Pray For Your Leaders Part 1

“Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior…”1 Timothy 2:1-3

Recently, the Lord has been strongly leading me to pray for Leaders, especially, Christian leaders. You don’t have to look far to hear a negative story or another about a prominent Christian leader. He opened my eyes to see that the plot of the Devil is two-pronged:

1. Strike the Shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Here, he targets prominent leaders.
2. To use Christians against each other, because a house divided against itself cannot stand.

In the first plot, Satan attacks the leaders in their personal lives including family, business, and career, so the world will lose faith in the Church and God when the leader is seen to have failed. He looks to use our weaknesses against us. The Bible talks about how the Devil provoked David to count Israel, and this led to seventy thousand deaths! In another instance, David in his weak moments took another man’s wife which nearly destroyed his family.

Leaders are frontline warriors who require our prayers always because their decisions have far-reaching impact. The church is meant to be the salt of the earth, the beacon of hope and the light of the society. The plot is to discredit the Church so the world will lose the hope of righteousness. It is much easier for sin to reign where there is despondency and when people are made to believe that it is not possible to live right (after all, even the leaders are also doing it!).

However, because a few leaders fall away from the faith or make mistakes in their lives does not nullify the faithfulness and veracity of God. We must realize that a clergy being prominent in the media does not equate to God’s approval of them or their lifestyle. So, their falling away does not represent the entirety of our faith. There are more who are doing right. Remember how God reminded Elijah that he still has seven thousand others who have not bowed their knees to idols? They were not known to Elijah, but God knew them.

Pray for your leaders that they stay humble and open to God’s correction of their flaws. Pray that their feet will not be on slippery grounds of sin and self-gratification, and that they will not give room to the devil to discourage or afflict them and the ones they are leading. Pray that they do not abuse their privileges, and that their trusted ones are not vulnerable to be used against them.

When leaders acknowledge their errors and repent, let us forgive and correct them in humility and love, knowing that we will also be tempted like they are and would want to be treated the same. We will explore how to deal with unrepentant leaders later.