The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Praying For Our Leaders

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

What can we do to make a difference in our political climate? Jeff Cavins points to scripture as he talks about why we should be praying for our leaders and those entrusted with the responsibility of keeping us safe. There is power in prayer. You can do your part by praying for the Lord to guide their decision making and to use them as instruments for good. Snippet from the Show Politics can help set the table, but we have to come to the table and be a part of our society. If you have found Ascension’s free content to be a blessing, would you consider giving a small financial gift to help us continue this life-changing work? https://ascensionpress.com/products/support-ascension Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit https://media.ascensionpress.com/?s=&page=2&category%5B0%5D=Ascension%20Podcasts&category%5B1%5D=The%20Jeff%20Cavins%20Show for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven's show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 402, praying for our leaders. Hello, my dear friend. Welcome again, this is Jeff Kavans, and this is the Jeff Kaven's show in a weekly basis where we get together, and we talk about our faith, certainly, but different aspects of it. We talk about what it means to be a disciple and what it means to, you know, get deep into God's word, how to read God's word. We talk about how to read the Bible from time to time based on the great adventure study. And we talk about discipleship, what makes up the life of somebody who is

following Jesus. And today we're going to talk a little bit about a praying. for our leaders because, well, it's a good time to do it, right? We just finished our national election, and we have President Trump is now going to be president again. And many people in the country are not real happy about it. And others, of course, are very happy about it. But whether you are not happy or happy, we as Christians have an obligation to pray for our leaders. And so I would like to talk about that a little bit today and give you several scriptures that, that really remind us not only why we should be praying for our leaders, but how we can go about doing this. And a couple of suggestions might make this more of a routine in your life

because God has given us leaders and the leaders have been given you. They've been given to the leaders have been given a blessing in you is what I'm trying to say. And that's what we do. We pray for them. And we're going to learn a little bit about how to do that. Before we get into that today, I want to share something with you. We've been doing this show for quite a while now. And this is show at 402. And I do what, 52 of them a year, something like that. And so we've been doing it a long time and trying to produce really good material that will be a blessing to you, that will assist you in your walk with the Lord. And all of this has been offered through Ascension Presents, and it's a free show.

And we hope you enjoy it and share it with others and we'll continue to present to you some really good material that will help you in your life. But not only do they encourage you these shows, this show and all the other shows with Ascension Presents, but they really do become a natural tool for evangelization as well, where you can just grab a show on a particular topic. There's 402 of them. There's got to be something there for your friends who have a need. But you can grab that show and you can share it with others as a gift. And it just might be the answer. Might be the answer to what they have been looking for.

And in order to keep producing these helpful shows, I'm going to ask you to consider to do something, consider doing something. And that is to give a gift towards the production of these shows, to be a part of the producing. of the shows because it really, really helps. You know, a lot of people don't realize it, but I'm just one person, and I'm sitting here with you today as I am every week.

But when I'm done, I will give this file to other people in Ascension, and they will take it and they will edit it and they will put it in a really nice format and make sure that it's available to you, whether it's through Apple or Amazon, or Google, you know, all kinds of different opportunities, and they will do a great job of making that available to you. I know what it's like to go online, and I have several of my favorite podcasts myself, and I don't give a lot of thought to how it got there every week, but there were people working hard to get the job done, and I just wanted to let you know that Ascension loves you, and they're producing these materials for you, and there's a lot of people

doing the work there. So with all these people behind the scenes, just a shout out to them tonight today, whenever you're listening to this in the morning, jogging, breakfast time, they've already done their work. So I'm asking you to pray about this and ask the Lord what you could do to be a part of the production of many of these shows and the shows that I'm associated with like this show. And Bible in a year, catechism in a year, they took a lot of time and a lot of people to pull off. But you know what? These shows were very successful and they caught the attention of the whole country. Something unusual happened with the material in Ascension Presents. So with your help, you can be a part of this as well. Again, it's a privilege to provide these shows for you and it's a

privilege to work with you. And information will be available in the show notes if you'd like to take that step. Want you to know, I appreciate it and love you. very much so politics we don't talk about politics per se a whole lot do we and i think one of the reasons is that there's this sort of this unwritten rule you know we don't talk about politics and when you have people over for dinner at the kitchen table you don't talk about religion and you don't talk about politics and you don't even talk about philosophy but you know politics is a real part of our lives. And we just finished with this election. And it has been a trip, hasn't it? You know? And I think every four years after the election, people are tired of politics and they

