How Should We Pray?
//Lynette Hagin
We are told in First Peter 4:7, "The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." We don't have to look far to see that we are living in perilous times. Peter admonishes us to watch unto prayer. Some may wonder, "How should we pray?" Paul's instructions to Timothy give us some answers.
1 Timothy 2:1–4 (TLB)
1 Here are my directions: Pray much for others; plead for God's mercy upon them; give thanks for all he is going to do for them.
2 Pray in this way for kings and all others who are in authority over us, or are in places of high responsibility, so that we can live in peace and quietness, spending our time in godly living and thinking much about the Lord.
3 This is good and pleases God our Savior,
4 for he longs for all to be saved and to understand this truth. . . .
We are commanded to pray because prayer changes things. I remember back in the early '80s my father-in-law, the late Kenneth E. Hagin, called us to prayer. We held a prayer meeting every week on the Rhema campus. During those times, we specifically prayed for "the precious fruit of the earth."
Large maps of countries and continents lined the walls of the auditorium we met in. We prayed for whatever countries were on our hearts. And many times we were led to pray for Europe. On many occasions I stretched my hand out to Russia.
We prayed for the walls of communism to come down. At first, I knew I was really praying in ordinary hope, not in faith. I was wishing those walls would come down, but I wasn't convinced that they would. You see, when I was in the second grade, we were taught so much about Russia that a fear of communism was instilled in me. So when we prayed at that time, I never thought communism would fall.
In spite of my feelings, I stretched out my hand and prayed. And eventually I came to believe—as we all did—that the wall of communism would come down. And come down
it did!
Over time we stopped having those prayer meetings. And honestly, I don't think I saw as much fervency in prayer after that.
Then 9/11 happened, and our church was full, as were many other churches across the nation. It was easy to pray then. A tragedy had struck our country and entire congregations were united in prayer. But those prayers were defensive, not offensive. We were praying because something horrible had happened. Unfortunately, now that time has passed, Christians once again are not praying fervently. We need to pray for our nation consistently—not just when tragedy strikes.
We are nearing a crucial time in our country's history—the presidential election. It's so important that God have His way in the election. While it is not my place to tell you who to vote for, I can certainly admonish you to vote. I don't think we realize how much difference one vote can make.
And remember, praying for our leaders shouldn't stop after the elections. We must continue to pray for the president and for all of our other elected officials. Pray that God will give them wisdom, knowledge, and the ability to make the proper decisions. Pray for their protection—that plans of evil against them will be stopped. As we do these things, the Scriptures promise that we will live a quiet and peaceable life.
Prayer Points
Make it a point this year to pray for those in authority in our nation.
Pray for these people: President, Congress, Supreme court, State & Local officials, Military, Intelligence Agencies
I want to encourage you to cast your vote in the November U.S. elections. Study the issues—and the candidates—for yourself and make an intelligent decision. Don't let anyone else decide for you. It's our responsibility to change this country. We're not going to change it with marches or violence. We're only going to change it when we put the proper officials in position who will make the proper laws. So remember, get out and vote! You can make a difference.
//Kenneth W. Hagin