Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 74

March 15;   Romans 13:1;   130/260(I);   ‘Authority By God’

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God

We are told in this verse to be subject to authority.  Authority is established by God.  Without authority we have chaos.  God established authority for our protection, that there would be law and order.  When there is trouble, thank the Lord for the police, our military and political leaders that ‘have our back.’ This is not to say that all authority is good, nor that those in authority are honest and respectful.  It also does not mean that the laws established by those in authority are good and fair.  What do we do if those in authority are tyrants and the laws they establish are unfair?  The Bible teaches very clearly in I Timothy 2, that we are to pray for those in authority.  We are to ask the Lord to bless them, protect them and give them wisdom to govern properly.  If our leaders are not governing in a proper manner or if they are corrupt and mean spirited, ask the Lord to deal with them to change, or remove them if they will not change.  Proverbs 21:1 teaches that the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord and the Lord can turn the king’s heart.  Being critical and bad mouthing our leaders is not biblical. Anyone can and does do this.  God sees everything and knows what kind of leaders represent you.  Do things His way.  We are not to simply accept what our leaders say and do.  If those in authority do things that are contrary to the Word of God, we are not to go along with their legislation.  We are to respect them, but our alliegence must be with the Word of God.  Sincere prayer, asking the Lord to intervene and change those in authoirty, will do more than anything else can.  God’s ways work.