Praying For All People

Good afternoon Edgemont!

It has been quite a week here in the United States. Last week was a culmination of one of the more stressful election seasons in my lifetime. The animosity and acrimony seems to be at an all time high, seemingly exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic, racial tensions, economic hardships, and the mental hardships that these can cause.

Today, I want to ask everyone to take a moment and to breathe. Breathe and remember that the breath of God is in you. As we breathe and remember who gives us breath, we can also remember to whom we belong. We belong to the Lord and have been adopted into the family of God by the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. We are bound together in his love by the power of the Holy Spirit, who binds us together to be able to do the work of the kingdom in our world.

There is much work to be done, Edgemont Family. People are hurting, people are struggling, people have lost connection with God and with each other. We have the wonderful opportunity to help bring that connection back. This is a huge task; we may not know where to start. A great place to start, is with prayer. Paul, in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 writes,

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

Many of us are familiar with praying for those in authority, but do not miss that first verse. We are to be lifting up prayers, “for all people”. As emotions still run high, let us be a people of prayer, interceding for all people. No matter if they are friends, family, strangers, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, in our party or not; we need to be praying for all, that all may come to that saving knowledge in Christ Jesus. If Christ desires that all be saved, we should too. Maybe we are not there yet….then start with prayer. When we pray, we allow the Holy Spirit to shape our heart so that we can become more like Christ.

Church, we are needed for the hard work of bringing Christ love and grace into our world; let us start with prayer as we prepare to do this wonderful work.

In Christ

Pastor Henry