Silas
Beloved of All
Your burden to pray for those in authority is right and biblical, and it is good to bring it before the Lord. Scripture urges that prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who hold authority, so that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in godliness and reverence, and so that the knowledge of God may go forth. That call includes leaders in your own nation and leaders throughout the world.
Prayer itself rests on relationship. The model Jesus gave begins with Father, and that word shows the foundation. When a person has come to God through Jesus Christ for forgiveness, the way is open to come as a child to a father whose ear is open to the cry of his children. Apart from that relationship there is only one prayer God seeks, the cry for mercy, God be merciful to me a sinner, which establishes the relationship and opens the door to all other prayer.
The purpose of prayer is not to get our own will done on earth, but to see Gods will and Gods kingdom accomplished. Prayer opens the door for God to do what He already desires to do, because He will not force His way against the will He has given to people. When our hearts are in harmony with His purposes, He is able to work in and through us.
That is why wisdom for leaders is so needed. There is a wisdom that is earthly, self seeking and confused, marked by envy and strife. And there is wisdom from above which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and willing to yield, full of mercy. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Like Solomon who asked not for riches or fame but for an understanding heart to govern well, we can ask God to give to those who lead a love for wisdom that is better than wealth, and to surround them with counsel that is godly and true. Pray that God would guard their lips, give them the tongue of the wise, keep them from bitterness and rivalry, and lead them to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
Government is ordained by God to preserve what is good and to restrain evil. When it fulfills that calling it serves the welfare of people, when it abandons it evil grows and in time destroys. So we pray that those in authority would fulfill that God given trust, protecting life, upholding what is good, and resisting what is harmful.
Your prayers also rightly look beyond one nation. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers, and we are to pray at all times in the Spirit. Pray that valleys would be lifted and mountains made low so the word of the Lord may have a straight course and the gospel may be proclaimed to all nations, for the earth is His and the nations are His inheritance. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, remembering that true peace comes only through the blood of the cross and reconciliation with God, and pray for the salvation of the Jewish people, that God would pour out grace and they would look upon the One who was pierced. Pray too that God would restrain false teaching, deception, persecution of believers and hatred of His people wherever it is found.
Continue also to pray for honest and orderly processes where leaders are chosen, for protection over those who serve in the armed forces, in law enforcement and fire service, and over those who provide medical care, and for all who are tasked with public safety.
Thank God for the leaders He has allowed to be in place, and keep laboring fervently in prayer as one who bears a burden for others. God hears the prayers of His children offered in the name of Jesus Christ and according to His will, and He uses those prayers to accomplish His purposes on the earth.
Prayer itself rests on relationship. The model Jesus gave begins with Father, and that word shows the foundation. When a person has come to God through Jesus Christ for forgiveness, the way is open to come as a child to a father whose ear is open to the cry of his children. Apart from that relationship there is only one prayer God seeks, the cry for mercy, God be merciful to me a sinner, which establishes the relationship and opens the door to all other prayer.
The purpose of prayer is not to get our own will done on earth, but to see Gods will and Gods kingdom accomplished. Prayer opens the door for God to do what He already desires to do, because He will not force His way against the will He has given to people. When our hearts are in harmony with His purposes, He is able to work in and through us.
That is why wisdom for leaders is so needed. There is a wisdom that is earthly, self seeking and confused, marked by envy and strife. And there is wisdom from above which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and willing to yield, full of mercy. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Like Solomon who asked not for riches or fame but for an understanding heart to govern well, we can ask God to give to those who lead a love for wisdom that is better than wealth, and to surround them with counsel that is godly and true. Pray that God would guard their lips, give them the tongue of the wise, keep them from bitterness and rivalry, and lead them to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
Government is ordained by God to preserve what is good and to restrain evil. When it fulfills that calling it serves the welfare of people, when it abandons it evil grows and in time destroys. So we pray that those in authority would fulfill that God given trust, protecting life, upholding what is good, and resisting what is harmful.
Your prayers also rightly look beyond one nation. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers, and we are to pray at all times in the Spirit. Pray that valleys would be lifted and mountains made low so the word of the Lord may have a straight course and the gospel may be proclaimed to all nations, for the earth is His and the nations are His inheritance. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, remembering that true peace comes only through the blood of the cross and reconciliation with God, and pray for the salvation of the Jewish people, that God would pour out grace and they would look upon the One who was pierced. Pray too that God would restrain false teaching, deception, persecution of believers and hatred of His people wherever it is found.
Continue also to pray for honest and orderly processes where leaders are chosen, for protection over those who serve in the armed forces, in law enforcement and fire service, and over those who provide medical care, and for all who are tasked with public safety.
Thank God for the leaders He has allowed to be in place, and keep laboring fervently in prayer as one who bears a burden for others. God hears the prayers of His children offered in the name of Jesus Christ and according to His will, and He uses those prayers to accomplish His purposes on the earth.
