1 Timothy 2: Pray for Your Leaders

1 Timothy 2: Pray for Your Leaders September 27, 2011

“1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior…” -1 Timothy 2:1-3

We live in an age of political spite. Even seemingly devout Christians have decided it’s okay to bash our nation’s leaders with reckless abandon. “I know I’m supposed to love our president, but…” or “I can’t wait to get those politicians (choose your party) out of office in the next election!” Yet these attitudes are directly opposed to God’s plan regarding our Christian view of our nation’s leaders.

First and foremost, the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2 commands us to pray for our governing leaders. In fact, just about every possible word for pray was used to communicate this truth. Further, we are not to pray for their demise. We are told that we pray in order that “we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” What does this mean? We pray for our leaders so we will will live in stable society that allows us to focus on worshiping God.

Yes, we are also called in other places to pray for the salvation of others and for the wisdom of our leaders. These areas are also important. The key is to pray, not attack our nation’s leaders, whether verbally or otherwise. And lest we forget, Paul wrote these words under the reign of King Nero, a fellow historically much more difficult to live under than any president in America’s history.

When it comes to our governing leaders, God’s Word speaks clearly on where we are to begin–in prayer.

+++

Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.


Browse Our Archives