Jeremiah 29:7 “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit confirms the truth to us that believers are to pray for their governments, that they would govern in a manner that is conducive to creating a peaceful environment for their citizens to live in. In this passage we see God counselling the Jews to pray for the government of Babylon, even though the Babylonians had conquered Israel, taken the Jews into captivity and were in effect their enemies. God explained in this passage that the reason the Jews were to pray for the Babylonian Empire to experience peace, was because as a direct result the Jews living in Babylon would also experience peace. And so even though Babylon was not their homeland and they were in effect sojourners in a foreign land, God expected them to pray for the peace of Babylon. In the same manner the saints are also sojourners in the nations in which they live, for we are citizens of heaven and this world is not our home. Nevertheless God expects us to pray for the peace of the nations in which we live, for in their peace we will in turn experience peace. Scripture is very clear on this point, i.e. if the church obeys God’s counsel to pray for the governments of the nations in which they reside then they can expect God to answer their prayers and the nations in which they reside will experience peace. Conversely it is also implied that if a nation is not enjoying peace but is rather experiencing turmoil and upheaval, then the church must bear some of the blame because it is more than likely that they have neglected their responsibility to pray for that nation.
Michael E.B. Maher
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