November 3 – Super Tuesday prayers

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (1 Timothy 2:1-4 HCSB)

Well, tomorrow it’s Super Tuesday in the US.  Mid-term elections are upon us, and plenty of people are frustrated and angry with the state of their cities, states and country.  A lot of you will probably not even vote because a prevailing attitude is, “What’s the point?  They’re all corrupt anyway.”  But there is much we can do through prayers and interceding.  We have authority over the principalities and powers of the spiritual world that manipulate and control the corruption and evil that is done in this world.  If no one is praying, then they will never be weakened or defeated.  Your votes do count, but prayers offered in faith always have a great impact.  

Paul wrote this during a time of great persecution of the church, when Christians were being hunted down, tortured and killed.  But instead of allowing bitterness and hatred to grow in the hearts of the Church, Paul urged them to pray for their corrupt and evil leaders.  He specifically told them to pray and intercede because he knew the power of prayer could change those in high positions.  

We just witnessed elections for governor here a few weeks ago in Brazil in the state of Rio.  The incumbent had a record of corruption and connections to crime bosses, while the opposing candidate has a clean record and is a faithful Christian.  Prayers were offered up by the church around the country, but on the day of the elections, our main church in Rio was surrounded by the police and padlocked, and accused of illegally campaigning for the Christian candidate when a stack of campaign flyers suddenly and mysteriously appeared in one of our storage rooms.  When all the votes were in, the incumbent governor won, after a vast number of witnesses had reported fraud at the polls and rigged ballot machines.  Over a million votes were annulled with no chance of a recount.  Legal action is underway to combat this rampant corruption here, but it may take some time.  Does that mean that God didn’t hear our prayers, and that evil will always win?  Not at all.  Our prayers did much more than we realize, and God will be faithful to His promises.  Just the fact that the devil felt he had to fight this so hard proves that God is at work.  

Don’t grow jaded or give up hope just because immediate prayers are not answered to your satisfaction.  We are fighting a spiritual battle that pleases God.  The bottom line in this promise, is that God wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.  Our prayers to bless our leaders and to fight the evil in places of authority, paves the way for souls to be saved, and for us to live a tranquil life in godliness and dignity.  So go out and vote, but more than anything – pray!