Well it's always good to be able
to draw near to God in prayer. And we have these words from
the Apostle to his son in the faith, Timothy, directing him
with regards to this great favour of prayer. And he says, I exhort
therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions
and giving and thanks be made for all men, for kings and for
all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and honesty. Well, it's a very clear statement
by the Apostle to Timothy, his son in the faith, and obviously
he was instructing him that as he went about preaching and speaking,
that he might be able to likewise encourage the believers to come
and to hear such words as this. And obviously it has some emphasis,
it starts, I exhort That wasn't just a quiet whisper. He really
meant it. It was something that came from
his heart, something indicted by the Holy Spirit. Therefore,
first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving
of thanks. It's very interesting to see
how these things are linked together. To supplicate our God, that he
would indeed hear our prayers, that our prayers may indeed not
just fall to the ground, but they may enter in to the holy
place through the merits of our great and glorious intercessor,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We should realize there's only
one way to the Father, and that's through the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the reason is that Our Father
is holy, just and righteous and cannot look upon sin. But we
can come to our Father through the merits of our Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins upon the cross
at Calvary. And then he also joins this by
giving a thanks. We are to give thanks. As I say
sometimes, it's something which is often lacking in prayer, giving
of thanks. There's often a want list, but
the reality is there should be a giving of thanks because we
always have things to thank God for. If we think back over a
night, or if we think back over the day, or think back over our
life, there's always things to give thanks for. And we should
do so because this honors and glorifies our great and greatest
God. And so he says that these things
are to be made for all men, all men, good and bad. We are to
pray for them. We are to seek their favor. And
then he comes specifically and says for kings. Well here we
are tonight with King Charles III, crowned last Saturday in
Westminster Abbey in a very moving ceremony that was, with many
glorious parts of the scripture which were read, prayers offered
and hymns and chants honouring and glorifying Almighty God. So we are commanded to pray for
kings and that includes of course King Charles and if we don't
pray for him and we see him wandering away and doing things which we
wouldn't want him to do and agreeing with other types of religions
perhaps it is because we have not prayed and don't forget the
Word of God encourages us in this way the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man abideth much and there be a great blessing
therefore if we do pray fervently and he says and for all that
are in authority names the king and then all those that are in
authority those who are in our government those we might think
are in local councils they're all in authority in one sense
over us and it's easy to forget to pray for those people and
to carry on in our little world, satisfied just to pray, perhaps
we might even say selfishly for those that we just know and think
about, forgetting the greater picture which the Word of God
sets before us. And then he gives the reason
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty. If the Lord grants peace then
there will be godliness and honesty because people won't be running
after all the vain things of time in the same way because
if they enjoy peace it is that peace which God graciously gives
And we should indeed pray for it. And as we know, we're not
living in a peaceful time now. There's war. We're told there
will be. And we see many things which
are against peace. That's why we should pray for
kings and those who are in authority over us. Well, I won't speak
anymore tonight because we're trying to have as many brethren
as possible to pray, and we pray the Lord to help them.