Begin with 2 minutes of silence and stillness before God.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Today’s passage begins with Paul urging all types of prayers to be made by believers for all types of people. I think it is no coincidence we find ourselves in this passage during our 21 Days of Prayer series. Colloquially, “prayer” can be understood simply as having a conversation with God, but I believe Paul takes that a bit deeper here by listing four different types of prayer. I don’t think this is necessarily meant to be an exhaustive list by any means, but I think Paul is aiming to emphasize the need to include variety in our prayer life.

Firstly, he mentions supplications which can be defined as “a request, a begging request.” Next is prayers which can be understood as a more generalized term for all communication with God. Then Paul mentions intercession which can be defined as “a petition.” Lastly, he mentions thanksgivings which is easily understood as giving thanks and gratitude.

Taken altogether, common themes among these terms imply that Paul is urging believers to have regular communication with God ranging from sharing our needs with Him and asking Him to meet them and provide, praying for those around us by interceding for them, and giving thanks to God in all circumstances. I do find it interesting that Paul writes “thanksgivings” as a given as if to state that no matter what our life circumstances, there will always be reason to give thanks to God for the believer.

Verse 1 doesn’t only list different types of prayers for us to pray but also states who we should pray for ALL PEOPLE. Paul goes into more detail about this in the second verse.

Here, Paul mentions kings as being those we should pray for along with those in authority. While we may not have a king here in the United States, the idea for us here is that we are to pray for those who rule over us. For it is God who has appointed them in leadership (Romans 13) along with any who may have authority over us in any capacity be it our parents, our bosses, our pastors, etc. Oddly enough, it is common for humans to struggle with those who rule over them, so I believe part of the reason Paul calls us to pray for our authority figures is that it will change our hearts and give us a more eternal perspective. He also explains more of why praying for those in authority matters as he continues in the verse by stating a goal of living a “peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

I don’t know that I’m convinced Paul’s verbiage here is necessarily referring to that of passivism where we just sit back and avoid any conflict to support an illusion of peace, but I think rather perhaps Paul may be teaching that pursuing an active prayer life and practice—especially for those in authority—actually can lead to peace and can lead us to become peacemakers, fighting for what creates true peace in our land. I think this implies that prayer can work in more than one way: God can use it to lead those in authority to walk in a godly manner as well as use it to transform our hearts so that we may walk in a godly manner in our day-to-day lives which naturally works its way out into our communities and government.

In verse 3, Paul encourages us that it is indeed good to pray in this way for it pleases God our Savior, and as believers, should it not bring us joy to participate in a discipline like this that brings joy to the Father?

In the final verse of our passage today, Paul highlights the heart of God as desiring “all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” The word desire here means “to fix one’s will on; to stick resolutely to.” Paul is reminding us that a desire for salvation should undergird all of our prayers for all of our peoples for it is a characteristic of God’s own heart. As His children, we should seek to reflect His image, and one of the ways this passage tells us we can do that is through desiring all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. This desire should color our supplications and intercessions as well as our thanksgivings and all types of our prayers.

Take 2 minutes to reflect in silence.

Reflection:

• Read today’s passage again slowly. Which details about prayer stick out to you most?
  
• Reflect on your current prayer practices. What does your prayer life look like currently? What changes do you feel the Lord is leading you to make based on today’s reading?
  
• This passage encourages us to pray for those in authority as well as to pray for the salvation of those around us. Take a moment to think of those who have some capacity of authority in your life today and pray for them. Next, think of who you know who does not yet know Christ as their Savior and pray that they may “come to the knowledge of the truth.” If you can’t think of anyone to pray for, ask God to reveal someone to you that you can begin to pray for.

Family Devo: 1 Timothy 2:1-4

By: Molly Miller

When partnering with your family to know, love, and follow Jesus, we strive to create and share content filtered by the Head-Heart-Hands model.   

Head: the knowledge of God and His Word | Heart: the personal connection from scripture | Hands: a missional mindset  

Head

What does this scripture tell you about God?

Heart

Verse 1 urges us to pray for all people. How can you become better at praying for ALL people?

Hands

Who can you start praying for today? Make a list of people to help you remember to pray for others every day. Who can you share these verses with this week?

Prayer: God, thank You for Your Word. Help me to become better at praying, especially for others. Thank You for the prayers of others on my behalf. I love You! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.