Pray for your country

You don’t bother with politics because you are just fed up with it? You think the leaders of your country do as they please anyway? Well, God desires that we, the church, influence the rest of the inhabited world through prayer.

Matthew 5:13
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

What does salt do? Salt gives flavour and it preserves.

2 Corinthians 2:15
"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:"

Genesis 18:26
“And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.“

When the church ceases to fulfill its function as salt, it will be thrown out and trampled under the feet of men.

1 Timothy 2:1-2
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, andfor all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Who are those in authority? It’s your president, governor, senator, chancellor, your queen or king, the ministers in your parliament, mayor, teachers, etc. What did you do for them last, you prayed or you criticised? What are we to pray for those in authority? The most obvious I found in 1 Timothy 2:2, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Why would God want quietness and order? For a very practical reason:

1 Timothy 2:3-4
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

It’s His will because it is good for the propagation of the gospel, which is His aim in this dispensation.

1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

The responsibility is with us, not with the world, because as Christians we have the means to accomplish the results - prayer in the authority that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary.

Many political leaders are coming to the conclusion that they are facing problems for which they do not have the answer. You can kill endless numbers of men, but you do not deal with the spiritual forces behind them.

Ephesians 6:12
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

The weapons of our warfare are not bombs and guns because the strongholds refer to Satan’s strongholds. We have different enemies and different weapons.

Ezekiel 22:30
“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

If we are defeated, it is not through lack of armour but through the failure to use it. Will you stand in the gap for the sake of the people of your country? God is looking for YOU.

Daniel 10:10-12
“And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.”

May God remind us, give us the boldness and determination to pray for those in authority – Amen!

Andrea Kioulachoglou