“Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands,
without wrath and dissension.”
(1 Timothy 2:8; NASB)

How many times have you headed for a restaurant, a theater, or an airplane and said to yourself, “I’d better take a jacket; it’s likely to be cold inside”?  But where I grew up, we didn’t know much about air conditioning, and you only put a jacket on when you were going outside, not inside. In the world we know today, someone else is controlling the thermostat in public spaces, forcing you and me to adjust accordingly.

The same thing is going on in the spiritual realm. We are suffering from discord and erratic behavior in almost every sector of our society, including the way we make our choices, in large part because someone else has usurped control of the thermostat.

The analogy points us to the solution: if we can change the climate, we can change the nation.

Dr. Ed Silvoso writes in his book Prayer Evangelism:

We have no problem believing that it is possible to change the spiritual climate inside a home, in a church building or even at a stadium during a crusade. Every Sunday in church we see the climate change gradually as the service proceeds. The concept of changing a spiritual climate is not foreign to us.

However, we do have a problem believing that the same climate we enjoy in church can and should be enjoyed all over the city. Yet this is promised in 1 Timothy 2:1-8, where Paul tells us that if we pray for everybody, everywhere, we will be able to live quiet and tranquil lives in all godliness and honesty. For godliness to increase in a city, ungodliness must decrease, and none of this can happen without radical improvement in the spiritual climate of the city.

For far too long, we have left control of the spiritual climate in our cities in the hands of the devil. This is evident when we look around at the mire of sin, the hostility and anger, the criminal activity and the crushing weight of hopelessness on our fellow citizens. Every week thousands in our cities get married, hoping for a bright future; and every week a similar number watch their marriages disintegrate. Satan is keeping a subzero climate in place, while the Church is rubbing sticks together, trying to spark a few fires to keep its own people from freezing.

But what if the Church in the city was able to take control of the spiritual thermostat away from the devil and set it to a comfortable 70° F? Suddenly, Satan would be on the defensive, assigning demons to frantically distribute melting ice cubes around the city in a futile attempt to bring the temperature down a few degrees.

(Prayer Evangelism, Chosen Books 2017)

Points for Prayer:

Read and pray through 1 Timothy 2:1-8.

Examine your heart about the phrase “…lifting up holy hands without wrath or dissension.” Fix anything that’s broken there.

Then with authority, begin to “…pray for all men everywhere,” beginning with your neighbors, and let faith arise in you for your nation.

By Dave Thompson
Sr. Vice President, Transform Our World