Day 29 — Pray for Everyone

“First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

— 1 Timothy 2:1–4 (BSB)

Who do you usually pray for? Probably yourself, your family, maybe your friends. Those are great things to pray about!

But Paul says to pray for “everyone.” That’s a big list!

Paul mentions a few specific kinds of prayer. Petitions and prayers mean asking God for things. Intercessions means praying on behalf of someone else, standing in the gap for them before God. And thanksgiving means thanking God for people.

Then Paul says to pray “for kings and all those in authority.” That means leaders: presidents, prime ministers, governors, mayors, judges, police officers, principals and teachers. When Paul wrote this, the rulers of the Roman Empire weren’t friendly to Christians. Some were cruel. But Paul still said to pray for them!

Why? Because God is in charge of the whole world, and He can work through leaders to bring peace. And because God cares about leaders’ souls too.

Look at the end of the passage. God “wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God loves every single person in the world. He wants all of them to know Jesus. When we pray for everyone, we’re praying with God’s own heart.

That means we can pray for:

• Leaders in our country and around the world.
• Missionaries who are telling people about Jesus in other places.
• People who don’t know Jesus yet, including friends, neighbors and family members.
• Countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith.
• People going through disasters, wars or hard times you hear about in the news.
• People you don’t like! (Remember Day 17.)

You might not be able to travel around the world. But through prayer, you can help people all over the globe. Prayer is like a superpower that lets a kid in their bedroom make a difference on the other side of the planet.

Think about it: Who is someone you’ve never prayed for before, but should? What about a leader, a missionary or a country?

Try this: Make a prayer list with five categories: a leader, a missionary, a country, someone who doesn’t know Jesus, and someone who’s having a hard time. Pray through it today.

Dear God, thank You that You love every person in the world and want everyone to be saved. I pray for [name a leader], for missionaries around the world, for [name a country], and for people who don’t know You yet, especially [name]. Help me pray for everyone. In Jesus’ name, Amen.