If We Pray for Our Leaders, Do We Give God Permission to Answer?
[1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, [6] who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.
1 Timothy 2:1–6 ESV
Once I was on a mission trip in Myanmar. There was a little kid with a fever over 101º and our team lay hands on the kid and we all prayed. We prayed that God would bless the kid’s life and that the fever would go away. We prayed that God would heal that child. Then we took his temperature again, just like we did before, and it was at 98.6º. God answered our prayer and worked a miracle.
I didn’t like it. I had never seen anything like that before and I had to get out of the building fast while others were rejoicing and praising God. Out in the front yard, I had to reconcile two things: that I asked God to work and move and be powerful, and the real fact that I didn’t believe He would listen or even act.
Whenever we read this section about praying for our leaders, do we really believe that God is going to listen and act? Today our kings and people in high positions aren’t just political leaders, but also cultural influencers like movie stars, directors, and singers. We know that the news media wouldn’t believe it if President Obama made a heart-wrenching, passionate, and even orthodox I Am Second video, but would we? Are we as a church ready to look over after singing “Here we are God, shake our nation!” and see President-Elect Trump in a row dabbing tears from his eyes because he was so moved?
The pharisees judged Jesus and His followers by their outward appearance and today we judge “kings and all who are in high positions” by whatever the media tells us (social or otherwise). Let us pray for people with the confidence that God hears and God acts. Let us be ready to see celebrities in our pews and not take instagrams of them while God works in them like He is working in us. He “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and He loves to answer our prayers.