Praying For The President And America

PRAYING FOR THE PRESIDENT AND AMERICA

Today we’re going to talk for a little while on praying for our president and other leaders of our country & also for our country.

Let me say that the king at the time Paul wrote this epistle was Nero, who was an unbeliever and Paul specifically told his readers to pray for him.

And that the focus of their request in prayer be not only for their own peace and safety, but also for the king’s salvation (v. 4).

There are a lot of people, who will not allow us to speak to them about God, but they cannot stop us from speaking to God about them.

I Timothy 2:1-4 1I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The Bible teaches that in the last days before Christ’s calls out His Church, the world would become more & more dangerous with each passing day, perilous times Paul calls it, in 2nd timothy 3: 1.

This is a perfect description of the time in which we are now living. It is during times like these that we certainly need to become people of prayer – prayer warriors. We are to pray for our needs and the church’s needs but our prayers are to extend far beyond the walls of our church. The call to prayer for our leaders and our nation is clear from the Bible.

We hear prayer request like this every time prayer request are given in our churches.

We also always want to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as it is a command in the Bible.

PS.122: 6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

~ WE ARE TO BE INTERCESSORS FOR ALL MEN.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.”

There are four Kinds of Prayers that we are called to offer on behalf of others.

1. Suppli *cations – that is, focusing upon specific needs of others and carrying that need to God with a sense of urgency.

2. Prayers – set times of prayer when we pray for others in general.

3. Intercessions – to pray specifically on behalf of an individual, standing in the gap before God on behalf of others seeking God’s mercy and grace for them.

#4. Thanksgiving – that is, thanking God for hearing our prayers of faith in anticipation of what He is going to do in the life of others and gratitude for what He has done in the past.

Ezekiel 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none."

~~ One man said, “To bow our heads in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”

WE ARE TO INTERCEDE IN PARTICULAR FOR THOSE IN AUTHORITY.

A. Not only are we to pray for all men in general but also as our text says, we are to pray specifically “for kings, and for all that are in authority” (I Timothy 2:2)

B. When Paul instructed Timothy to teach the church to pray for kings and political leaders Nero was on the throne in Rome.

Nero having burned Rome in 64 A.D. blamed Christians for the fire and had set out on a campaign of brutal persecution against Christians.

I suppose that praying for Nero & people like him, didn’t set well with many Christians of that day.

The very thought of praying for them had to be difficult for many.

This means that we are to pray for them:

no matter how good or bad they are-

no matter what political party they belong to (Democrat or Republican)

no matter whether they are conservative or liberal

no matter how moral or immoral they may be

no matter how just or unjust they might be

We should pray for those in authority because God put them there.

Those in authority are there by the will of God and will remove them as He sees fit to accomplish His ultimate plan.

Daniel 2:21 "And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:"

Romans 13:1 "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."