The Pastors’ Responsibility

I once had a heart to heart discussion with a friend of mine who is the pastor of a large congregation. I asked him, following an election, how he encouraged the congregation to vote. I said, “How did you prepare the people? Did you challenge them to vote for life and justice? Did you ask them to pray? Did you hold prayer times for the government, as scripture teaches us?” He pastors in a place where there are a lot of union workers. It’s very politically diverse with members of both parties in his congregation. So, I asked how he handled this and what he did. He said, “Why would I defile what God’s doing by talking about government and politics?” This is part of the problem. Government is not evil. Politics has gotten evil. The political system is evil in some ways, not in every way. However, God is government. God works through government. God said to pray for government and those who govern us. We have a church in America that says to leave all that alone and God will take care of that. We’re just supposed to get people saved and then disciple them. But, that’s not scriptural. Doing Matthew 28:18-20 is going to require a huge shift if the Church is going to start making any kind of progress. I think God is going to start making pastors really uncomfortable. He is going to start convicting them, because they are not thinking this way. People in the congregation are going to start hearing these things and they will ask their pastors why their church is not discipling government and other areas of the culture.

“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 1:1-4; ESV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

  • Intercede for 1 Timothy 1:1-4 to be embraced by pastors and others in positions to lead the Body of Christ.
  • Pray for the revelation of those verses to sink in to the Church—being able to freely share the Gospel can be dependent on the governmental leaders in place.
  • Say, “God is government. Earthly government must come into alignment with Him and His plans.”
  • Pray for the Church to rise up and make a respectful demand on their leadership for prayer times for government. We need to pray for elections and legislation, Supreme Court appointments and other governmental decisions. This pleases the Lord.

A prayer you can pray:

Lord, we pray 1 Timothy 1:1-4, 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. We pray that our pastors receive a revelation of this by the Holy Spirit. God is government. Earthly government must come into alignment with Him and His plans. Let our leaders encourage us to pray for our government leaders and other governmental matters. Let them give service time to this and appoint those in the congregation who have a passion for this to lead us. Holy Spirit, give this sae revelation to the Body of Believers get this, as well. Let this come from both directions, so that we begin to do what the Word command us to do in praying for government. The harvest may well depend on it! In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

Today’s decree:

America’s pastors will begin to lead their congregations in prayer for government and government leaders.