We are RESPONSIBLE to PRAY for our LEADERS!
December
8 Bible Reading: 1 Timothy Chapters 1-3
We are RESPONSIBLE to PRAY for our LEADERS!
"Therefore I exhort first of all that
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all
men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:1-4)
Prayer moves
the hand that governs the world. Prayer is both a privilege and an obligation:
it is a privilege for us to have
audience with the Almighty God, and it is an obligation for we are debtors to all with reference to the good
news of salvation (Romans 1:14). Apostle Paul lists four aspects of prayer—supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks, which the Believer’s Bible Commentary has distinguished as follows:
- Supplication is the earnest pleading of specific
requests and needs.
- Prayers cover all kinds of our reverent approaches to God.
- Intercessions are those forms of petition in which
we address God on behalf of others.
- Giving of thanks describes prayer in which we
rehearse the grace and kindness of our Lord, and pour out our hearts in
gratitude to Him.
Thus, we
should be humble, worshipful, trustful, and thankful
when we pray. In the above passage, in particular Apostle Paul is exhorting his
spiritual son Timothy that he is responsible to pray for his leaders – whether political, government, spiritual,
work-related, etc. – anyone who is an authority figure. The reasons for
that are because authorities are ordained
of God (Rom. 13:1), and they are ministers
of God to us for good (Rom. 13:4).
This
instruction takes special meaning when we remember that Apostle Paul wrote this
letter in the days of Nero. The terrible persecutions which were inflicted on
the Christians by this wicked ruler did not affect the fact that Christians
should pray for their government leaders. The reason Apostle Paul gives is that
we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence (v. 2).
It is for our own good that our government should
be stable and that the country be preserved from revolution, civil war,
turmoil, and anarchy. We must pray for those who are in authority over us if we
wish to reap the benefits of good government, which is a prized gift from God
for the church’s welfare and advancement of the gospel. This prayer is good and
acceptable in the sight of God as well (v. 3).
