Who Prayed for Paul?
Can you imagine how many believers prayed for Paul while he shared the gospel and taught everywhere he went – not to mention when he was beaten and left for dead, imprisoned, and all the other things he suffered for the sake of the gospel? Let’s go a little further back in Paul’s life, though, when he was still known as Saul, and consider the same question. How many believers do you imagine were praying for Saul when he was the one dishing out the persecution?
1 Timothy 2:1-4 “1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” NIV
When Paul wrote his letter to Timothy, the people in authority were making life difficult for the believers. He did not tell Timothy to do this because he was in agreement with the decisions, actions, or even lifestyles and morals of those in authority. He spoke through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Who made no exceptions for questionable authorities. The instruction was simple and clear. Pray for all those in authority, not against them. He passed along what He heard from the Spirit, but he also lived what he preached, not because it was a law for him, but because it was in his heart that had been so radically forgiven and changed by Jesus Christ.
Maybe Paul grasped that he was now saved and living for Christ because people prayed for him when he was still the unsaved, wicked person in authority. Think about that for a minute. Who did pray for Saul when he was terrorizing the believers, as we see in Acts 8 and 9? Would you have? They knew their lives were in danger for sharing Jesus Christ with others, or even for letting it be known that they believed, because of this authority known as Saul. There probably weren’t very many who actually pushed past their fleshly feelings about Saul to pray for him. Someone did, though. Someone let the Holy Spirit pray through them from the very heart of God for this one who railed against Christ by coming against His followers.
You see, God loved Saul so much that He let Jesus die for him, even though Saul gave the okay for Stephen’s death, and even though he imprisoned men and women throughout the region. God very much wanted someone to bring Saul before His throne of grace and mercy in prayer so that He could work with him. The person who prayed knew it was a spiritual battle he had to wage. He did not wrestle with flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12), and he knew that his weapons were not carnal but mighty to God for the pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor. 10:3). Through prayer, he waged mighty spiritual battle that made an opening in Saul’s heart so that, upon his encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was gloriously saved! But it took intercession, requests, prayers, and thanksgiving for Saul by someone who prayed for him and for his salvation, regardless of what they might personally suffer at his hand.
How does this affect us today? In the United States, we don’t fear for our physical lives because of ungodly leaders, but it might be different for some of you in other nations. Could there be a time when it changes in the U.S.? Rather than becoming fearful about that possibility, or fretting because of what we see in authorities today, or complaining, let’s take the 1 Timothy verses to heart. Let’s begin to seek God’s heart for our authorities at all levels and in all facets of our lives. That would include government, from local through national, law enforcement, pastors and other religious leaders, school authorities at all levels, business and economic authorities, homeowners associations, media and entertainment, etc. Authority comes in all shapes and sizes, but we are told to pray for them all. Let’s begin to pray earnestly for them in all the ways of verse 1, seeking for their good, which includes salvation. Let’s make the choice to die to ourselves and our opinions in favor of God’s Word, choosing to pray for those people every single time we are tempted to fret, murmur, or complain. Let’s be the one who can say, “I did!” when the question is asked, “Who prayed for this authority?”
© Copyright 2008 Kay V. Stocking
