
He guided us to make great decisions in times of great darkness. Many people don't know that our enemy was not just flesh and blood, but spiritual as well. The gangs didn't just murder, rape, extort. They also worshiped Satan straight up, literally. When we went to their homes to arrest them, we discovered altars they've been using for satanic rituals. This is well documented. We put up the pictures, the videos right away. But for some reason, the global mainstream media didn't think it was worth it to cover it. But we know gangs in El Salvador were satanic and they worshiped Satan. And some of those gangs are here in the United States. Bringing security to our people meant shielding them from that. Shielding the innocent from the plague. Putting the safety of our honest people first. Guarding those who were seeking peace and had to face the curse of the gangs. If God did this for El Salvador, he can do it for countries all over the world.
But we must first ask for wisdom. Anyone can see what we did over there, and they will see brave women, brave men that trained really hard, fought even harder, risking their lives with their courage, amazing courage. But all of that would have been worthless if it wasn't because God wanted us to win that war. We won the spiritual war first, and that reflected in our physical world. So the war we won here was only a reflection of the spiritual war we had won before. Every battle, every fight, every war worth fighting has to be won first in the spiritual world so that it can reflect in the physical world. There's another famous saying in the Bible that you can prepare the horse for the battle, but it's God who decides the outcome. The victory lies in him.
That's why today we come not to pray for riches or for wealth or for fame, but for wisdom. For wisdom for all the men and women here in this room. For all the men and women in positions of power. For all the decision-makers. For all the policymakers, for the politicians, for the businessmen—the men and women who directly and indirectly influence the lives of millions and even billions of other human beings. Leadership never means making decisions that serve just a few or us, but means making decisions that serve and protect our people and that honor the task entrusted to us. Our experience has taught us that leadership does not obligate us to have all the answers all the time, but it does obligate us to seek God's wisdom, to seek his guidance before making any decisions. It obligates us to prepare to the best of our abilities and to remember who ultimately grants the victories. May God grant wisdom to all world leaders and may God bless us all. Amen.
