Praying for Those in Authority
I've been taught the necessity and efficacy of praying for those in authority long enough to have spent many years praying for those with whom I have profound disagreements - in more than one nation! God never asked me to agree with them; he commanded me to pray for them.
"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 [c]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."
- 1 Timothy 2:1-4
God promises to take our often weak prayers and answer them in powerfully unexpected ways, most supremely in the open doors for the Gospel he provides for his Church. This - and this alone!- is our supreme priority. You may think the highest priority is the protection of our personal rights (and these DO matter because we and our neighbors are image-bearers of God) or perhaps an economic system or military security. Vital as such are to a well-ordered nation, these are not our highest priorities in prayer.
We pray not for our personal comfort, the preservation of our security, or the power of our political parties, but for the advance of Christ's Kingdom, for the sovereign work of God in civil realms so that the Church may be at peace and carry out its gospel mission in word and deed. While these are not unrelated to political powers, they are not necessarily related to our personal preferences.
Little reveals our political idolatry more than our politicizing of prayer itself. If we're only praying for those we agree with, we're missing the point of 1 Timothy; if we think God is 'in control' only when our "side" wins, we'll need a new definition of God.
Praying for those in authority may also lead to those in authority leading us in prayer. On this Veteran’s Day, I am reminded of FDR’s prayer on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as he invited the entire nation to pause and intercede on behalf of all those serving and especially those who were dying (see his full D-Day prayer below).
God raises up and brings low, carries forward his work in and through poor leaders and sometimes the wicked, and his purpose cannot be thwarted. Let us pray for all in authority today, locally, in our states, and in DC; let us give thanks for them and for the privilege of electing those we wish to serve us in such work while we ask God to prepare all who will take up office in the coming year. As we do so, let's pray that God keeps the gospel as the highest priority of our hearts and our deepest intention in prayer.
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too - strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
Thy will be done, Almighty God.
Amen.
God raises up and brings low, carries forward his work in and through poor leaders and sometimes the wicked, and his purpose cannot be thwarted. Let us pray for all in authority today, locally, in our states, and in DC; let us give thanks for them and for the privilege of electing those we wish to serve us in such work while we ask God to prepare all who will take up office in the coming year. As we do so, let's pray that God keeps the gospel as the highest priority of our hearts and our deepest intention in prayer.