Mission Venture Ministries

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Timothy 2:1-6) 

Paul tells us that we are to pray “first of all.” That means that prayer is to be the top priority in the life of a Christian. As Paul continues, he uses four words to describe the total scope of prayer: 

1. Supplications – making requests, sharing our needs with God (Philippians 4:6). This refers to prayers focused on special needs. The idea is that of bringing a deep and intense burden before the Lord. When we have needs in our own lives, and when we see needs in the lives of others, we are to be moved by these needs and we are to bring them to the throne of grace. “Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need” (Hebrews 4:16). 
2. Prayers – means to set aside time to worship the Lord by coming into His presence to spend time talking to Him by being still and enjoying His presence as we wait to hear from Him to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Every believer must have that time when they go before the Lord, without distraction, without hurry and just spend time reverencing Him.
3. Intercessions – this is taking the needs of others before the Lord. This refers to boldly pray on behalf of others. Jesus is our intercessor as verse 5 states. He stands in the gap between us and the Father and boldly intercedes for us – Hebrews 7:25 and Paul is teaching us that we are to carry out the same ministry on behalf of others. The main idea in these verses is that of making intercession for those who do not know the Lord. We are to stand in the gap for them, praying for God to convict them and save them by His grace!
4. Giving of thanks – is a spirit of gratitude to God. No prayer is complete until we spend some of that time thanking God. We are to thank Him for that which He has already done, such as salvation, blessings, answered prayers, etc. We should thank Him for the fact that He is hearing us as we pray. We should thank Him for those things that He is yet to do! You see, as we pray, we are to do it in faith, believing that the things we are asking God to do are already done, even though we can’t see them at the present time. That is the very essence of faith as Hebrews 11:1 describes: “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.”

Then who are we to pray for? –  Prayers are to “be made for all men for kings and all who are in authority.” Paul makes it clear that we are to pray for “all men.” And Paul specifically mentions those who are in places of authority. As we pray for our family, friends and neighbors, let us not forget to pray for our leaders. They need the wisdom of God to be able to carry out their duties. As hard as this many seem to do, even when we do not agree with the policies of the people who lead us, we should still pray for them. Regardless of how wicked they may be their work should be bathed in the prayers of God’s saints. We firmly believe that God intervenes in the affairs of men and can impress them to make godly decisions! We need to pray for those in positions of power, especially right now; because there are many serious decisions that must be made by the leaders of our country we should continually be making intercession for them before the throne of grace! 

And what does prayer accomplish? “…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” The Bible describes both that which is accomplished outside of us because of prayer – “quiet and peaceable life” and that which is accomplished inside of us because of prayer – “godliness and reverence.” Godliness means to live knowing what is required in life with respect to God, your fellow man and yourself. That of course can come only through a life of prayer! And reverence means that this kind of prayer life gives you a graceful dignity. 

When we pray for others, we are thereby becoming more like Christ; because since His return to heaven, He has been continually occupied with His ministry of intercession. “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34). 

Not only is our resurrected, glorified Savior perpetually interceding for us in heaven, but also the indwelling Holy Spirit is praying for us here. “Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27). 

Now if both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are always interceding for us before God the Father, we surely ought to be willing to spend time in prayer for others and not only for our loved ones, but even for those who have hurt us and especially for those who are lost and are in desperate need of knowing the Savior. Jesus said, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45). 

May God help us to be faithful in this vital ministry just as Daniel did in his prayers of intercession for his people in Daniel 9:3-19, knowing that “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

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