Silas
Beloved of All
Your commitment to pray for those in authority is right and pleasing to God. Scripture urges that petitions, prayers and thanksgiving be made for all people and for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in godliness and reverence, and so that the way may be made straight for the word of the Lord to go out to all nations. God is the one who ordains authority, and we can thank Him for that order and then ask Him to give wisdom, character and protection to those who lead. We pray that He would set a guard over their lips and give them the tongue of the wise, that they would be surrounded by godly counsel, that they would do justly and love mercy and walk humbly with Him, and that their leadership would promote righteousness and unity rather than bitterness and rivalry.
We join you in praying for integrity in public life and for honest processes where people choose their leaders. We ask God to restrain every form of deception, interference and threat, whether through technology or intimidation, and to protect both those who serve in public office and those who protect and serve the community, including those in government service, the armed forces, law enforcement, fire and rescue, and medical work. We ask for safety for them and for the people they serve, and for wisdom and restraint in difficult decisions.
We also join you in praying for the peace of Jerusalem. In Scripture Jerusalem is the place of the thrones of judgment, the center of God's purposes for His people, and there has long been a deep love for that city planted in the hearts of those who know His word. We are commanded to pray for its peace, and we understand that real and lasting peace only comes through the blood of the cross. Through Jesus we have peace with God and reconciliation, and we pray that many there and everywhere would come to know that grace. Before we can know the peace of God we must first receive the grace of God, and only through that grace do we stand. Our heart's desire, like Paul's, is that Israel might be saved. Even now there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and we pray for the salvation of Jewish people everywhere, that the promises God made would be fulfilled and that the Spirit of grace would be poured out so that many would look to the Messiah and call upon Him. We pray too for the future day when the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, when the nations will come to learn His ways and walk in His paths.
We pray also for unity among those who belong to Christ. Jesus prayed that His people would be one so that the world might believe that the Father sent Him, and division among believers wounds that witness. We ask God to guard His church from the enemy's plans to divide and to help us love one another, for the fruit of the Spirit is love and the mark of that love is joy. Prayer itself is simply consenting to what God already desires to do, opening the door for Him to accomplish His will, and we need that unity if the gospel is to go forward with power and not merely in words.
We remember that our struggle is not only against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers at work behind what we see. The prophet Daniel was told that his words were heard from the first day he set his heart to understand and humble himself before God, even though unseen opposition delayed the answer. In the same way we pray for heavenly intelligence and protection for leaders and for ordinary people, and for the silencing of false teaching and deception that leads many astray.
We pray for the welfare of the place where you live, as God told His people to seek the welfare of the city where He had placed them and to pray to the Lord on its behalf. We ask the Holy Spirit to convict neighbors, students, teachers, workers, families and local leaders of sin and righteousness and judgment, to draw them to the Son, and to grant saving faith as a gift through hearing the word. We ask for a wall of protection around your community and that God would keep His people from evil while they remain in the world to bear witness.
We thank God for daily provision and ask Him to give daily bread and a competent portion of the good things of life with contentment and godliness. We ask Him to restore what has been lost, to make glad those who have known affliction, and to form in us the fruit of His Spirit, especially love, joy and peace, with a cheerful heart that brings health. He has promised to heal those He has torn and to bind up those He has smitten, and to give a double portion of joy instead of shame to those who turn to Him.
We remember those who suffer for the name of Jesus, as the book of Acts shows was true from the beginning. There is a vast difference between the tribulation that the church faces in this world for His sake and the great tribulation that will come upon the world after God has removed His people. God has not set aside His purposes for Israel, whom the prophets liken to a vine that He planted and tended to bear fruit for Him, and the church has not replaced that purpose. We pray for those now in chains for their faith, for relief and release, for courage, and that the earth would help to swallow up the flood of false doctrine, persecution and hatred directed against both Christians and the Jewish people in many nations.
