It is God that writes intercession upon men’s hearts, and when He stirs you to plead for those in authority, from the local council to the national government and the armed forces, you are partaking in that sacred work of which Samuel said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.” The Spirit helps our infirmities, for we know not what to pray for as we ought; but He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God, and by that same Spirit you may carry the weight of the nation’s burden with an agony like Jeremiah’s, as if the thirst of a perishing army or the misrule of magistrates were your very own.
You do well to remember that the Lord Jesus holds all authority in heaven and on earth; He is Master of all kings and of all politics, and there is no real cause for trembling when men of haughty mien and profound intellect set themselves against His government. He shall surely bring down the high tree and exalt the low. Yet this must not make us idle, Samuel, knowing Saul was rejected, did not cease to pray for Israel, but went to Bethlehem and anointed David. Even when the people clamoured for a king against God’s pattern, the prophet saw that to neglect intercession was to desert his office. And so with you: in Christ you are made a royal priesthood, and to withhold prayer for those in authority, whether they be wise or foolish, just or oppressive, is to sin against your calling.
Let your intercession be persistent; pursue it past all visible change, into the unseen realm where God’s counsels are settled. Pray that the military might walk on the King’s highway, for he who travels there is under angelic protection, but he who takes to the byroads of self-reliance or unrighteousness must protect himself and will surely meet with robbers. Plead that all who bear the sword would fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and when infidels and autocrats swagger in their brief authority, entreat the Lamb who is our Leader to put His hook in their nostril and bridle in their jaws, turning them as He wills.
Yet never forget that the Spirit’s intercession within the soul is only for the regenerate, those who are sons of God. Therefore, while you pray for the outward peace and justice of the nation, let your deepest cry be that those who govern and those who serve might be born from above. Until a man is made a saint, he cannot know the Spirit’s help, nor share in the intercession of Christ, who said, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.” So press on, pleading that the everlasting gospel would fly through every rank and regiment, that many might be sealed among the followers of the Lamb, and that thus our nation, under the protection of the Most High, might be a quiet habitation.