“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
Our world is a very loud place, full of shouting, struggling and unhappiness. Paul’s instructions are quite a contrast to the world of the 21st century!
As Christians, we need not immerse ourselves in the noise around us, for we can take refuge in Christ. Consider what Paul is telling us to do here: Pray for everyone. Notice that he doesn’t tell us to just go to God with everything that we want. Instead, he is telling us to pray for everyone else.
It is truly amazing how much the noise dies down when we put others first. Is the world you live in getting too loud? Pray for everyone! This goes a bit further than just praying for folks, it gets down to the heart of things in fact. If we are putting others first, both in prayer and in practice, we will be living quiet lives in godliness and holiness… in other words, we will be living as Jesus would have us to live.
Image via Wikipedia Jesus at prayer
Life Project Blog 
We should always think of others first, but now do we stop thinking about our aches and pains… don’t they keep us in the self… and not in others.
Great question!
The truth is that we all have aches and pains… and they aren’t always physical. They can be financial, relational emotional…
The key is where our focus lies. Are we focused on our aches, or are we focused on our relationship with Jesus Christ? How can we keep our focus where it needs to be? A friend of mine put it really well in his blog; please be sure to check it out:
http://thinkoutlaud.blogspot.com/2011/09/prayer-journal.html
Great post. The idea as Paul puts it in Romans 12 ” to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” if put into practice would be such a contrast to the self obsession of the world which we are, so often, drawn into as well.
Wow! Thank you! I continuously wanted to write on my blog something like that. Can I implement a part of your post to my blog?