1 Timothy 2:1-8

Rachel Workman:  2 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. 2 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. 3 This is good and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. There are a lot of things prayer is and there are a lot of things it is not. It is not the magic genie to the things we desire here on this earth. God's desire is for us to pray unselfishly and to pray unselfishly for all people and not just our needs. If the basis for prayer is the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross, then prayer is a most important activity we can participate in. Not to pray is to slight the cross. To pray only for ourselves is to deny the worldwide outreach of the cross. To ignore lost souls is to ignore the cross. We pray for all because Christ died for all and it is God’s will that all be saved.

5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. There is nothing that we can or will ever do to deserve it. Thank you Jesus for loving me, for saving me and for teaching me.

This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. 7 And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth.

8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.

Effective praying requires that we be in a right relationship with God (“holy hands”) and with our fellow believers (“without controversy”). If we would spend more time preparing to pray and getting our hearts right before God, our prayers would be more effective.

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Krista Cook: How is your prayer life in regard to praying for others?  Especially for those in authority?  They definitely need our prayers more than ever.  

Timothy was appointed to preach the truth.  We, too, can teach others the truth.  Do we make every effort to do this?  God desires all men to be saved - that means He desires for us to be teaching the lost how to be saved. 

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Mike Grimm: 2 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. ² 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. ³ This is good and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. When we pray to God we need to include those whom we don’t know that are doing His work throughout the world. These are the people who are in very dangerous parts of the world that run the risk death simply because they are Christians. We are not persecuted in this country for our Christian beliefs, like elsewhere in the world, so it’s very easy to claim we have unwavering faith. Will we have that same faith and undying love for Christ when we are staring down the barrel of an assault rifle or feel a sword against our throats? What about watching our children or loved ones being executed one-at-a-time until we renounce Christ? The day is coming. I have often thought of this and wondered. Sorry, got off track. God also want us to pray for our leaders. I find this very difficult and often have to force myself. But God has chosen us to let help Him in changing the world. We do this through our prayers. So no matter how much I despise the leadership of this country I must pray if I ever want to see change.

⁵ For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. We, as human beings, are separated from God by sin, and only one person in the entire universe is our mediator and can stand between us and God and bring us together again, and this is Jesus, who is both God and man.

⁶ He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. Jesus, our mediator, gave His life in exchange for ours. By His death, He paid OUR penalty for death. I feel that I am not giving Christ anything close in return. ⁷ And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth. Imagine being Paul and having the honor and privilege to announce and spread the gospel to the Gentiles. This would be an awesome job. Oh wait; there are still openings today for this job. The pay? Eternity for you and others.

⁸ In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. Anger and controversy is very displeasing to God. That is why Jesus, in Matthew 5:23-24, said that we should interrupt our prayers, if necessary, to make peace with others. God wants us to obey Him immediately and thoroughly. Not to obey Him when we get a chance or to the point where we start feeling that it’s starting to interfere in our lives. God means now and completely. Our immediate goal should be to have a loving relationship with God and also with others.