Topic(s):  Prayer

Todd Clippard

Yours is a very difficult question. All men do indeed possess free moral agency. But I'm not sure how praying for an individual would supplant or interfere in the exercise thereof. For example, when I pray, I pray for what is best for an individual. At the same time I pray for God's will to be done in all things. I think it best to pray that an individual will act in accordance with God's will, instead of praying for a specific course of action.

So long as we pray for what is best for an individual, and pray for understanding and the courage to accept God's will, I believe we ought to pray for others. In 1 Timothy 2:1-5, we are commanded to pray for our leaders that we might live quiet and peaceable lives. I don't think this is an attempt to usurp their free moral agency, any more than praying for myself is an attempt to have God intervene without my personal exercise of free moral agency.

Part of the difficulty is not knowing HOW God works in the lives of men. I believe prayer changes things, and I believe God works in the lives of men. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, for me to immediately point to any specific event and say, "This is the providence of God." An older, wiser, preacher-friend of mine once told me, "Always wait at least 15 years before crediting God with anything." What he meant was that sometimes we give God credit for things that end up hurting us in the long run, when our own poor decisions are the cause of the difficulty.