The influence of the Church over regions and nations
'I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.'
1 Timothy 2:1-4
The Bible urges the Church to pray, intercede, make petitions and give thanks for: 'all people (regardless of race, origins, tribes or nationality), for kings and all those in authority.
The purpose or objective of such spiritual activity is to achieve societal peace characterised by godliness and holiness.
Prosperity (whether in a region or a nation) cannot come if there is no peace. Prosperity is a state where life can securely expand itself above any form of existing hindrance. Prosperity is not just about having money. As a matter of facts, there are many people who have money but they suffer from various issues. True prosperity is a thriving environment where life can expand itself above any form of visible hindrance. By the term 'hindrance', I refer to all forms of impediments flowing from sin and designed to trouble and shorten life such as crime, unjust wars, injustice, unjustified violence, poverty, famine, family disputes and many others...
But there cannot be any form of prosperity without Peace.
Peace precedes prosperity. This is why in Jewish culture, a greeting is designed to wish peace upon the person who is greeted. Jewish people say 'Shalom' (peace be upon you) when they greet someone.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul urges the Church to pray, intercede, make petitions and give thanks for all people, for kings and all those in authority so that we can live in peace. Furthermore, a peaceful environment also makes it easy to spread the Gospel for the salvation of more souls.
High levels of sinful behaviour (in a region or a nation) causing bad governance, life threatening acivities (e.g: violence, crimes..), and economic poverty are caused by the Church not playing her role.
It's amazing to see how many Church senior leaders (I mean leaders who are heading local churches) fail to play their role of 'spiritual order implementers' in the regions where God planted them.
There are regions where drug trafficking is a very normal thing while there are churches operating in those same regions. There are regions where women have to constantly run for their safety, and yet, in those same regions, there are churches. I can bring more examples about bad governance, poverty, corruption, injustice practiced in territories full of Churches!
One way to measure the true influence of a local church is by assessing the levels of peace in the region where that church operates.
Let us pray, intercede, make petitions and give thanks for all people, for kings and and for all in authority.
Let the Church play her role of peace implementer.