“Why Pray for the 'King'?” – FBC Mornng Light (9/26/2023)

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. I hope your week got off to a good start yesterday. Here we are today reading in Isaiah 59 and 60, 1

Timothy 2 and Proverbs 21. I want to tie together something both in 1

Timothy 2 as well as in Proverbs 21. I was just thinking here a minute ago, how many presidents have served since I began ministry?

I began ministry under when Ronald Reagan was the president. We had Ronald Reagan, and then the first George Bush, and then

Bill Clinton, and then the second George Bush, and then

Barack Obama, and then Donald Trump, and now

Joe Biden. So through those ups and downs, back and forth, in terms of political party and ideology and so on and so forth,

I've heard every, it doesn't matter who the president was, I've heard Christians complain about the president in some way or another, and all kinds of different complaints.

In some cases, fully understandable. In some cases, it's a little bit of a stretch, but nevertheless.

But what I haven't heard that seems to balance out the complaints is the degree of praying for the president.

The reason I bring that up is because of what we read in 1 Timothy 2, right? Paul says, I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority, and here's the reason why, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

So I suppose the challenge would be for every, well, have you ever heard this old adage that for every word of criticism, you need to offer 10 words of encouragement to kind of balance out the criticism?

So maybe we should adopt that and modify that a little bit when it comes to our relationship to our political and governmental leaders.

For every word of complaint or criticism, may there be 10 prayers that are offered for our president and for those who are in authority over us.

And remember, keeping in mind the purpose, because we're praying so that the net result may be we lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

And it goes on to talk about the impact that such a life can have on a culture, that we might have freedom and flexibility for evangelistic purposes and the spreading of the gospel.

But there's another reason that we should be praying for those in authority over us, and this takes us back to Proverbs 21 in the second verse, or the first verse in that chapter.

It says this, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes.

So do we greatly appreciate, do we deeply appreciate the truth of that verse?

That the king's heart, or the president's heart, or the governor's heart, is in the

Lord's hand, and the Lord turns it where he will. And so one of the reasons that we can pray, we should be praying for those in authority over us, is because their hearts are in the

Lord's hands. And we want to pray that the Lord channels their hearts and moves their hearts and directs their heart like a river of water, wherever he wishes to move it.

And we want to express to the Lord our desire for where he would channel and turn that heart.

And then I trust we would want our desire to be in line with his desire.

So there is a sense of, there is a sense of submission here in our prayer, isn't it?

Isn't there? That we not only pray for God to work in the king's heart and to, you know, mold him and shape him and direct him into certain kinds of decisions and courses of action and so forth, but there also needs to be the submission that says,

Lord, we realize that the king's heart is in your hand, and you're going to turn that heart where you will.

May our will and desire line up with yours, and express that kind of submission.

So let's be sure that we engage in prayer for those who are in authority over us.

They, whoever they are, desperately, desperately need it. And so does our society.

So does our culture. So Heavenly Father, we do pray today for our president. We pray for the administration in Washington.

We pray for the governor of our states. We pray for those who are responsible to make laws and decisions of the legal matter, and we pray that you would so work in their hearts and turn their hearts to make decisions that are honoring to you, that are respectful of your principles and the guidelines of your word, so that your people may live lives of godliness and sincerity, and we might have a culture in which the gospel can freely go forth.

Do a work of grace, we pray, in the lives of those who are in authority over us. And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen.