Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for the nations reflects the heart of Scripture and it is right to bring these burdens before the Lord.
God desires His house to be a house of prayer for all nations, as Isaiah and Jesus taught, and He calls us to pray for those in authority so that we may live peaceful lives and so that the gospel may go forward. That includes asking for wisdom and strength for leaders who carry heavy responsibilities in times of war, economic strain, terrorism, and growing hostility toward believers. It also includes asking God to grant repentance, to teach us to seek His face and to confess our sins and the sins of our people, as Daniel did, trusting the promise that when His people humble themselves and pray He hears and heals.
You are right to see this struggle as more than flesh and blood. Daniel was shown that behind earthly conflicts there are spiritual powers, and Paul reminds us that our battle is against principalities and that the weapons God gives are not merely human but mighty through Him to pull down strongholds. Leaders, pastors, evangelists and ordinary believers are only human, and they need that spiritual strength and the empowering of the Holy Spirit if the true gospel is to be lived and proclaimed.
It is important to keep the gospel itself clear as we pray. From the beginning some have come to trouble the church by perverting the good news and turning it into a message of earning favor by works, which is no good news at all. There is only one true gospel, the gospel of the grace of God through Jesus Christ, that salvation is through Him alone. We do not defend the failures and shameful history of religious institutions, we defend Christ and His simple gospel as taught by Him and His apostles. When that gospel is truly received, it bears fruit in lives and nations in a way that mere religion or laws never can, because righteousness cannot be legislated, it must come from a changed heart.
History also shows that God uses even persecution to advance His purposes. When believers were scattered by opposition, they went everywhere preaching Christ, and the church was spread. In the early centuries believers endured severe suffering under the empire, and even today many believers must meet quietly in homes under hostile governments. That pressure often binds believers together in love and faith, and God uses their faithful witness to carry the message further. Every believer in Christ is called a saint in Scripture, not only a special few, and each one has a part in this witness.
Your prayers for the peace of Jerusalem and for the salvation of Israel are biblical. We are to pray for that city and to share Paul's heart that his own people might be saved, looking to the day when God will fulfill His promises to them. Your prayers for more laborers for the harvest are also exactly what Jesus told us to ask, that the Lord would send workers into fields that are ripe but burdened by war, disaster and poverty, among every people and language.
Jesus said the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations before the end comes. Paul could already say in his day that the gospel was bearing fruit in all the world, and the early believers carried it far, even to distant lands. God will see that this word is fulfilled. Our calling is to be faithful in praying, watching and sharing wherever He places us, and to keep watch and pray that we may have strength to stand before the Son of Man.
So we join you in asking the Lord to calm wars, to diminish persecution and hatred, to protect His people who are targeted for their faith, to restrain evil plots, to grant free course to His word, and to awaken His people to prayer and bold witness. We ask Him to strengthen those who serve in hard places, to comfort the suffering, and to bring many to know Jesus Christ as Savior. All of God's promises are Yes in Christ, the faithful and true witness, and so we say Amen.
God desires His house to be a house of prayer for all nations, as Isaiah and Jesus taught, and He calls us to pray for those in authority so that we may live peaceful lives and so that the gospel may go forward. That includes asking for wisdom and strength for leaders who carry heavy responsibilities in times of war, economic strain, terrorism, and growing hostility toward believers. It also includes asking God to grant repentance, to teach us to seek His face and to confess our sins and the sins of our people, as Daniel did, trusting the promise that when His people humble themselves and pray He hears and heals.
You are right to see this struggle as more than flesh and blood. Daniel was shown that behind earthly conflicts there are spiritual powers, and Paul reminds us that our battle is against principalities and that the weapons God gives are not merely human but mighty through Him to pull down strongholds. Leaders, pastors, evangelists and ordinary believers are only human, and they need that spiritual strength and the empowering of the Holy Spirit if the true gospel is to be lived and proclaimed.
It is important to keep the gospel itself clear as we pray. From the beginning some have come to trouble the church by perverting the good news and turning it into a message of earning favor by works, which is no good news at all. There is only one true gospel, the gospel of the grace of God through Jesus Christ, that salvation is through Him alone. We do not defend the failures and shameful history of religious institutions, we defend Christ and His simple gospel as taught by Him and His apostles. When that gospel is truly received, it bears fruit in lives and nations in a way that mere religion or laws never can, because righteousness cannot be legislated, it must come from a changed heart.
History also shows that God uses even persecution to advance His purposes. When believers were scattered by opposition, they went everywhere preaching Christ, and the church was spread. In the early centuries believers endured severe suffering under the empire, and even today many believers must meet quietly in homes under hostile governments. That pressure often binds believers together in love and faith, and God uses their faithful witness to carry the message further. Every believer in Christ is called a saint in Scripture, not only a special few, and each one has a part in this witness.
Your prayers for the peace of Jerusalem and for the salvation of Israel are biblical. We are to pray for that city and to share Paul's heart that his own people might be saved, looking to the day when God will fulfill His promises to them. Your prayers for more laborers for the harvest are also exactly what Jesus told us to ask, that the Lord would send workers into fields that are ripe but burdened by war, disaster and poverty, among every people and language.
Jesus said the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations before the end comes. Paul could already say in his day that the gospel was bearing fruit in all the world, and the early believers carried it far, even to distant lands. God will see that this word is fulfilled. Our calling is to be faithful in praying, watching and sharing wherever He places us, and to keep watch and pray that we may have strength to stand before the Son of Man.
So we join you in asking the Lord to calm wars, to diminish persecution and hatred, to protect His people who are targeted for their faith, to restrain evil plots, to grant free course to His word, and to awaken His people to prayer and bold witness. We ask Him to strengthen those who serve in hard places, to comfort the suffering, and to bring many to know Jesus Christ as Savior. All of God's promises are Yes in Christ, the faithful and true witness, and so we say Amen.
