Pray for All, In the Middle of All

Over the years, I have seen sweet brothers and sisters in Christ (who I know follow God) be consumed by the news of the day and then lose touch with the heart of God regarding it. We can’t let the burden overtake us though, we must still engage with the burden.

We are called to engage in hard things like politics, business, education, and media. We are called to get our hands dirty. While we actively engage, we must also roll these big burdens onto God’s big, capable shoulders. It is a dichotomy that God orchestrates in the Kingdom – He puts us in the sandbox to play, but He is the one who is building the castles out of our weak and fragile designs.

We GET to pray. We get to be a partner in His story. It is so exciting that He lets us be a part. God has plans for America in His heart – just like He does for every nation on the earth.

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” – Psalm 33:10-12

Then we have the simple command of the Lord that we should pray for all in authority over us so that we might live a quiet and peaceful life.

After the Apostle Paul charges young Timothy, his spiritual son, to “wage the good warfare” he

writes this important passage for all of us:

“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.” – I Timothy 2:1-4

Have you been actively giving prayers of thanks?

In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. – 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Prayers and the “giving of thanks” for people in authority over us, whether it is our police officers, our mayors, our members of Congress, or our president, is a holy thing. God desires for them all to be saved and to “come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is His perfect will spelled out for us. When we pray and agree with the intercessions of God for our leaders – we are truly using the burden that God has given us for our nation in the way that it was intended.