Prayer for All

Paul asks us to pray for all people. 2 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 2:1. So, supplications are prayers for or pleas for ones self. In this we bow and ask that God help us personally. Talking to God is important for aligning with God’s will. It seems strange that Paul would have to remind his reader that they were to pray 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 2:2. Let me go to a place of contention in my heart now. What I see today is a people who pray for others but at times perhaps with malice. Malice may be too strong a term, but let me make my point. We live in a society today and perhaps it has been the same for 2000 years where we align with what be want instead of what God wants. We spend too much time praying against others than praying for them. Is that the same thing? You might say you feel it is, I say maybe not. If perhaps you did not agree in the new leadership at your church do you pray for change in leadership? Perhaps you pray supplications to God that you better understand and support your leader.

As we look at leaders in the United Methodist Church we can see signs that they may not be leading as we would like, but how do we pray? A supplication may ask God how do you want me to pray? 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 2:3–4.

When an old woman rebuked him for his conciliatory attitude toward the South, which she felt should be “destroyed” after the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln replied, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”

This quote by one of our famous previous presidents reveals our bias against others that we find offensive. Many during the civil war were strongly against the other, but the leader at the time had a better idea than destroying the enemy. 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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 2:5–6. During the civil war there were people divided in this country. Many on either side of the issue believed that they were correct in their thinking. Sometimes families were divided in their thinking, much like today.

Years ago I spent more time praying intercessory prayers for others than I did supplications for myself. I ask myself today why did I feel that I needed to pray for others more than for myself? Perhaps because in those early days I had been born again and I felt I knew God’s will in my life. The older I get the less I think I understand God’s will. So I pray. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Ti 2:7.

Verse 7, gives us Paul’s special place in God’s plan. I feel that at times we decide how we will serve the Lord rather than asking him. Leaders like Lincoln have a much larger picture when it comes to God’s will. Even though it was not popular to want to bring a country back together Lincoln had a vision to see the country healed from its division. Many during this time in our history were not praying that their brothers and sisters from the south be healed but that they would be crushed.