cannot wait till it's over with so they don't have to watch commercials anymore. And we can talk about something else. But there is one theme in politics that we don't stop. We don't get. We don't give up. We don't wait till it's over. And that is praying for our leaders, praying for those who have oversight in our culture. And we'll look at some of those here in just a moment. But we have an awful lot of people, like the show, like I was talking about earlier, the people that were working on the podcast, we have tonight, when you go to bed tonight and your kids are safe in the house and the doors are locked and so forth, there's going to be people out there driving around in cars making sure that your neighborhood is protected. There's going to be people

working on bills for the local government and state government and national government with the hopes, at least we hope so, right, that they're making decisions that will be good for all of us. And I remember, you know, coming into this last election and looking at it from a different perspective, perhaps a perspective that I didn't look at it from when I was younger. And that is as a grandfather, I'm married, have three daughters, and I have three grandkids at this point, probably going to end up with, you know, quite a few more. But I have three right now. And it's funny because I listen to things from their perspective. I listen as a grandfather who's thinking about the world that is being prepared for them to grow up in. And sometimes, you know,

I've got to be honest, it bothers me, and it makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable to realize the world that they're going to grow up in and that their children are going to have another world to grow up in. And it just kind of keeps kind of spiraling out of control at times. And so I know that our prayers are very, very powerful. In fact, James says the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. There's power in the prayers. There's effectiveness in our prayer. prayers. And I think sometimes we put a lot of emphasis on politics. So I want to just share this little thought with you here. And that is that I think sometimes we think that if we get the right people in the right offices at the right time, then things are going to be great.

And that's, that's not true. That's not true at all. And the reason that it's not true is because politics, by and large, does not deal with the problem. It doesn't deal with the heart of the problem, which is the condition of the human soul. It's the brokenness that we have experienced due to original sin. It's concupiscence, which is a disordered self-centeredness. These are the reasons that we struggle so much with our lives. We want things and we don't get them, and so we argue with one another. and we are, you know, kind of selfish people in our lives.

And when we don't get what we want to do or have, then we can really stir things up. And so just thinking that having the right representatives or senators or president or cabinet or school board members is really going to turn everything around, it doesn't, but it can provide a better atmosphere for our children to grow up in in a safer atmosphere. and an atmosphere that lends itself to the work of the church and doesn't see the church as the enemy or the people of God as narrow-minded enemies that are out to ruin everybody's fun, right? And so looking for the answer in politics will always lead to disappointment, but that doesn't mean that we're not supposed to pray for our leaders.

So the question would be then why would we pray? Why would we pray for our leaders? I think that the answer to that is that it's kind of like a dance with the Lord. We act as the eyes and the heart of the Lord, the body of Christ, that's who we are, and we know how to pray. And we, as the body of Christ, are working with the Lord to bring about justice, bringing about protection of our people, creating an atmosphere for God to be worshipped and obeyed a freedom in our country. But as I was mentioning earlier, that politics is not the answer because you can praise and worship God locked up in the gulag. You know, locked up in prison somewhere in Siberia. You can still worship God and you can obey God and you can still pray for the situations around the world.

So prayer assists our leaders in making the right decisions that will lend our country to the poor, for example, that there will be an atmosphere of mercy for the poor and provision for the poor and education. And so we pray for this atmosphere to manifest so that the will of God and the things of God and the agenda of Jesus can be carried out. And ultimately, it's souls. It's that people would come to know to know the Lord. And you know as well as I do, that's not just going to happen by itself, is it? It's not going to happen by itself. There needs to be an atmosphere where we can grow and we can raise our families and be a part of this change in the world. Sometimes I feel like politics is like the poor. You know, there's that saying that says the poor, we will always have

among us. And politics seems to always have a bad reputation, but it is what we have and where there is power and where there is extraordinary authority, there is oftentimes corruption. And I think like politics, I think politics is like the Garden of Eden in some ways. You remember in the Garden of Eden, Eve, she looked at the tree in Genesis 3,6, and she noticed three things about it. And that was that it was beautiful, tasty, and makes one wise. So it's beautiful, tasty, and makes one wise. and boy, what's not to like about that?