We encourage you to continue steadfastly in prayer, knowing that the effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, and that when the sick call upon the elders and are anointed in the name of the Lord, the prayer of faith saves the sick. We give thanks for you and make mention of you in prayer, asking God to count you worthy of His calling and to fulfill every good purpose with power, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. May your prayers be aligned with His will, and may His kingdom come and His will be done, in the name of Jesus through whom we have access to the Father and in whose name alone we are saved.
We join you in praying for integrity in public life and for honest processes where people choose their leaders. We ask God to restrain every form of deception, interference and threat, whether through technology or intimidation, and to protect both those who serve in public office and those who protect and serve the community, including those in government service, the armed forces, law enforcement, fire and rescue, and medical work. We ask for safety for them and for the people they serve, and for wisdom and restraint in difficult decisions.
We also join you in praying for the peace of Jerusalem. In Scripture Jerusalem is the place of the thrones of judgment, the center of God's purposes for His people, and there has long been a deep love for that city planted in the hearts of those who know His word. We are commanded to pray for its peace, and we understand that real and lasting peace only comes through the blood of the cross. Through Jesus we have peace with God and reconciliation, and we pray that many there and everywhere would come to know that grace. Before we can know the peace of God we must first receive the grace of God, and only through that grace do we stand. Our heart's desire, like Paul's, is that Israel might be saved. Even now there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and we pray for the salvation of Jewish people everywhere, that the promises God made would be fulfilled and that the Spirit of grace would be poured out so that many would look to the Messiah and call upon Him. We pray too for the future day when the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, when the nations will come to learn His ways and walk in His paths.
We pray also for unity among those who belong to Christ. Jesus prayed that His people would be one so that the world might believe that the Father sent Him, and division among believers wounds that witness. We ask God to guard His church from the enemy's plans to divide and to help us love one another, for the fruit of the Spirit is love and the mark of that love is joy. Prayer itself is simply consenting to what God already desires to do, opening the door for Him to accomplish His will, and we need that unity if the gospel is to go forward with power and not merely in words.
We remember that our struggle is not only against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers at work behind what we see. The prophet Daniel was told that his words were heard from the first day he set his heart to understand and humble himself before God, even though unseen opposition delayed the answer. In the same way we pray for heavenly intelligence and protection for leaders and for ordinary people, and for the silencing of false teaching and deception that leads many astray.
We pray for the welfare of the place where you live, as God told His people to seek the welfare of the city where He had placed them and to pray to the Lord on its behalf. We ask the Holy Spirit to convict neighbors, students, teachers, workers, families and local leaders of sin and righteousness and judgment, to draw them to the Son, and to grant saving faith as a gift through hearing the word. We ask for a wall of protection around your community and that God would keep His people from evil while they remain in the world to bear witness.
We thank God for daily provision and ask Him to give daily bread and a competent portion of the good things of life with contentment and godliness. We ask Him to restore what has been lost, to make glad those who have known affliction, and to form in us the fruit of His Spirit, especially love, joy and peace, with a cheerful heart that brings health. He has promised to heal those He has torn and to bind up those He has smitten, and to give a double portion of joy instead of shame to those who turn to Him.
We remember those who suffer for the name of Jesus, as the book of Acts shows was true from the beginning. There is a vast difference between the tribulation that the church faces in this world for His sake and the great tribulation that will come upon the world after God has removed His people. God has not set aside His purposes for Israel, whom the prophets liken to a vine that He planted and tended to bear fruit for Him, and the church has not replaced that purpose. We pray for those now in chains for their faith, for relief and release, for courage, and that the earth would help to swallow up the flood of false doctrine, persecution and hatred directed against both Christians and the Jewish people in many nations.
We encourage you to continue steadfastly in prayer, knowing that the effective prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much, and that when the sick call upon the elders and are anointed in the name of the Lord, the prayer of faith saves the sick. We give thanks for you and make mention of you in prayer, asking God to count you worthy of His calling and to fulfill every good purpose with power, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. May your prayers be aligned with His will, and may His kingdom come and His will be done, in the name of Jesus through whom we have access to the Father and in whose name alone we are saved.
