Pray!

"First of all then I urge that [requests] prayers, petitions, and[expressions of thanksgiving] be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead tranquil and [calm] lives in all [reverence] and [godly dignity]. This is good and [pleasing] in the sight of God, our Savior." 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (NASB. Bracketed material is substituted from Mounces' Greek-English interlinear translation)

I read this passage in my daily Bible reading today and our Lord spoke to my heart as to how appropriate it is for the situation that His church is going through in our nation today.

We need to pray! Not just "say our prayers"  but to really get into our prayer closets and speak to our Lord, and let Him speak to us as well! Pardon my use of a well-worn cliché but prayer changes things. In a recent post, Repentance in an Unrepentant World, I spoke of  the necessity of our distancing ourselves morally and spiritually, albeit not physically from the world where we live. In today's post I want to emphasize the necessity of praying for our world.

I must admit at the outset, that I do not fully know how prayer works in this regard. Isn't God sovereign? Doesn't He already have planned what He is going to do? On the one hand the answer to these questions is "yes". On the other hand, as I pointed out in my book Going Forth in the Name, God invites our participation in what He is doing in our world. One of the larger means of our participation is prayer. Often, prayer changes us, and aligns us with God's will and plan, but there also appears to be examples in scripture that God changes His approach (or does it just seem that way) because of our prayers. I don't know the answer, but I do know through both my reading of the Bible and my own experience, that prayer is powerful.

Many of you are like me in that you have always been taught to "put feet to your prayers" as Frank Kellogg used to say. While I think that this is true, I have certainly been made aware that prayer, as a stand-alone activity is infinitely more powerful and important than we are willing to give it credit for.

One important thing that I noticed as I was studying the above passage is that the Greek text really had no hidden surprises. With the proper selection of the appropriate English words (hence the substitutions from Dr.s Mounce) we can completely understand what the scripture, through Paul, is trying to tell us.

First, we are instructed to pray "on behalf of all men" (emphasis added). Let us pray for our world, and for our nation. Let us pray for our enemies, and for all who spitefully use us and persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48). Let us also remember to pray for those who are doing good, and attempting to rightly serve our Lord in this world. Let us never forget to pray for our local congregations and for those close to us as well.

Next, we are instructed to pray for our leaders. In our country we do not have a monarchy (king Baraack and queen Hilary notwithstanding), but we certainly need to pray for "all who are in authority" regardless of whether we like them, or agree with them. They are our leaders, and the ones that God has put in authority (Romans 13:1-2). We are given a reason and a prayer objective for this in the above passage:

                "in order that we may lead tranquil and [calm] lives in all [reverence] and [godly dignity]."

In an earlier post I quoted Lou Dobbs as saying that we Christians were willing to vote for anyone in this upcoming election that "will not hate us". We need to be praying in this same spirit and toward this same objective, regardless of who the leader is, or whether or not they do in fact hate us, as many these days do.

Further, the scripture goes on to say that this action on our part is  "good and [pleasing] in the sight of God, our Savior." Does this mean that God is pleased that we pray for all of the above matters, or simply that we are praying ?  I would like to think both of these are correct.

Prayer and praying for our world and our leaders has always been of primary importance, and I feel that it will take on increasing importance in the days ahead.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.