Silas
Faithful Servant
You have brought before the Lord a rich, scripturally grounded plea for those in authority, and it echoes the very heart of our calling as believers. What you have prayed over presidents, pastors, parliaments, and all who hold power is exactly what Paul urged Timothy to set before the church: intercession for everyone, especially those in high places, so that the gospel may advance in quiet and peaceful surroundings. It is a good and acceptable offering in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to come to the knowledge of the truth.
We both know how easily human government turns inward, serving its own interests rather than the welfare of the people. But our confidence never rests in the character of a ruler or a congress. The same Lord who holds the waters in the hollow of His hand turns the hearts of kings wherever He wills. Every authority exists because He has allowed it, and He weaves even crooked lines into His perfect purpose. When you ask Him to thwart the plans of the wicked and to establish justice, you are praying in harmony with His revealed will. He promises to overrule evil and to work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Your prayer for the peace of the land and its people carries the same longing the psalmist poured out for Jerusalem. He called others to pray for her peace, to seek her prosperity, because of his love for the brethren and for the house of the Lord. So you, too, are storming the throne for the welfare of a place and a people precious to you, and that kind of prayer opens a channel for God’s saving purposes to flow. The deepest peace any nation can know is found only when its people, one by one, come to know the Prince of Peace. And that is why right at the center of your request you have anchored everything in the hope that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Yet we must remember that before we can experience the peace of God that guards our hearts, we first have to settle the matter of peace with God. That peace is never earned by our striving or by the righteousness of our prayers; it is a gift we receive when we stop working and start resting in the finished work of Jesus. Grace always comes before peace in the New Testament, because you cannot have the calm assurance of His presence until you know you are accepted entirely on the merits of Christ, not your own. He is our salvation, our Sabbath rest. When that reality sinks deep into your soul, the turbulent sea within you quiets, and you can intercede for others from a place of steady trust rather than anxious desperation.
So keep lifting up the men and women who hold sway over nations. Let your petitions be armored with faith and love, and let your mind be guarded by the helmet of the hope of salvation. Pray that the Lord would raise up leaders who act as channels of water in His hand, and pray that even those who are hostile to the gospel would find themselves hemmed in by His mercy. Remember that the One who is in you is greater than any power aligned against His kingdom. The outcome is not in doubt: the Lord God omnipotent reigns, and of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
Continue to speak His Word back to Him, for the knowledge of His salvation comes to us through the Scriptures. Let your tongue declare His righteousness, and let your soul live in the light of His commandments. As you do this, the voice of rejoicing will be heard in your own dwelling, no matter what unfolds on the world stage. He has not appointed you to wrath but to obtain full salvation through Jesus Christ, who died so that whether we wake or sleep we will live together with Him. That is the unshakeable peace that passes all understanding, and it is yours to rest in right now.
We both know how easily human government turns inward, serving its own interests rather than the welfare of the people. But our confidence never rests in the character of a ruler or a congress. The same Lord who holds the waters in the hollow of His hand turns the hearts of kings wherever He wills. Every authority exists because He has allowed it, and He weaves even crooked lines into His perfect purpose. When you ask Him to thwart the plans of the wicked and to establish justice, you are praying in harmony with His revealed will. He promises to overrule evil and to work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Your prayer for the peace of the land and its people carries the same longing the psalmist poured out for Jerusalem. He called others to pray for her peace, to seek her prosperity, because of his love for the brethren and for the house of the Lord. So you, too, are storming the throne for the welfare of a place and a people precious to you, and that kind of prayer opens a channel for God’s saving purposes to flow. The deepest peace any nation can know is found only when its people, one by one, come to know the Prince of Peace. And that is why right at the center of your request you have anchored everything in the hope that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Yet we must remember that before we can experience the peace of God that guards our hearts, we first have to settle the matter of peace with God. That peace is never earned by our striving or by the righteousness of our prayers; it is a gift we receive when we stop working and start resting in the finished work of Jesus. Grace always comes before peace in the New Testament, because you cannot have the calm assurance of His presence until you know you are accepted entirely on the merits of Christ, not your own. He is our salvation, our Sabbath rest. When that reality sinks deep into your soul, the turbulent sea within you quiets, and you can intercede for others from a place of steady trust rather than anxious desperation.
So keep lifting up the men and women who hold sway over nations. Let your petitions be armored with faith and love, and let your mind be guarded by the helmet of the hope of salvation. Pray that the Lord would raise up leaders who act as channels of water in His hand, and pray that even those who are hostile to the gospel would find themselves hemmed in by His mercy. Remember that the One who is in you is greater than any power aligned against His kingdom. The outcome is not in doubt: the Lord God omnipotent reigns, and of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
Continue to speak His Word back to Him, for the knowledge of His salvation comes to us through the Scriptures. Let your tongue declare His righteousness, and let your soul live in the light of His commandments. As you do this, the voice of rejoicing will be heard in your own dwelling, no matter what unfolds on the world stage. He has not appointed you to wrath but to obtain full salvation through Jesus Christ, who died so that whether we wake or sleep we will live together with Him. That is the unshakeable peace that passes all understanding, and it is yours to rest in right now.
