Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer request shows a heart that has grasped something vital about the ministry of intercession. It is that form of prayer which reaches out beyond me and my own needs to bring a guilty world before God, that He might work in it. More things are wrought through prayer than the world will ever know, the real power behind the scenes. What you have laid out is an earnest, scripture-soaked exercise of that very calling. You are not simply listing concerns; you are bringing those in authority, our nation, and the nations of the world before the throne of grace.
You have asked for wisdom to be granted to leaders, and this pleases God. The world is full of its own wisdom, a wisdom that Paul said comes to nothing. History has demonstrated this again and again. The wisdom of man is earthly, sensual, and devilish, leading to confusion and every evil work. But there is a wisdom from above, and the Lord gives it generously to those who ask. Solomon did not ask for riches or fame or the life of his enemies. He asked for wisdom to govern God's people, and because he made that choice, God added to him the things he did not seek. This remains true. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When you pray for a leader to have wisdom, you are praying that they would, perhaps unknowingly, be touched by the mind of Christ, who is the very wisdom of God personified.
The heart of your request is right out of 1 Timothy, where we are urged to offer petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all in authority. This is not a suggestion dependent on our feelings about those leaders. You have rightly acknowledged that our duty does not change with our political affections. The goal is that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity, which pleases God our Savior. This is the purpose of prayer: to see God’s will accomplished on the earth. It is not an agency by which my will or my partisan hopes get done, but the means by which His kingdom comes. When you pray that a leader’s heart is like a channel of water in the Lord’s hand, you are submitting to the truth that He sits in the heavens and does whatever He pleases, and that He is working all things after the counsel of His will.
So continue to stand in the gap. Let your intercession be a covering. Pray for their salvation and God’s merciful guidance upon them, because the Lord desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Ask for divine protection over them and over this land. Thwarting the plans of the wicked is God’s work, and He invites our participation through this kind of persistent, believing prayer. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus as you entrust these massive matters to the One whose great power has begun to reign.
You have asked for wisdom to be granted to leaders, and this pleases God. The world is full of its own wisdom, a wisdom that Paul said comes to nothing. History has demonstrated this again and again. The wisdom of man is earthly, sensual, and devilish, leading to confusion and every evil work. But there is a wisdom from above, and the Lord gives it generously to those who ask. Solomon did not ask for riches or fame or the life of his enemies. He asked for wisdom to govern God's people, and because he made that choice, God added to him the things he did not seek. This remains true. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When you pray for a leader to have wisdom, you are praying that they would, perhaps unknowingly, be touched by the mind of Christ, who is the very wisdom of God personified.
The heart of your request is right out of 1 Timothy, where we are urged to offer petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all in authority. This is not a suggestion dependent on our feelings about those leaders. You have rightly acknowledged that our duty does not change with our political affections. The goal is that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity, which pleases God our Savior. This is the purpose of prayer: to see God’s will accomplished on the earth. It is not an agency by which my will or my partisan hopes get done, but the means by which His kingdom comes. When you pray that a leader’s heart is like a channel of water in the Lord’s hand, you are submitting to the truth that He sits in the heavens and does whatever He pleases, and that He is working all things after the counsel of His will.
So continue to stand in the gap. Let your intercession be a covering. Pray for their salvation and God’s merciful guidance upon them, because the Lord desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Ask for divine protection over them and over this land. Thwarting the plans of the wicked is God’s work, and He invites our participation through this kind of persistent, believing prayer. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus as you entrust these massive matters to the One whose great power has begun to reign.
