Paul the apostle gave
Timothy his “son in the faith” instructions concerning the
church he was to oversee in Ephesus. Paul knew there were Judaizers
there who were bringing in false doctrines which were not the “gospel
of Jesus Christ”, and Timothy was charged to be strong against
them. Paul first instruction for Timothy was that he be a man of
prayer who made “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks” “for all men;”, and the priority of those
“men” or “people” was to be for “Kings” or
head leaders and “all those in authority”. In chapter two
and verse three of his letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that this
practice was “good and acceptable” with God where we read:
The
verse begins, “For this is good and
acceptable...” Paul employed
the word “For” to
begin this verse which means “because or since” “this
is good” or “beautiful,
handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful,
suitable, commendable, admirable, genuine and approved”. Praying
for “all men” and particularly “people in leadership”
is a beautiful, excellent and admirable trait. In
addition Paul added, “and acceptable” which
means “accepted, received and agreeable”. Not only is prayer for
“all men” and
“those in authority”
an admirable practice, but it is an agreeable characteristic as well.
The
verse continues, “...in the sight of God our Savior;”
In addition to being “good and acceptable”, Paul
declared where Timothy's acts of prayer would be, “in the sight”
or “in the presence of, before, or in that place over, against,
opposite of any one and towards which another turns his eyes” “of
God” which means “the trinity and one and only true God”
“our Savior” or “deliverer and preserver”. When
Timothy prayed for “all men” and the “Kings and all
those in authority” he would do so in the presence of Almighty
God, and he would be as one who “turns the eyes” of God toward
him when he did.
When we
meditate upon Paul's words, we can see great approval for the act of
prayer. Not only is it admirable and precious among men, but it is
also “good and acceptable” before God. Let us think about
this for a moment. While we pray and intercede on behalf of the
authorities whom the Lord God Almighty has placed in charge over us,
we have Him as our approving audience, and He sees our prayers as
“good”. His eyes are turned upon us, and we have His full
attention as we express ourselves before Him on their behalf. What a
joy it is to think that the God of the Universe has us in His focus,
and we have the opportunity to do “good and acceptable”
things before Him in Jesus' name.
Next
time Paul shares how many people God wants to be saved, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
http://www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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