Food for ThoughtRomans 13:1 Governing Authorities
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living. True Christian living requires us to live according to Kingdom standards which bring Heaven to earth

By Marni Montanez

Romans 13:1 New King James Version

1. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God

From the beginning of creation, God already established who He would choose to be leaders.  Many are written in the bible and many are not, but all leaders have authority that comes from God.  Even Satan had to get permission from God to destroy Job’s life.

God gave them gifts and certain personality traits that would fit into their individual role as a leader.  God knows their weaknesses and is certainly not surprised when they fail. He knows what kind of leader they will be. Look at the book of kings in the bible. There you will find detailed accounts of leaders who either followed the ways of the Lord, and were blessed  or went their own way, which ultimately led their reign to a disastrous end.. Good or evil these men were still given an appointed task of ruling from the throne.

God is not taken off guard by the decisions of leaders. He knows there hearts, we don’t; although we act like we do.   He uses every mistake they make for HIs ultimate glory. God uses certain leaders for specific reasons. If you are one who complains or criticizes God’s leader, it may be that you are the reason He put them there.   You may need to repent and fall on your knees, humbly accepting God’s choices for leadership even if you don’t like or agree with them.

God requires us to pray for our leaders. 1 Timothy 2:1-3 New International Version

1. I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people

2. for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

3. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,

We may not agree with them and we may have our unfavorable opinions of them, which makes it all the more important that we pray for them. It is our hearts, as Christians that need to be right before the Lord. There may be some places you stop going to because of ungodly leadership and God allows for us to leave those places, but while we are there we must pray for them. If we do not pray for our leaders and choose to judge or condemn them then we are bringing division and grumbling into our midst and judging God’s decisions.

For some of us it is not easy to submit to authority.  Most of us will have a negative experience with at least one leader; Because of these types of encounters, it is difficult to believe a leader could have our best interest at heart.  God tells us that He looks at the heart of a person. He is the only one who can. None of us can possibly know the intent of another person’s heart. We must trust God and do our part to support His choices for our leaders.    

Ask God to show you how to pray for all your leaders

God bless

Marni

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lamb-rightThe purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.