Pray Patiently
Theme of the Week: How to Pray for Those in Power
Friday, November 14, 2008
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Key Bible Verse: Pray for all … in authority… . This … pleases God our Savior, for he wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Bonus Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-10, 14-15a
God seldom works in history and in political leaders as quickly as we would like. Praying for societal peace isn't an end in itself. [Today's Key Bible Verses] assert that the growth of God's kingdom is the goal. The early church endured centuries of persecution. But this was also the Pax Romana era, whose favorable conditions allowed the gospel to advance. By 311 A.D., the believers' faithful prayers for their rulers resulted in the emperor requesting their prayers!
The Cold War decades illustrate the importance of keeping a long-term perspective as we pray. Fear of a nuclear holocaust fueled fervent prayer. In the early 1980s it seemed that U.S. President Ronald Reagan's actions against the USSR would provoke the dreaded attack. Were our prayers falling on deaf ears? Now, 25 years later, Reagan and his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev, are credited with ending the Cold War and dismantling Soviet Communism. God was working to answer our prayer even as circumstances indicated otherwise. And he has called us to join him in shaping history through our prayers.
—Paul Borthwick in Discipleship Journal
My Response: As I watch this week's news, I'll remain aware that God's long-term redemptive plans are in the works.
Thought to Apply: Far more of our nation's life is shaped by prayer than is formed by legislation. That we have not collapsed into anarchy is due more to prayer than to the police. —Eugene Peterson (author & educator)
Adapted from Discipleship Journal (11-12/05) by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Give me confidence, patience, and tenacity, Lord, in praying for your purposes to be accomplished through our leaders.
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