Pray for What?

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1Timothy 2: 1 – 4)

Why do we pray for our leaders? Is it so that our nation can prosper or that we can accumulate as much wealth as possible when there is that much peace?

What is the end game for God in the kingdoms and nations of earth?

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

Are we interested to know that it is the Gospel that is the centre of that will and therefore should be the focus of that prayer for authorities?

I always say that Jesus did not die so that we become rich. He did not die that we access perfect health. HE DIED TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS. And that is the whole focus of the kingdom of heaven.

You see if wealth and earthly prosperity was the focus of the kingdom it we couldn’t have verses like this in the Bible.

And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:23)

And if health was the reason He came we also could not such verses either.

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 18:8, 9)

Anything that stands in the way of the Gospel qualifies as an enemy to the cause of the kingdom of heaven, however good it is to us.

Let us look at a brief history of the ages. Nebuchadnezzar was able to consolidate and rule the whole world, at least the one they knew then. Then the Greeks came and gave that world a common language. Later the Romans came and created a great infrastructure and government. And that was in the purely secular direction.

But it was the perfect recipe for the spread of the Gospel. We see Paul taking advantage of all that when he encounters schemes and opposition to that message he bore.

Was the Roman Empire godly? Far from it. Were their goals sympathetic to the Gospel? By no means. A king who can demand that people worship him is diametrically opposed to the Gospel whose central thrust is the worship of Christ. Was the empire beneficial to the Gospel? Yes.

Their wickedness and ungodliness were no block to the Gospel. Those structures they had put in place for the enthronement of their kingdom were the very things that God used for the furtherance of the Gospel. God had put those structures in place to prepare for the Christ to be preached throughout the world using the language and infrastructure that were in place.

There is nothing God can’t use. As the only creator He has everything and everybody completely subject to His purposes. Nothing and no one can resist those purposes. One verse that pushes that to the fore is this.

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (Revelation 17:17)

Incidentally this is talking about what theologians call the unholy trinity whose main purpose is to resist God and His purposes.

It is therefore important to appreciate that God is not speaking about the presence of godly leadership when He requires us to pray for them. He is the one who places all leadership on whatever thrones they occupy irrespective of whether they overthrew or rigged their way into that leadership. Or do we not know this?

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. (Romans 13:1)

We see the same when we look at God’s declarations about Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, people God raised though they did not know Him. We also remember Him saying the same concerning Pharaoh.

It is therefore very naïve of us to think that we pray for the ruling powers to be just and godly since we never see the same when we read the Bible. But worse is that we may refuse to submit to those rulers if they do not meet our standards of leadership. I have even heard pastors of all people saying that some leaders are not from God just because they are not friendly to these pastors. Some argue the same way because they did not vote for them. Yet others say the same because their prophecies were proved wrong.

The worst I heard was this bishop who asked her church to pray and fast for the death of the president because she had prophesied to them that the one who lost was the anointed president.

We are deceived when we expect only godly leaders to perform God’s purposes. In fact it might be the opposite as the church will be able to access favors they may not deserve because of their perceived connection to God. I remember once we were in a capital whose streets were completely closed for the weekly city wide cleaning. We were supposed to leave before daybreak to be able to catch our bus. But our hosts were not worried since they knew we were preachers. And ours was the only vehicle on the road because the police were informed that we were pastors. Incidentally the president of that country happens to be a very serious believer who respects spiritual leaders. We were more or less breaking the city’s laws because of that relationship.

It is therefore important for us to know what it is we should be praying for when we are praying for our leaders. We ought to know the kind of expectation we ought to have when we are praying for them. We should be in a position to know the kind of favors or allowances we should ask from them when we are able to get their audience.

This is because many times pastors and bishops really shame Christ when God takes them to those offices. Imagine someone pleading for money to build their church or get a piece of land? Imagine a spiritual leader pleading for a member of their congregation be given a political or senior civil service position!

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; (Colossians 1: 16 – 19)

Simply speaking Christ is the centre and the reason for our existence. Anything that directs the world’s focus elsewhere is contrary to God’s design. It then follows that any other reason or focus for our praying for anything is worthless in the eyes of God. Any answer we think we receive must be pointing us and our witness in the same direction. Otherwise those breakthroughs and miracles we may think we are receiving might be like the ones the devil offered Christ during His temptation.

Do you remember what took the church out of Jerusalem? It was intense persecution from the Roman and Jewish leaders. Was that from God? Just look at the results. If the death of one of Christ’s inner circle made the church leave their comfort zone and take the Gospel to the nations, could we really say that God was not in it?

God had simply used the corrupt Roman government to make a complacent church to take the responsibility they had been entrusted with.

We are therefore plainly in error when we think we are the focus of our prayer for the leadership. It is not our comfort or prosperity that should guide that prayer.

Another thing we choose to overlook is that the world is becoming increasingly godless; something Christ had already told us when He talked about the end times in Matthew 24. We see the same thing when we read prophetic books that touch on the end times. We then can’t expect leaders who are sympathetic to the Gospel. We can’t have the surety that is the anti-christ if we have godly leadership.

In fact having that kind of expectation when we pray for leaders who will be faithful believers will bring us into the error of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who discount the reality of heaven and hell, expecting the world to become increasingly better until it evolves into paradise.

The Gospel is the reason for our existence. Nothing else deserves our attention except when it is adding to that focus. Otherwise we are not praying right.

Another danger of praying for our leaders amiss is that we may not think that the Gospel is very urgent. We could then spend all our time building earthly structures at the expense of investing in the Gospel as our priority. We could be building church structures and establishing huge institutions yet at the same time neglecting the Gospel and those who are involved in sharing it. We see the depravity of man as a pointer to our need to establish godly structures as examples to fallen man instead of acknowledging what the Bible teaches; that man is fallen and the only thing that has any capacity of rescuing him from sure destruction is the Gospel faithfully shared.

The Gospel should occupy the most prominent position in our prayers for the world. Praying for anything else is being as worldly minded as the unbelievers who have no hope beyond the present.

I believe that we will change the world when our prayers for our leaders will take that direction as we will then be able to see the opportunities God opens for the Gospel in everything these leaders are doing whether it is positive or otherwise.

Again we will then be able to minister in God’s name when opportunity arises, something that can give room for an even better opening for the Gospel at the highest positions. We should not use the lack of godliness in that leadership to refuse to offer service when opportunity opens for us. And I am not talking about looking for those opportunities.

Joseph faithfully served a godless king and was able to rescue his family from famine. Nehemiah and Ezra also served godless kingdoms and were able to access resources to rebuild their city and its worship structures. Ahab, the most wicked king Israel had had in his palace a man who feared God above most and he was able to rescue a hundred prophets and provide for them when the kingdom sought to exterminate God’s worship from Israel.

But we also know that Daniel was fed to the lions and his three friends were fed to the fire. But they knew that they were there for God’s purposes and that is why we do not see them seeking revenge against their enemies.

These people knew why they were in those palaces and were not scared of facing danger and death as long as they kept their eyes on what they knew God had sent them there for.

We see the focus of their prayers when we read them.

May the kingdom of God and His righteousness (the Gospel preached and lived) be our all consuming passion even as we pray for the nations.