One area in particular that we should continually give our voices to in prayer is for our nation. God ordained it. In 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (KJV), the Apostle Paul writes,
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 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. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.We are to supplicate, pray, intercede, and give thanks for the men and women who sit in seats of authority in all levels of government.
Notice that God doesn't qualify it by saying "if the authority seat holder is a righteous man or woman then supplicate, pray…." Why? It's not the man or woman that we're giving thanks for, but the seat of authority that they hold.
In other words, the Bible is teaching us that we are to be non-partisan. The moment someone takes a seat of authority, they get our prayers, our supplications, and our giving of thanks regardless of whether or not we voted for them or they do something we do or don't agree with.
We also need to be mindful of our words concerning them outside of our times in prayer. Why? How willing do you think we're going to be to yield our voices to pray for someone if we just spent the day speaking words against them? How effective are our prayers when, after we've sowed good seed in prayer, we turn right around and sow weeds by the negative words we speak?
Our prayers can be rendered ineffective when we speak such words of ugliness and corruption about those we're praying for.
We must not forget that the heartbeat of God is for all nations to be opened up to the Gospel. All He cares about is an entrance for His Word to be preached and He will do all that He can for souls.
For example, we may disagree about a decision that is being made concerning our military troops, when in the plan of God it's a move that will give entrance for the Gospel to be preached that wouldn't have happened any other way.
The godly way to pray for our nation is to pray for God's will to be done, to ask God to send across the paths of the president, members of the senate, and congress, etc.—individuals with right influences who will speak right words.
We're to pray that the ears of those making decisions will only be open to the direction and will of the Lord and closed to any other voice, that when their counselors and advisers come they'll be able to discern the right step to take. We can also pray that the right people are raised up and the wrong ones are removed, so that God can move.
To sum it up, if we don't pray, the voice of the people will move the direction of those who sit in seats of authority. Only when there is a higher voice speaking, do we make a way for God to move. That higher voice speaks through us, through our prayers.
As believers, we have authority on this earth, and just like our nation has military forces, there is also a spiritual army and that is God's army on the earth. We make up that army, and if we just sit back haphazardly and don't take our place in prayer, we're sending a surrender flag to the enemy.
It's as though we're rolling over and playing dead, not even attempting the battle. We're sending him notice that we're just going to let him decide and determine what happens in our nation and with our troops.
On the other hand, if we will give ourselves to prayer, we become like the stealth bomber that sneaks into enemy territory undetected, and obliterates the plans of the enemy with the drop of one bomb!
Other times we'll operate as the occupying force that reminds the enemy that he can't rise up here! You can't tell me prayer isn't exciting when you get a hold of this. You begin to watch the news and read the newspapers for testimonies of things you've prayed about!
What if, from our perspective, it looks as though things are going haywire? As children of the Most High God, we're of another kingdom and when we live by Kingdom principles, we reap Kingdom benefits. We can be immune from what ails the world and rest in God's promise to us that if we pray and supplicate for those in authority, we will live a good and peaceable life.
It's honorable, in the eyes of God, when we take our place and stand spiritually on the front lines of battle and pray. One day we will all stand before Him for what takes place in our nation. If we heeded His instruction, we'll hear "Good job, watchman on the wall."
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Pastor Barbara Cameneti was raised in Niles, Ohio in a family of four girls. She was born again in 1979 while dating Pastor Mike. Barb immediately grew hungry for the Word of God and began to seek the will of God for her life. She also attributes much of her training for the ministry to Believers' Christian Fellowship in Warren, Ohio. 
