A WORD FOR TODAY, July 17, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, July 17, 2025
“I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high places, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony at the proper time, to which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle - I am telling the truth in Christ, not lying - a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-7, WEB
We say prayers for a lot of reasons. Many prayers ask God for help. These prayers of supplication (when we pray for ourselves) and intercession (when we pray for others) address the issues and experiences that concern us, like our health, jobs, and relationships. We ask Him to intercede in the world so that life will be a little better.
Another type of prayer is that of thanksgiving. We recognize that our blessings are given by God’s hand, especially when we see the answers to those prayers of supplication and intercession. I’m not sure we are very good at praying about our blessings when we are comfortable, but we certainly do thank God when His hand is obvious in our lives.
I wonder, however, how many of us pray on a regular basis for the salvation of those in the world who have not yet heard the good news. This is not about praying that our enemies will fail at their evil deeds, but that God will reveal to them the wonder of His grace and mercy. “The Message” translates part of today’s text this way: “He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us - Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free.”
Is everyone saved? No, not today, but God wants everyone to be saved. He wants to welcome all people into His Kingdom and into His forgiveness. He wants to have mercy on those people whom we consider outside His grace. He wants to shine His light on the darkness of their lives. He wants to transform them into children, just like us. And most of all, He wants us to pray for them.
If we pray for someone, especially someone who is our enemy, and even more so someone that we do not consider worthy of God’s grace, we will see them through God’s eyes, as yet another person that He wants to save. If we pray for them, God will transform us into people willing to share the Gospel message with them, even if we are afraid. We know that our enemies and uninterested neighbors do not want to listen. We know that those lost in darkness do not even know they need to be saved. Our natural response is to let them wallow in their own refusal to receive God’s forgiveness.
But Paul understood that his job is to share that Gospel message with all, and he encourages us to do the same. It all starts with prayer. “First of all...” he wrote. He knows that we can’t do anything without first kneeling before God’s throne, especially this most important task. In that posture we are humbled to recognize that we were once among those whom God wished to see saved, but when we were enemies, someone prayed and spoke the Gospel to us, too. How can we ignore that God loves them and desires them to be a part of His Kingdom?
So today, let us begin to pray for the unsaved and ask God to guide us to speak His light and forgiveness into their life. Perhaps one day soon they will no longer be enemies, but will be brothers and sisters in Christ. It will never happen if we do not begin with prayer, and then God will make amazing things happen.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org