Mensa Otabil - Pray for Leaders

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We are in the New Testament, in First Timothy Chapter 2, and we’re talking about prayer. So let’s hear the reading:

«Therefore I exhort, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.»

I’m paying attention to verse two because I discussed verse one yesterday. A vital aspect of our prayer life is praying for the state, praying for civil authority, and we see that in the New Testament. We are encouraged not only to pray for the state but also to be committed to the state in areas like taxation and honoring the rule of law and the laws of our nation.

Now, you have to have the context within which Paul is writing. At the time Paul is writing this, Christianity is suffering a lot because Christians are being persecuted. The government didn’t like them; some people have been arrested. So the natural thing you might think to do is to pray against the civil authority. But he didn’t say that; he says we pray for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all reverence.

So that means our prayer commitment is not affected by how we are affected. We may not like what goes on in civil authority, but we have a commitment to pray for civil authority, not from a partisan political point of view but from a spiritual obligation to the nation that God has placed us in.

So why does Paul tell us to pray for authority? Because God establishes civil authority. Today we call them presidents, governors, or prime ministers, but God establishes them, and God uses them; they are instruments in God’s hands. There are things He wants to do in a nation, and He does it through the established governmental system, and that’s why we pray for the nation. Because we can’t all govern a nation, somebody or some group is entrusted with that. And if we want to live a peaceable life, those people better do the right thing by us, and that’s why we pray for them.

We also pray so that the Holy Spirit can influence what goes on in a nation. This doesn’t mean that the leaders even believe in God or believe in the Holy Spirit or respect the Holy Spirit, but God, throughout history, has been able to intervene in governments where the people were diametrically opposed to Him. Nebuchadnezzar was influenced by God, the Pharaohs of Egypt were influenced by God, King Abimelech of the Philistines was influenced by God, and all these people were godless but ended up doing the will of God. King Darius and King Cyrus were all influenced by God.

So when we’re praying for civil authority, it may not necessarily lead to the conversion of that authority, but Paul says it is so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. It would imply from this passage that the quality of life we live in a nation is also influenced by the prayers we pray for all the civil authority.

If you are in a country like Ghana, it means you’re praying for Parliament, praying for the cabinet, praying for the presidency, and praying for municipal chief executives, as well as praying for all kinds of corporate heads who make decisions that affect each one of us for better or for worse. Instead of leaving them to their own devices, we leave them in the hands of the Lord, so the Lord, who influences all things, will speak to them, will guide them, and will bring circumstances their way that will nudge them one way or the other. In their own will, they may not want to do that, but God has a way of nudging each one of us into His will, like a shepherd who is guiding his sheep, corralling us into the center of His will.

So Paul says when you pray, pray for all men; that is good. But pray also for those whose decisions affect you in all areas, including your parents, your bosses, and everybody whose decisions affect you so that you and I may lead a quiet and peaceable life. That’s why we pray for civil authority.

Let’s pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, thank You for the leaders of our world. Use them to work out Your purposes on Earth. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»