Interceding for a Better Tomorrow—The Power of Prayer for Our World

 By: Paula Short

" I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4— NLT

The world is a broken place with pain, suffering, division, and injustice. It can be easy to get caught up in the news and social media and feel overwhelmed by all the bad things happening. But as Christians, we are called to pray for our world.

Prayer is powerful. It is our way of communicating with God and asking for his help. When we pray for our world, we ask God to intervene and bring about his will. 

It is important to remember that we are not called to fix the world. But we are called to be salt and light in the world. We are called to love our neighbors and show them Christ's love.

When we pray for our world, we are not only asking God to change the world, but we are also asking him to change us. We are asking him to help us to see the world through his eyes and to love our enemies.

Prayer isn't always easy. It can be hard to pray for people who hurt us or situations in the world around us or who are doing bad things. But it's important to remember that God loves everyone, even those hurting us.

But when we pray for our world, we're not only praying for the people who are hurting, but we are also praying for the people who are doing the hurting. We are praying that God will change their hearts and that they will come to know his love. Only God can soften hardened hearts.

How to Pray for Our World

So how do we pray for our world without getting caught up in it? Here are a few tips:

• Pray for specific things. Don't just pray for "world peace." Instead, pray for specific things like an end to war, a cure for a disease, or justice for the oppressed, the sick and suffering, the lost and confused, and our leaders.
• Pray with a heart of compassion. When we pray for others, we should do so with a heart of compassion. We should pray for those who are suffering, and we should pray for those who are causing the suffering.
• Pray with hope. Even though the world is a broken place, we can still pray with hope. We can pray that God will one day make all things new.

Reflection

It's important to remember that prayer is not a magic wand. It will not solve all the problems in the world. However, prayer can make a difference. It can help to bring people together, it can give us hope, and it can help us to stay focused on what is truly important.