But the Lord said, do not eat of that, but to obey his commands. And you know the story, and she ended up taking the fruit and eating it and giving it to Adam. He ate it. And so our original parents were hit with original sin, and that original justice was gone. And there you go. It's going to cascade from one generation to the next. And the problem is, is that if people see that they can grasp for power or grasp for beauty or grasp for that which is tasty, there's temptation there, and if you have the freedom, the power and the resources to get what you want that's beautiful and tasty and make you wise and make you, you know, all that and a bag of chips, I guess you could say, then. then it's going to be easier to fall into that temptation, and it's just kind of the nature of the beast,

isn't it? And we have to contend with that. But our prayers availeth much. They really, really do. And so our political leaders need prayer. They need us. They need us to stand in the gap, as it says in the scripture, and intercede for them, and pray for them. And they might not even know, that we're doing that. But that's okay because our prayers are effective. They don't have to know that you're sitting, you know, in your cabin as right now, I'm deep in the woods of Minnesota. They don't need to know that. They don't need to know it at all. My prayers are not dependent upon them knowing that I'm doing it. My prayers are in the name of Jesus and I'm praying, hopefully, according to the will of God for my leaders. And as Paul exhorted Timothy, he said, Christians are called to pray for

those in high positions. So we're called to pray for our leaders, and while it seems easier to pray for the leaders that we agree with, and thank God for the leaders that we agree with, we're to pray for all leaders. That means that we pray also for those who we don't agree with, who might even get us angry or upset, you know, with some of the things they say and some of the things they vote on and do. But that can't take us off the path either. So one of the things that I recommend doing is I recommend making a prayer list to guide you. And it's something that you can do very easily, even on a three by five index card. Or you can use one of the insight journals that I've provided that Ascension now publishes.

It's an insight journal that gives you places to put lists for these types of things. So make a list of the people in your local area who have responsibility. And I know, you know, I'm going to get to this after the break, but I'm going to give you some scriptures that actually command us to do such and that is to pray for our leaders but we know that but it's amazing how how we can let time slip by and never do it and if we do it once are we going to do it again and if we did it twice are we going to do it a third time needs to become kind of a habit in our life and on the way to work in the car you can or if you're walking you certainly can use that time a little or wisely then you know just simply catching up on the Sunday foot

football scores, but you can use it as a time to pray for the leaders in your area. So political positions, yes, but also we need to pray for other positions. Now, first, with the political positions, you know, you have the people who are leading your local government. You know, you have mayors of cities, and you have attorney generals, and you have state representatives and state senators and, you know, all kinds of typical positions in politics. And you can write down your leader's names on a card as a reminder to pray for them by name every day. And we also have the responsibility to pray for positions like school boards who are making decisions about our schools, particularly the public schools, and principals, counselors, teachers. And then we also have people in high positions like police officers and firefighters.

And we have people like rescue workers and state SWAT teams and the military, National Guard, all kinds of people who are serving our country. And so these are the kinds of people that we can pray for and ask God to bless. And that I would recommend praying not only will God use them for the same. of our children and everybody in our cities, but to pray for their souls, to pray that God would woo them and draw them. Look, we're looking for change in the country, aren't we? And that's what all this has been about, you know, moving towards these recent elections. Well, the greatest change that can take place is conversion. And so I think it's okay to pray for all of our leaders in terms

of, oh, I pray that they will totally give their lives to you, Lord. Do what you need to do. And as we go about our everyday lives, politics, I think, often seems to be so far removed. But to be honest, I think that it feels far removed because we don't bring our faith into the exercise of praying for our leaders. And I'm going to take a break when we come back. I've got some scriptures I'll share with you that might make this a little easier, at least give you some reasons for praying that are making us obeisance. to the Lord in his desires. All right, you're listening to the Jeff Kaven show.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. And I'd like to invite you to join me this upcoming Advent on the Ascension app. Here's a question. What if you knew that December 25th, Christmas Day, was the day that you were going to wake up dead? I know that sounds morbid, but there's a reality of our life would have to change, right? The way we would live Advent would have to change. We'd have to live it with intentionality.

We'd have to live it with purpose. We have to live it with grace. If you want to join me every day of this upcoming Advent from December 1st to December 25th, download the Ascension app and join the wait list. Or you could go to ascensionpress.com slash Father Mike Advent to join. Download the Ascension app today. Welcome back. Ooh, I'm out here in the woods today.

