50 Days of Prayer – Day 12

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,” 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (NIV)

The book of First Timothy is a personal letter from the Apostle Paul to Timothy, his “son in the faith.” As a young pastor in training, Timothy would need the encouragement and instruction of this seasoned Apostle to guide him. In this personal letter, Paul instructs Timothy on how the church should conduct itself. What would be its priorities and the source of its power. In this passage Timothy is given the priority that prayer should have in the church. Paul speaks with urgency recognizing the impact the church can make in the world when it is in alignment with the will of God. Jesus said that not even the gates of hell would prevail against the church He came to build in Matthew 16:18.

In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul writes, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people….” The first priority of the church was to be prayer. When Jesus entered the Temple and saw that it had lost this priority to commercialism, He cleansed the temple and said in Mark 11:17 (NIV), “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Like the temple then, it is sad to see how prayer has lost importance in many churches today. Paul wanted to protect Timothy and the early church from making the same mistake.

E.M. Bounds once wrote, “Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.” You could add to that, “No prayer, no power!” Perhaps this is why the church is having so little impact in our world today. To help Timothy understand the priority of prayer he lists four different words relating to the variety of prayer the church should practice.

• Petitions – A petition simply means to make a request for a felt need, to ask for something from God. James 4:2 (NIV) tells us, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” This isn’t a blank check for anything we want. In verse three he adds, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” It’s important to check our motives and align our heart with God’s heart when we make our petitions.

• Prayers – The implication behind the word for “prayers” in the New Testament is one of earnest worship toward God and is the most frequently used word for prayer in the Gospels. 

• Intercession – This is prayer on behalf of another. It involves making a petition for someone. When I intercede for others, I’m praying for them and asking God to help them or meet their needs.

• Thanksgiving – is an act of gratitude, giving thanks for all that God has done as well as giving thanks for others in prayer. In 2 Timothy 3:2, Paul tells Timothy that one of the characteristics of people in the last days would be ingratitude. Thanksgiving should be an important part of all our prayers. In Philippians 4:6 (NIV), the Bible says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” In Psalm 100:4 (NIV) the Bible says that we enter His gates with “thanksgiving.” The best way to enter the throne room of God in prayer is with a grateful heart giving thanks to God in worship.

These four types of prayers were to be made for “all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,” In Paul’s day, when he wrote this instruction to Timothy, they lived under the authority of the godless Emperor, Nero. The point is that even if we cannot respect the men or women in authority, we must respect their offices and pray for them. Why? Paul concludes with two huge benefits of such prayer:

1. “… that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

2. “This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”

Nothing pleases God more than when we humbly come before Him in prayer as He commanded us to do. We don’t pray to impress others like the Pharisees did, we pray to connect with the heart of God. When we pray in the will of God, He is pleased and responds in ways we could never imagine. Let’s practice making prayer, then, our first priority instead of our last chance.