God expects us to pray for each other. This daily devotional looks at how we are to pray for all people through a variety of methods of prayer.
Nuggets
- God requires us to pray for others in a variety of ways.
- It is our duty to pray for government officials.
- Our concern for others impacts our lives.
Devotions in How to Love Our Neighbors series
Isn’t it easy to forget to pray for others? We get so caught up in what is happening to us that we forget that there is a whole wide world out there that needs our prayers.
Paul instructed Timothy as to how he was to pray for others. We can learn from this as to how it creates love.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Prayer is a two-way communication with God in which we pour out our soul to Him.
Intercessory prayer is when we pray on behalf of others.
All Kinds of Prayer
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (I Tim. 2: 1-2 ESV)
God requires us to pray for others in a variety of ways.
We know that God rules this world through providence. Providence is God’s acts of meeting the needs of His creation.
We also believe that God judges us. Yes, there will be a final judgment day, but God judges us daily.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
God judges daily because there is sin in this world. Noel addressed that. He wrote, “He believes that the decay and calamities of successive empires have ever had a close and direct connection with their contempt of virtue and religion.”
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Because of this rampant disobedience, Paul told Timothy to pray for our neighbors. He doesn’t put any qualifiers on this. We are to pray for everyone.
As disciples, we have the duty to pray for others. I think we’ve watered down the exhort in the King James Version to urge here. Urging seems to imply that praying for others is a take-it-or-leave-it type of activity.
It really isn’t. It is God’s Will. He is the only One Who can provide what we are requesting.
Praying for others shows how much we love them. It shows our concern for their wants and needs.
Intercessory prayer helps us to focus on God rather than the emotions we are feeling toward others.
We are to use different types of prayer when we pray for others. “… supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.”
- We are to pray for others when they are facing trials so that they may grow in their relationships with God.
- We are to petition on behalf of others because we enjoy talking to God about others.
- We get the focus off ourselves.
- We show gratitude that God will supply to others what He has supplied to us.
Yep, they are interconnected, aren’t they? It is hard to distinguish among the first three. That doesn’t make the last one less important.
Several sermons said that these are public prayers. I don’t know how they pulled that out of this passage.
But isn’t it logical? Yes, we should pray for others in our secret prayer time. When we are approaching God on His throne to worship Him, others should be on our mind, also.
How much more will God answer our prayers when they are joint prayers? “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Mt. 18: 20 ESV).
To be thankful for salvation, we have to see the need for it. We must also see the benefits that we gain.
All Kinds of People
“for kings and all who are in high positions …” (I Tim. 2: 2 ESV)
It is our duty to pray for government officials.
God has given us people who have authority over us. Ever since Israel became a true nation when God brought them out of Egypt, there was someone who was the head.
At first it was Moses. Then it was Joshua. The people gripped for a king, so God gave them Saul. Then David came along.
Then it went downhill.
The point is from the time of Moses, God has given us leaders to have authority over us. He even gave Moses a whole structure in which to have others to help him lead.
We need to pray for our leaders. Paul doesn’t say only pray for them if we agree with their leadership methods and goals.
We are to pray for them.
No, praying for them to be replaced is not praying for them. That isn’t submitting to authority.
Foster gave us a good reminder. Our nations will be judged on its morals and righteousness. That will be determined by our degree of prayerfulness.
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That reinforces the need to elect godly men and women to be our leaders and representatives. When they allow secular laws to circumvent and break God’s laws, they are leading us away from God.
We all know what happened to the Israelites when their kings did that. They definitely need our prayers for their spiritual condition.
A Peaceful, Quiet Life
“… that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (I Tim. 2: 2 ESV)
Our concern for others impacts our lives.
We live a more peaceful, quiet life when we are concerned with the welfare of others. It ups our kindness and compassion for them.
Beecher felt this occurred because we put ourselves in their shoes when we pray for their welfare. We stop and think about what they are going through. We sympathize with the challenges they are facing.
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Praying for others helps us interact with them. It isn’t just watching our actions toward others.
We can launch a full-blown battle with someone through our thoughts. Praying for them helps us turn those thoughts around to good thoughts.
Bell had an interesting take on this. The sentence actually reads, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (I Tim. 2: 1-2 ESV).
This isn’t a list because, in this part of the verses, there is no and between positions and that. That means when Paul said “… for kings and all who are in high positions …” (I Tim. 2: 2 ESV) modifies “… be made for all people” (I Tim. 2: 1 ESV).
But that also means that praying for government officials is a requirement for a peaceful, quiet life. Bell wrote, “That as professing Christians we may give no just cause of offence to the government under which we live …”
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Making the Connections
I like what Bell had to say. He wrote, “If we are not praying subjects, we are not good Christians; for all good Christians are men of prayer, and no Christian can be satisfied with merely praying for himself, his family, or the Church of God.”
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How Do We Apply This?
- Be good disciples by being praying disciples.
- Don’t limit our prayers by picking and choosing who we pray for and to what extent.
- Pray for our leaders.
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Father God. You have called us to be praying disciples. Give us a heart to pray for others. Change us to make us more compassionate when we focus on the needs of others. Amen..
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think?
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