“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Since Christ died for all, God is for the flourishing of true Christianity, unto reaching out unto all for whom Christ died. 1 Timothy 2:6 Thus, God is well pleased by our prayers for our rulers, so that they might do those things that will be favorable towards Christians living a quiet and peaceable life. 1 Timothy 2:3
~We pray for God to give us health and opportunity to work and provide for our own (areas we have no real power over)
~We pray for deliverance from tragedies (things happening beyond our control)
~We pray for deliverance from temptations (Satan’s power, greater than our own)
~We pray for God to keep us, to guide us, to enable us, and a host of other things, for we know “it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps”
But God wants us to see how important it is for us to pray for our social and political climate that will permit us to live as Christians, in order to get the gospel out to all men. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to Timothy, that this needs to be done “first of all.” 1 Timothy 2:1
God is well pleased when we mature in our thinking to the point where our prayers embrace His purposes as supreme above all else, 1 Timothy 2:3. Through lack of maturity, one’s prayer can be no more than the lusts of the flesh, with selfishness as the objective.
ON WHAT TRACK ARE OUR PRAYERS? Are they in pursuit of really living for God? Are they minded for God’s will to be done in our decisions? Are they fostered by the wisdom that one’s own personal interests will best be served, by first seeking to serve God? Matthew 6:33 God sees and responds to the objective of our prayers, in determining how He answers our prayers. The secret to answered prayer is to want what God wants us to want, to ask for what God sees we need, and to desire to reach what God would have us to attain.
We need to counter the mystery of iniquity, the anti-christ tides, with real and fervent prayers for our leaders not to cave in to those things which oppose Christianity.
SHARING