And it is starting to get cold here in Minnesota. Leaves are off the trees. It's getting cold. And it's been quite a period recently with politics. and everyone's talking about it. Everybody's talking about what happened earlier this week. So we're going to pray for our leaders. Now, let me give you, let's see, I've got three, four, five.

I've got five scriptures I'll share with you here. And I'll put them in the show notes. And by the way, if you don't get the show notes, all you have to do is text my name, one word, Jeff Kavans. That's J-E-F-F-F-C-A-V-N-S. That's one word. and text my name to the number 3.377. That's all you got to do. And we'll get you the show notes every single week. Okay, what are some scriptures that talk about our leaders and praying for our

leaders? Well, Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 1 says that the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Now, this is a beautiful scripture in Proverbs, because it does tell us that the king's heart is like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord. And the Lord is turning this, like I guess you could say a stream or a small river in the way that he wills. So there is an aspect of the hearts of our leaders that is directed by the Lord. And the Lord can use those leaders, even if those leaders don't even know about it, you know? Like I'm thinking about in the New Testament, Gamli el, the teacher of Paul, he spoke to the people who were persecuting the church and he said to them basically,

he said, listen, you know, I'd watch it if I were you. And he gave a bit of prophecy that one man would die for the many. And whether he knew that or not, we don't know, but we do know the Lord used him. Even if the high priest at the time didn't stand up and say, I'm speaking under the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord used him. The Lord used him. So the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wills. But then again, our prayers can move the hand of God if we pray in the will of Jesus. We pray according to the will of God. That's why knowing scripture is so important. And that's why we talk about it so much on a weekly basis here on the Jeff Kaven show is that scripture teaches you the will of God. And when you, for example,

pray the Psalms, not only are you praying the will of God, but you're learning how to pray more effectively. Now, the second scripture is Colossians 1, 16, and 17. And again, I'll put these in the notes for you. It says, for in him, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. So I love this. Let me just say part of this again.

For in him all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. And so God has something to say. say about the creation of powers, rulers, and authorities, and thrones. And these can be used for his purposes. And he has asked us to pray for those people who have power, our rulers and authorities. And we pray that they would do what the will of the Lord is and that they would provide the atmosphere for us to enjoy all good things and to live a godly life. You know, that's one of the things we have to remember is that God wants an atmosphere for us

where we can live a godly life and that we can be honoring, we can honor the Lord with our lives. And there are countries where it's very, very difficult to do that. And one of the reasons is, is because of the leadership. The leadership makes it very difficult. And there is tremendous persecution. Why, the book of Revelation, when John is writing to the seven churches in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey, there are seven churches that are all struggling with Caesar worship and immorality and worshiping false gods. And it was very difficult for them to live out their faith because of all that was going on. And so praying for the leadership will not only ultimately honor God, but it will make an atmosphere more suitable for conversion

for people and to grow and to be a blessing to others. Here's one, Romans 13, verse 1, let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. I love that. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is. is no authority except from God. Now, I ran into this just a few weeks ago when I was driving down the road and I got pulled over by a police officer as a state trooper. And I honestly had absolutely no idea why I was being pulled over. And my first thought was, well, I don't like this so much.

You know, I mean, I got things going on in my life and my father was just about to pass away and I'm being pulled over and I don't really have the time to deal with this. I didn't know what he wanted to talk to me about. So he pulled me over and he said, you know why I pulled you over? And I said, no, I really don't I don't have any idea at all. He said, you

were on your phone. And I said, no, I was not on my phone. And he said, I saw your thumb on the phone. And I said, I said, officer, I don't know what you saw my thumb doing, but I wasn't using my phone. I picked up my

phone to put it in the seat next to me so I could check on some information down on the console there because I was going to pick up some food for the family and I thought I had some kind of coupon for the restaurant. And he was kind of forceful with me and then it hit me what I'm talking to you about today. It hit me that, wait a minute, this guy has been given to me by God. God has given authority and I need to respect that. as much as I didn't want to at that point, and as much as I wanted to be a smart aleck at that point, I needed to realize that God gave authority.

And it was up to me at that point to be obedient. So pray for good authority. We have to always be obedient to the authority, you know, the police and so forth. And when they stand with that badge, there's a certain amount of authority that goes way beyond anything you have as far as natural authority.

