PRAY FOR EVERYONE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.

1 Timothy 2:1-4, 8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We live in a society grounded in dislike. I hate to have to say it but it’s true.

Just take a test drive around any social media platform and you’ll see it as plain as day...and we know that social media is a place where you can get a general idea of society’s views because people definitely aren’t afraid to tell you how they feel anymore, even if it is through a post that someone else composed.

An easy place to see this is in American politics. We’re so far gone from the days of collaboration and compromise that I don’t know if we’ll ever get back. Moderates have nearly gone extinct in government and it’s easy to see how.

For in our current climate, everyone has to be right. And if you don’t agree with another’s views then you’re wrong or radical or crazy or evil or whatever the negative label of the day is.

Oh yeah, and people will try and cancel you with a mob mentality when this goes really extreme. That’s the sad place we’ve gotten to.

Of course, we just need to go to the scriptures and we can see how this was in play during Jesus’ time. The Jewish religion was deeply ingrained in Israel before God came to earth in the Great Incarnation and walked the earth as man in the form of Jesus, bringing a new covenant to His people in person. We read of this covenant pronouncement in the third chapter of John’s Gospel as Jesus said:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. v.16

And so Jesus’ message and ministry launched with this as the core mission statement. He was the Messiah the Jews had hoped for, the One who was prophesied to come and conquer their oppression bringing them to victory...with an emphasis on them. You see, they had a problem with the “whoever” part of the new salvation plan.

This is because the Jews saw themselves as exclusively being God people. After all, God had told them that they were His people and He would be there God. And this was true but there was one matter they wanted to deflect from. They were perpetually disobedient to God’s commands and expectations for them.

Over and over again, the people would choose to turn from God, not just because of minor infractions but I’m talking about deciding to worship other gods completely. They wanted God to be their God but they weren’t interested in honoring Him the same way. The cycle of falling into disobedience, being warned for such disobedience, failing to heed the warning of punishment and then being punished, asking for forgiveness by promising to change, and then being restored before falling back into disobedience again was unsustainable.

And so God, loving not only His people but all He had created, instituted a new plan, one that would require one final atonement to cover the sins of all people and the opportunity for everyone to be saved, whether they were a Jew or not. Anyone could find peace with Him and gain eternal life through simply believing in Jesus as Savior.

In other words, Jesus became (and still is to be) the great Unifier of all people and if there’s one reason we are so divided today is that we, as a people collective, turned away from Christ.

That’s what makes today scripture passage as we look at the opening verses of 2 Timothy 2 such a game changer, if we put them into practice. Look again at what Paul wrote:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.  2 Timothy 2:1-4, 6

Here we find the word of God, spoken through the Apostle, urging everyone, everywhere, to offer up “petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving”, not just to the people we choose to, not to the ideological group we associate with, but rather to “all people” and when God says “all” He means ALL. No one can be excluded.

Do you do this? Do you pray, intercede, thank and bring petitions to the Lord on behalf of all people and that includes those you may consider enemies or those you deeply disagree with?

If we’re really honest, I’m pretty sure we all fall way short of the mark. In fact, I know so because look again at what we are to pray for as we pray over everyone:

...that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Now ask yourself this:

As a nation and/or as a world, are we living “peaceful and quiet lives” defined by “godliness and holiness”?

If God were to ask us this, it would be a moment of terrible embarrassment, for sure because we couldn’t be further from where we need to be. If anything, we’re moving further and further in the opposite direction, and if living in peace and quiet while being godly and holy “pleases God” then that would mean He has to be extremely disappointed and angered at the way He sees us behaving. I can’t help but feel He thinks the wrongs of the people of Israel are being repeated by this latest generation of disobedient, disrespectful people.

Friends, the Savior God “who wants all people to be saved” and “come to a knowledge of the truth” is calling us to prayer, petition, intercession, and thanksgiving for all people, asking Him to produce peaceful, quiet lives that display godliness and holiness. The time is now for us to lift up holy hands and change course, showing the Lord our willingness to obey His word and will in order to please Him. If we don’t, then we can expect His wrath and judgment to come upon us, something no one should ever want. 

The Old Testament Israelites would tell you that if they could.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.