Let's start praying for all people

1 Timothy 2:1-2 (NKJV)

2 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Here the Apostle Paul reminds Timothy to pray for all people. They are to plead on the behalf of their needs and also give thanks for all people. Those in authority should especially be prayed for. These prayers are for a peaceful life lived in godliness and reverence.

In When Being Good Isn’t Enough, Steve Brown writes: Early in my ministry I counseled a woman who, some twenty years before, had been unfaithful to her husband. For years that sin had haunted her. I was the first person she had ever told about it. After we talked and prayed for a long time, I recommended she tell her husband. (That, by the way, isn't always the advice I give. In this case, I knew the woman's husband and knew that her revelation, after the initial shock, would probably strengthen their marriage.) It wasn't easy for her, but she promised she would tell him. "Pastor," she said, "I trust you enough to do what you ask, but if my marriage falls apart as a result, I want you to know I'm going to blame you." She didn't smile when she said that, either.

That's when I commenced to pray with a high degree of seriousness. (I pray best when I'm scared.) "Father," I prayed, "if I gave her dumb advice, forgive me and clean up my mess." I saw her the next day, and she looked fifteen years younger. "What happened?" I asked. "When I told him," she exclaimed, "he replied that he had known about the incident for twenty years and was just waiting for me to tell him so he could tell me how much he loved me!" And then she started to laugh. "He forgave me twenty years ago, and I've been needlessly carrying all this guilt for all these years!" Perhaps you are like this woman: you've already been forgiven years ago, but you don't know God's forgiveness. Instead, you've been haunted by a load of guilt for years.  [Steve Brown, When Being Good Isn't Enough (Lucid Books, 2014), pp. 10-11]

Prayer is a powerful tool we all have at our disposal. The Apostle reminds us to pray for all people. Those prayers should include us, our families, our friends, our leaders and even those who have wronged us. Jesus told us, “whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

Prayers can be spontaneous, they can be deliberate, that can be silent, and they can be spoken with others that they may agree in spirit with the prayer. Prayers can tell God about the joys of life and praises you have for God. Prayers can also relay disappointments and painful experiences that you desire God to heal.

God may not always answer our prayers the way we desire, but God has a plan for those prayers to answer them for our good.