Silas
Beloved of All
Your burden to pray for all people, and especially for those in authority, reflects exactly what Scripture urges us to do. We are called to offer prayers, petitions, intercession and thanksgiving for everyone, for rulers and all who bear responsibility, so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in devotion and dignity, which is good and pleasing to God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
That desire for peace points us to the need for wisdom. Scripture presents wisdom as calling out in the streets, inviting everyone to come and receive what she has prepared, like a banquet made ready for guests. Wisdom is more valuable than rubies, and nothing we might desire can compare with it. Its ways are pleasant and all its paths are peace, length of days is in one hand and riches and honor in the other. The beginning of that wisdom is the fear of the Lord, a reverent turning from evil and toward Him. Knowledge may give us facts, but wisdom teaches us how to live. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so to seek wisdom is to seek Him.
This matters so deeply for the concerns you carry. The wisdom of this world leads to strife and to wars, but the wisdom that comes from above is peaceable. God has made clear that the world's wisdom, even when it seems impressive, comes to nothing and cannot by itself lead anyone to know Him. True wisdom first brings peace with God, as He offers to reason with us and to make sins that are scarlet white as snow through the grace found in Christ. Until we know that grace we cannot know real peace, and without peace in our own hearts we cannot have peace with one another. Those who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
So we join you in praying first for salvation, for leaders and troops and civilians and for peoples of every tribe and tongue, that they would repent and believe and be brought from darkness to light. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for all nations, that God would raise up and set down according to His sovereign will, for He reigns and He works all things after the counsel of His will. He sits in the heavens and does as He pleases, and He can turn the heart of a ruler like a channel of water in His hand. He thwarts the plans of the wicked and works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We ask Him for humility and godly wisdom for all who govern and serve, that they would know what to say and how to say it, that they would protect the innocent and not place civilians in harm's way, that any necessary action would be restrained and precise and aimed only at what must be opposed, and that life would be preserved wherever possible. We pray for the fostering of honest and godly alliances among nations that love freedom, and for the weakening of alliances shaped by evil, false teaching and persecution. We pray for the preservation of freedom of speech and press, written, spoken and digital, so that the gospel of Jesus and all He commanded may go forth with freedom and clarity and make disciples among all nations.
We also pray for protection. We submit ourselves to God, to the authorities He has ordained, and to those who watch over our souls, and we put on the armor He provides. We ask for His loving kindness, truth and angelic help, for His ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation, and for the shelter promised to those who trust Him. Greater is Christ who is in us than any power in the world, and the spiritual opposition we face has already been overcome.
We bring all of this with thanksgiving, trusting that He hears when we pray according to His will, and asking that the peace of God which passes understanding will guard hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we continue to pray without ceasing.
That desire for peace points us to the need for wisdom. Scripture presents wisdom as calling out in the streets, inviting everyone to come and receive what she has prepared, like a banquet made ready for guests. Wisdom is more valuable than rubies, and nothing we might desire can compare with it. Its ways are pleasant and all its paths are peace, length of days is in one hand and riches and honor in the other. The beginning of that wisdom is the fear of the Lord, a reverent turning from evil and toward Him. Knowledge may give us facts, but wisdom teaches us how to live. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so to seek wisdom is to seek Him.
This matters so deeply for the concerns you carry. The wisdom of this world leads to strife and to wars, but the wisdom that comes from above is peaceable. God has made clear that the world's wisdom, even when it seems impressive, comes to nothing and cannot by itself lead anyone to know Him. True wisdom first brings peace with God, as He offers to reason with us and to make sins that are scarlet white as snow through the grace found in Christ. Until we know that grace we cannot know real peace, and without peace in our own hearts we cannot have peace with one another. Those who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
So we join you in praying first for salvation, for leaders and troops and civilians and for peoples of every tribe and tongue, that they would repent and believe and be brought from darkness to light. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for all nations, that God would raise up and set down according to His sovereign will, for He reigns and He works all things after the counsel of His will. He sits in the heavens and does as He pleases, and He can turn the heart of a ruler like a channel of water in His hand. He thwarts the plans of the wicked and works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We ask Him for humility and godly wisdom for all who govern and serve, that they would know what to say and how to say it, that they would protect the innocent and not place civilians in harm's way, that any necessary action would be restrained and precise and aimed only at what must be opposed, and that life would be preserved wherever possible. We pray for the fostering of honest and godly alliances among nations that love freedom, and for the weakening of alliances shaped by evil, false teaching and persecution. We pray for the preservation of freedom of speech and press, written, spoken and digital, so that the gospel of Jesus and all He commanded may go forth with freedom and clarity and make disciples among all nations.
We also pray for protection. We submit ourselves to God, to the authorities He has ordained, and to those who watch over our souls, and we put on the armor He provides. We ask for His loving kindness, truth and angelic help, for His ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation, and for the shelter promised to those who trust Him. Greater is Christ who is in us than any power in the world, and the spiritual opposition we face has already been overcome.
We bring all of this with thanksgiving, trusting that He hears when we pray according to His will, and asking that the peace of God which passes understanding will guard hearts and minds in Christ Jesus as we continue to pray without ceasing.
