Praying for the Government

By Hayley Boud

“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior”. I Timothy 2:1-3

“I urge” sounds urgent and necessary. According to the dictionary it is a very strong need for something to be done.

“Entreaties” is a request we ask from God (praying). The dictionary states that it is to keep asking someone to do something in a way that shows you are worried and serious.

So today we are being urged to keep asking God to help the government and to ask in a way that shows God we are worried/concerned and we are serious. What are the things that we are concerned about for our nation?

Our children, our families, our elderly, our sick, poverty, jobs, money, food, shelter, the environment, peace, unity, compassion, the economy, the recession, the church, freedom etc.

So we are urged to talk to God on behalf of those in authority in our country for those things that concern us and we have to strongly tell God and to keep telling God, in a way that proves we are serious.

“Petitions” according to the Greek dictionary is to pray/address God (boldly) on behalf of others (intercession). The dictionary says to make a request to a Court/King/God. For example, we file a petition for the release of someone who is in prison. The petition is made on behalf of someone else and we take the petition to the only person who can fulfil it (the prime minister/president). In this case, God is the only Judge/King/God who can help us.

So we are urged to come boldly before God our King and Judge who is the only one who can answer our requests that we are making on behalf of the government.

“Thanksgiving” we have to thank God for those in authority. We have to thank God for our Prime Minister/President and for those in Parliament. Even if we don’t like them or agree with what they have done. They are human beings that God created and we have to thank God for them. We can find plenty of things to be grateful for. In NZ we have peace, we have blue skies and green grass and fresh water from our taps and every person has a home with hot water and electricity and we never have to think about war or fighting and we are free to make our own decisions. We are truly blessed in this country and we can be truly grateful and thankful to God for what we have (and don’t have).

“Tranquil” makes me think of a nice quiet lake, calm and still and peaceful and we definitely have that in NZ. We have a very calm, quiet country with no real problems but we need to continue to pray that this country will always be blessed in this way.

“Quiet” NZ is without a doubt quiet, we even has noise control to prevent noise getting out of hand and people obey the officers. We don’t have shootings or bombings or wars or fighting (not even verbal fighting). It’s a quiet country. But do NZers know about spiritual tranquillity and spiritual quietness? Many NZers don’t know the peace that only comes from Jesus and this we can pray for.

“Godliness” means to worship God by devoting our lives to Him and to live like Jesus by our fruits (joy, peace, love, gentleness, self-control, goodness, patience, faithfulness).

Therefore, we are urged to pray on behalf of the government so we might live peaceful, tranquil lives (spiritually being the most important) in godliness rather than living as it says in II Tim 3:1-5, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these”.

I don’t want to live in a country where people love themselves (selfish) more than others, where they love money, they boast, are arrogant, disobedient to their parents (especially God the Father) and are ungrateful, unholy, unloving….

We need to pray for our government to protect us from this because we want our country to…

“Dignity” please God rather than people.