Praying for the World

1 Timothy 2:1-4

"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. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

We consider next the prayers of the church, or the pastoral prayer. God wants His people praying for and giving thanks for all kinds of men. We are to intercede as the church, for the church, and for the world. We are to give thanks, also. There are 4 categories of prayer, and by the time we come in our worship service to the prayers of the church we have already covered the first 2, adoration and confession. Here we give thanks and intercede for various situations. This is one area where worship and world meet in the service. The offering is another. How the Word applies to us, in the sermon, is another. Confessing our wrongs in the past week. We don’t try to shut out the world mentally when we worship God. We hold the world up to God, asking Him to have mercy and bless His creation.

Let us confess our sins of despising the world, or chasing after it, instead of interceding for the people God has made.

10/21/12