As our political environment has gotten more and more charged over the past year, I have been asked multiple times how we are to pray for our political leaders. The place to which I often turn when answering this question is 1 Timothy 2 where Paul wrote the following to Timothy:
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV).
In this passage, Paul gives great wisdom that is as helpful to us as it was to Timothy when it comes to praying for our leaders. The first thing we are to do is: pray for them. Make it a habit to actually pray for your leaders, those at the local, state, and national levels. Sometimes we ask questions like, “How do I pray for my leaders?” because we know we are supposed to pray for them and feel bad because we aren’t actually doing it. There’s no shame in that, per se. It’s just our reality. We don’t pray for them because we don’t know how to do it. However, we can’t know how to pray for them until we actually do pray for them.
A second thing we are to do when praying for our leaders is pray that they’ll govern in a way that enables all men, women, and children to live “peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.” This is where Paul gets specific. We are to pray that our leaders will lead in a way to maintain the freedom we need to be able to live our lives in honor of our God, lives that are peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified.
The third and final thing that Paul tells us to pray for in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 is for our leaders to provide clarity and protection so that we can live at peace and proclaim the message of the wonderful love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. There can be no peace without clarity or protection. When things are unclear and truth is determined by agendas chaos reigns (not to mention looney conspiracy theories), and chaos is the opposite of peace. Similarly, protection from our enemies and those things that harm us creates the environment in which we can enjoy our freedoms. Security produces peace.
So, I encourage you to pray for your leaders at the local, state, and federal level. Pray for them to govern in a way that enables all people to live peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way. Pray that they will govern with clarity and provide protection for all of us.
May God be pleased to answer our prayers today and every day.
**This post was written for the Wednesday, February 3, 2021 edition of the Chester News and Reporter in Chester, SC. It was also published on the poolsandpastures.com blog.