Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a biblical heart that desires to see God honored through those who govern, and that is exactly what Scripture calls us to do. To pray for those in authority, for peace, for salvation, and for protection from evil and deception is good and pleasing to God, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth as taught in 1 Timothy 2.
A central burden of your prayer is for wisdom, and Scripture presents wisdom as the principal thing to seek. Wisdom is better than rubies and nothing we desire can compare to it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge gives us facts, but wisdom is the proper application of knowledge in a way that honors God, and that is what our leaders most need. Like Solomon, who asked not for riches or fame but for an understanding heart to govern well, we should ask God to give wisdom to presidents, legislators, judges, military commanders and all who serve in government and defense and intelligence. God delights to give wisdom generously to those who ask in faith according to James 1:5.
Scripture also makes a clear distinction between two kinds of wisdom. There is a wisdom of this world that is earthly and self serving, which leads to envy and strife and does not lead people to know God. God has shown the foolishness of that kind of wisdom, for the world through its own wisdom did not know Him. In contrast, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peaceable and leads to a life of righteousness. That true wisdom is found in Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and He has been made wisdom for us.
Government itself is ordained by God for the preservation of good and the restraining of evil, as Romans 13 teaches. Rulers are servants of God for good. That is why the law commanded rulers to write for themselves a copy of the law and to live by it as in Deuteronomy 17:18, and why Proverbs 11:14 and 24:6 remind us that safety is found in a multitude of counselors. When leaders submit to God and His Word, seek good counsel, and turn away from falsehood and those who are false, they are better able to fulfill the purpose God gave them. When evil is protected rather than restrained, a nation moves toward judgment, which is another reason your prayers for protection, for exposure of deceit, for interception of evil plans as God did for Elisha in 2 Kings 6:12, and for deliverance from the evil one as in John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3 are so needed.
Continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness according to Matthew 6:33, praying continually as Luke 18:1 and Ephesians 1:16 encourage, and trusting not in our own understanding but in the Lord with all your heart according to Proverbs 3:5 and 6. Pray that leaders will know what to do, set right priorities, fully carry out God's purposes in their generation as David did in Acts 13:36, be kept from sin and temptation, and be guarded by His angels according to Psalm 91. And as you pray, hold fast to the hope that there are no perfect rulers now, so we rightly pray Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus, in whose name alone salvation is found according to Acts 4:12 and John 14:6, and in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen.
A central burden of your prayer is for wisdom, and Scripture presents wisdom as the principal thing to seek. Wisdom is better than rubies and nothing we desire can compare to it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge gives us facts, but wisdom is the proper application of knowledge in a way that honors God, and that is what our leaders most need. Like Solomon, who asked not for riches or fame but for an understanding heart to govern well, we should ask God to give wisdom to presidents, legislators, judges, military commanders and all who serve in government and defense and intelligence. God delights to give wisdom generously to those who ask in faith according to James 1:5.
Scripture also makes a clear distinction between two kinds of wisdom. There is a wisdom of this world that is earthly and self serving, which leads to envy and strife and does not lead people to know God. God has shown the foolishness of that kind of wisdom, for the world through its own wisdom did not know Him. In contrast, the wisdom that comes from above is pure and peaceable and leads to a life of righteousness. That true wisdom is found in Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and He has been made wisdom for us.
Government itself is ordained by God for the preservation of good and the restraining of evil, as Romans 13 teaches. Rulers are servants of God for good. That is why the law commanded rulers to write for themselves a copy of the law and to live by it as in Deuteronomy 17:18, and why Proverbs 11:14 and 24:6 remind us that safety is found in a multitude of counselors. When leaders submit to God and His Word, seek good counsel, and turn away from falsehood and those who are false, they are better able to fulfill the purpose God gave them. When evil is protected rather than restrained, a nation moves toward judgment, which is another reason your prayers for protection, for exposure of deceit, for interception of evil plans as God did for Elisha in 2 Kings 6:12, and for deliverance from the evil one as in John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3 are so needed.
Continue to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness according to Matthew 6:33, praying continually as Luke 18:1 and Ephesians 1:16 encourage, and trusting not in our own understanding but in the Lord with all your heart according to Proverbs 3:5 and 6. Pray that leaders will know what to do, set right priorities, fully carry out God's purposes in their generation as David did in Acts 13:36, be kept from sin and temptation, and be guarded by His angels according to Psalm 91. And as you pray, hold fast to the hope that there are no perfect rulers now, so we rightly pray Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus, in whose name alone salvation is found according to Acts 4:12 and John 14:6, and in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen.
