Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a true biblical burden and it is right to bring it before the Lord in this way. Scripture shows that God is sovereign over the nations. He has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, and the nations together are as a drop in a bucket and as dust on the scales before Him. When His hand is stretched out over the nations, no one can turn it back, and like a potter with clay He has the right and the power to direct the affairs of men according to His wise purpose.
At the same time we must not blame God for the evil that fills the world. God has given man free choice, and men by that choice can elect evil to rule over them and can choose immoral and violent leaders. When people persist over and over against God, He may at last confirm them in the choice they have made and allow their hearts to be hardened in it. That is why we cannot presume upon His patience. Many misinterpret His kindness and longsuffering as approval, but it is not. Though a sinner may do evil many times and his days are prolonged, God sees and He will bring every work into judgment. The earth is ripening for judgment, and the present delay is the day of grace, the acceptable time of salvation.
Because of this, the call to intercession is urgent. We are taught to move from our own petitions to intercession for others, for the witness of the church, for the community, for the nation, and especially for all who are in authority, that God would restrain evil, grant honesty and justice, and above all bring salvation. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but accurate weights are His delight, and it is right to pray for truthfulness in every sphere, including elections and the dealings of nations.
God is able to intercept evil plans. As He revealed the plans of the king of Syria to Elisha and warned David of the evil intended against him, so He is able still to uncover hidden counsel and to restrain the spiritual powers that stir up strife and retaliation. The opposition described in Daniel, where the answer to prayer was withstood, reminds us that there is a real spiritual conflict, and that praise and worship, along with steadfast prayer, are part of how God drives back darkness. In His mercy He can lead leaders away from temptation and deliver them from evil, for we are not ignorant of the schemes of the enemy, who is a murderer and a liar from the beginning. Our part is not to return evil for evil, but to follow what is good, to support the weak, to be patient with all, and to hate what is evil while clinging to what is good.
We pray with confidence because Jesus Christ has already borne the curse for sin. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, and Christ became a curse for us to provide salvation for all who believe. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone, and through suffering He was made the complete captain of our salvation. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, and He now ever lives to make intercession for His people, and the Holy Spirit Himself searches the heart and intercedes according to the will of God. As His royal priesthood we imitate Him when we intercede, and we do the works He promised as we ask in His name and according to His word.
So we join you in confessing our own sins and the sins of our nation, as Daniel did, and in asking the Lord to spoil the plans of the evil one so that only His will stands. We thank Him that He has already given authority to tread on the power of the enemy, yet we rejoice even more that our names are written in heaven and that we have not been appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God and whose name is salvation itself. While the full binding of the adversary awaits the future day when he will be shown to be fallen, we ask even now for a measure of restraint by the great chain of God's power, and we trust His guiding hand to shape circumstances for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
May the Lord keep you steadfast in prayer, trusting not in your own righteousness but in His, abounding in hope as you look for His salvation to be revealed and as you help others to find that same grace while the door of grace remains open.
At the same time we must not blame God for the evil that fills the world. God has given man free choice, and men by that choice can elect evil to rule over them and can choose immoral and violent leaders. When people persist over and over against God, He may at last confirm them in the choice they have made and allow their hearts to be hardened in it. That is why we cannot presume upon His patience. Many misinterpret His kindness and longsuffering as approval, but it is not. Though a sinner may do evil many times and his days are prolonged, God sees and He will bring every work into judgment. The earth is ripening for judgment, and the present delay is the day of grace, the acceptable time of salvation.
Because of this, the call to intercession is urgent. We are taught to move from our own petitions to intercession for others, for the witness of the church, for the community, for the nation, and especially for all who are in authority, that God would restrain evil, grant honesty and justice, and above all bring salvation. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but accurate weights are His delight, and it is right to pray for truthfulness in every sphere, including elections and the dealings of nations.
God is able to intercept evil plans. As He revealed the plans of the king of Syria to Elisha and warned David of the evil intended against him, so He is able still to uncover hidden counsel and to restrain the spiritual powers that stir up strife and retaliation. The opposition described in Daniel, where the answer to prayer was withstood, reminds us that there is a real spiritual conflict, and that praise and worship, along with steadfast prayer, are part of how God drives back darkness. In His mercy He can lead leaders away from temptation and deliver them from evil, for we are not ignorant of the schemes of the enemy, who is a murderer and a liar from the beginning. Our part is not to return evil for evil, but to follow what is good, to support the weak, to be patient with all, and to hate what is evil while clinging to what is good.
We pray with confidence because Jesus Christ has already borne the curse for sin. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, and Christ became a curse for us to provide salvation for all who believe. He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone, and through suffering He was made the complete captain of our salvation. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, and He now ever lives to make intercession for His people, and the Holy Spirit Himself searches the heart and intercedes according to the will of God. As His royal priesthood we imitate Him when we intercede, and we do the works He promised as we ask in His name and according to His word.
So we join you in confessing our own sins and the sins of our nation, as Daniel did, and in asking the Lord to spoil the plans of the evil one so that only His will stands. We thank Him that He has already given authority to tread on the power of the enemy, yet we rejoice even more that our names are written in heaven and that we have not been appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God and whose name is salvation itself. While the full binding of the adversary awaits the future day when he will be shown to be fallen, we ask even now for a measure of restraint by the great chain of God's power, and we trust His guiding hand to shape circumstances for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
May the Lord keep you steadfast in prayer, trusting not in your own righteousness but in His, abounding in hope as you look for His salvation to be revealed and as you help others to find that same grace while the door of grace remains open.
