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."
We are to realize that the hearts of our leaders are in God’s hands.
Proverbs 21:1 "The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it whither so ever he will."
I believe this is seen in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, the 1st world ruler at the time, the KING OF Babylon.
God made a believer out him fast.
Dan. 4:28All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
29At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
30The king spake, and said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?”
31While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; “The kingdom is departed from thee. 32And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times* shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”
33The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
34And at the end of the days “I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? 36At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.
37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment:* and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”
Ezra 6:21-22 "… The children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. For the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel."
WE CERTAINLY NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR PRESIDENT~
George Washington our first President said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”
Abraham Lincoln said, I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day. -
Solomon said in, I Kings 3:7-9 "And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"
Lets pray for our President that God will give him wisdom and discernment in every decision he makes. Pray that God will give the President all the appropriate knowledge needed to lead our nation by sound biblical principles.
Some are calling the current Iraqi situation the most serious risk to our national security since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lets pray for the President as he leads our nation through this crisis.
Psalms 33:16 "There is NO king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength."
WE NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY, AMERICA.~
Our nation was war-torn and weary in the midst of the Civil War, and victory in the long struggle was anything but certain when the President received a resolution asking him to declare a national day of prayer. Here is part of his response:
"We have forgotten the gracious hand, which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us." With those words, President Abraham Lincoln called on all Americans to turn to God in prayer for a quick outcome to the Civil War
II Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Prayer is social energy. Prayer is public good. Prayer shapes more of our nation’s life than is formed by legislation. The main reason that we have not collapsed into National chouse is due more to prayer than to the police.
The single most important action contributing to whatever health and strength there is in our land is prayer.
Proverbs 11:11 "By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked."