They're here for you. for your good, ultimately. Here's another one, a good one. This is one that most people will speak about when they talk about praying for those who are in authority. It's Paul's letter to Timothy, 1st Timothy 2, 1 through 4. I won't read it all, but I will read this. Paul told Timothy, he said, first of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,

intercessions, and Thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings, and all. all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly, and dignified in every area. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, the reason I like that so much, well, number one, it's just pretty blatant, isn't it, that we are urged to make supplication and prayers and intercession for the leaders of our people, and Thanksgiving, by the way, for the leaders of our people and for the kings and those in high positions. But the end goal here is that people would be saved,

that people would have that freedom to hear the gospel, respond to it, and begin to live it out, which would hopefully raise the whole boat higher, and that community or that state or that nation would become even more pleasing. to the Lord. And so with those names that you have locally, you can make supplication for them. You can pray for them. You can make intercession. And you can give Thanksgiving to God for those people in leadership. It's a beautiful thing. I love that. First Timothy 2, 1 through 4, I'll put it in the show notes. And finally, Philippians 4-6, do not be anxious about anything.

Boy, we've had a lot of that, haven't we? We've had so much going on in the country. And not only our country, but around the world, in Spain with the floods, in North Carolina with the floods, with the hurricanes, and man, there's been a lot of suffering people. Paul says, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. So in the midst of these situations like we're facing right now with the exchange of power, In our own government, the United States, we want to pray in such a way that anxiety would leave. Our confidence would be in the Lord.

And our requests would be made known to God, which is what prayer is, right? That's what we're doing here. We don't want to be anxious about anything, but in everything. By prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. So I would just end by saying, if you are anxious, if you are hot and bothered by everything that's going on, God doesn't want you to live with that kind of anxiety. And what you do to deal with that kind of anxiety in a political environment is that you pray and make your request known to God. And you leave it with the Lord.

You trust the Lord. You ask him to fulfill his purposes in your city, in your state, in your nation. you are ultimately depending upon the Lord. And that gets back to something I said at the beginning, and that is that the answer is not ultimately politics. If it were, we would have had things figured out, I think. But it's not. Politics can help set the table,

but we have to come to the table and be a part of our society. The politics can lead, guide, legislate, keep us safe to some degree. The poor can be provided for. taxes can be used for good, pray that our taxes are used for good because they're not always used for good. And I think that when you look in our culture today in the United States, there's so much money that is going towards things that are not of God. And that's something that we can pray about. And that's why we need godly men and women in positions, in high positions.

And so the time to pray for these people isn't during the election so much is that it's all year long that we are constantly asking God to raise up young men and women that might serve in public office that would be a part of leading and directing a country, men and women who have the interests of God on their heart. And there's a lot of good people that really is. and we've got a lot of really good politicians in the United States that are not selfish and are not going after that which is beautiful and tasty and makes themselves wise and big in the eyes of society. So we've got a lot of good people. So let's just continue on. And I guess I'm just saying to you today, don't be anxious, continue to pray and know that ultimately the change that's going to take place is going to come at the hands of the faithful who do what the Lord has commanded us to do. That's how things really get changed. There's no bill that can be passed in Congress that will

change the human heart, but Jesus can. He can. And that's ultimately who we hope and pray will touch the lives of everyone in our country. Let's pray. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, we love you so much. And Lord, there are times when we are just so tired of politics and tired of debate and criticizing and saying things about people that are mean. Lord, help us to rise above all of it and to lift up to you, our leaders, and ask you to bring about a conversion in their heart, to lead them in such a way that they would prepare the, would prepare the atmosphere for people to grow in holiness and that more of your glory and your mercy and your grace would flow from the church out into society and result in being a huge

blessing. Lord, we give you President-elect Trump. We ask you to bless him and lead him to give him wisdom and insight and protection. And J.D. Vance, the vice president-elect, we pray that you would watch over his family, as well as President-elect Trump, and as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris and their families as they are making their exit. Continue, Lord, to put your arms around them and draw them to yourself and bring about a peace in their life and an intimacy with you that perhaps they've never known before to this level. We love you, Jesus, and we continue to pray for the leaders that you have. have placed among us. In your name we pray, amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

amen.