Pray for everyone

Today I will attempt to show that God expects us to pray for all people. We should pray not only for ourselves, our families, our congregation, fellow believers, but for all men; kings and enemies alike.

In 1 Timothy 2:1 -4 it says “¹First 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 men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”

Paul was writing this to Timothy to the church at Ephesus to help combat the false teaching that had arisen there. It is speculated Paul wrote this letter just after his release from Roman imprisonment (Acts 28:16-31) possibly from Macedonia. We see the advice in 1 Timothy 2:1 as an echo of Acts 10:45 “And those believers from the circumcision who had accompanied Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,”.

 In verse 2 “for kings and all in high positions” would have, at the time, included Roman emperors who would have been violently persecuting Christians. This brings to mind Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ^{45 k}so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Also in 1 Tim 2:2 is an echo of Ezra 6:10 “…they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons” Further in 1 Tim 2:2“that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” To pray that we may live free from persecution of the government and be able to openly demonstrate our faith. In America today we take this for granted, not so in most of the world, and certainly not at the time this was written.

Finally 1 Tim 2:4, which is for me the most important verse, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” It is probably the most difficult to discern. For it comes down to election, a doctrine which I find ill prepared to address here. Suffice it to say that while “knowledge of truth” refers to the hearing and understanding of the Gospel message, it does not replace faith as a response to the gospel message.

The Gospel message shocks us and challenges us to pray for ALL people, to forgive ALL people. I recently read in Tim Kellers book “The Reason for God” that “forgiveness is the beginning of the end of evil” Forgiveness needs to start somewhere, and it started with Jesus on the cross dying for our sins. Will you pray for forgiveness of your sins? And will you forgive those who sin against you? Jesus tells us to pray about it. So let us pray as He taught us….Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen, and Amen.

Fasting and Prayer

These past few weeks have been physically rough for our church body, with so many people getting sick or with declining health, or having procedures done it’s been overwhelming. The prayer list for healing grows almost on a daily basis.

For this reason I have been looking for more effective ways to pray and ways of petitioning the Lord, and one thing has come forward time and again, fasting.

Trying to compact what the Bible has to say about fasting into a short and useful lesson is not easy, and I hope to break it down specifically for the purpose of healing up our Congregation. I believe the Lord hears our prayers, and further I believe that by fasting our prayers will become that much more intense, focused, urgent, respectful, humble and yes effective.

 It has intrigued me that depriving oneself of food would cause our Lord and Savior to sit up and take notice, as if He would say “well they must be serious now, they passed up lunch and dinner. I guess I should get on that.” However I find it to be less and less like that as I search into fasting. One thing I have found is that if you fast it will cause you to concentrate on the reason for the fast and in fact the reason for the prayer. You will remember with every hunger pang, or every time you miss the “thing” from which you are fasting why it is you are fasting.  (If for medical reasons you should not fast from food, give up something else that you enjoy, like watching your favorite show or something similar)

So what is fasting? Fasting is first and foremost to be a private matter as we see in Isaiah 58:4 ^4” Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.” And again in Matthew 6:16 “And ^twhen you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. ^uTruly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷ But when you fast, ^vanoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸ that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. ^wAnd your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Next we see fasting as an act of humbling oneself before the Lord, especially in times of mourning. Daniel 9:3 ^“Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” However in Acts 13:2-3 we see it as part of worship, ^2” While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ^r“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” Also in times of danger such as in 2 Chronicles 20:3-4 “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.”

As a side note I can’t help but wonder that when you have a family member who is suddenly taken ill or in the hospital, typically the last thing one thinks about is food. I can’t help but think that is the Holy Spirit sustaining us and guiding us to prayer and worship. So I humbly ask that you consider, if you do not already, pick a day to fast and pray for your brothers and sisters who need physical healing. I ask that you do it wisely, and pray about it.  Now as we all know; it is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ”