moving us to pray

When do I pray the most?  I confess.  I pray the most when there is trouble. 

• If we are wrestling with some difficulty at church, I am praying often.
• If there is a problem we are facing in my family, I am knocking frequently on Heaven´s door.
• If I am ill or dealing with a personal challenge, prayer becomes a favorite pastime.

Now that I´ve confessed, don´t most of you pray the most when things around you are the worst?  The Lord knows this about us, for He knows us better than we even know ourselves.

So, since the Lord knows we are like this, if He wants to move us to prayer, or to move us to pray more, He can allow more trouble to filter through to our lives, causing us to fall to our knees before Him.

I think there are a lot of applications of this reality that could be made here, but I am just going to offer one that is the seventh goal God has for us in times of trouble. 

God desires that we should pray for those in authority over us.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 NKJV   1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Paul adds in Romans
Romans 13:1 NKJV   Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

God, who is the ultimate authority, appoints men and women as authorities to restrain evil and do good to those placed under their authority.  But all of the people appointed by God to various positions of authority are still human; they are still sinners, as are we all.

God says pray for them!  Our living a godly life in peaceful surroundings is dependent on their doing a good job, so we ought to pray for God to give them wisdom and strength that they might do God´s bidding.

God has placed numerous authorities in each of our lives. There are several types of authority.

• Governmental
• Family
• Vocational
• Spiritual

During this battle with the Coronavirus, we have all been made aware of the importance of our governmental authorities and other authorities and the importance of the decisions they make in our individual lives.

Put names in place of the categories of authorities above to be sure all of those people are regularly on your prayer list.  I hope we will remember to pray for them when the impact of their lives and decisions on our own is not as apparent as it is right now.

​Adversity certainly moves us to pray for all of them!