The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional Fellowship With the Father, written by IFA contributing writer Remco Brommet.

Roads have lines, signs and guardrails to keep us moving safely in the right direction. In order to ensure that safety, users have to obey the rules of the road.

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Have you taken your place on the wall?

That is a powerful picture of the purpose of a nation’s laws. They are there to ensure the safety of all its inhabitants. When they are violated in some way, safety is compromised. And we have authorities in place to ensure that rules are known and followed, and that violations are punished so they are not repeated.

Those authorities are under attack in our nation right now with potentially disastrous consequences for all of us, and so it is important for us as Christians to understand the importance of civil authorities and to pray for them.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist incur judgment….for the authorities are ministers of God.” Romans 13:1,2,6b.

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-3

Government and law enforcement are ministers of God and exist by His appointment, even when they misbehave. Paul wrote this awaiting his execution in a Roman prison, under a government that was pagan and unrivaled in its brutality. And yet he called upon the believers to pray for them, for this is pleasing to God and is related to the guarantee of peaceful and quiet lives, and the advance of the gospel. It defined a Christian’s view and response to authority for all times, and it has never ceased to be relevant and needed.

During the last couple of years chaos and hatred have been unleashed and much of it has been directed at law enforcement, with disastrous consequences. I see more of it because I served as a chaplain to several law enforcement agencies for 15 years and still speak regularly with the people in blue who are on the receiving end of all this hatred.

And I am deeply concerned.

All of them are angry with the fatal brutality of a few that has unleashed waves of anti-police sentiment and has destroyed decades of relationship building with the community. They are deeply concerned that policing, and the appropriate use of force on violent suspects, is now being criminalized and that officers will quickly face prosecution in the face of public perception that they have gone too far – often based on inadequate information. Many feel that elected officials are turning against them and are forcing reform on them without adequate knowledge and insight of policing issues. The increasing calls to defund or dismantle the police further gives them the sense that society is turning against them. They also fear that criminal elements will feel increasingly empowered to do what they want as the power of police is being curtailed, and that anarchist movements will metastasize and repeat nationwide what they did in in a few of our cities. As a result, morale is at an all-time low. Many agencies are reporting mass sick-outs, walk-outs, retirements and resignations. Recruitment is at an all-time low and as a result many departments face critical staff shortages.

Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24:12 that in the last days lawlessness will abound seems to be unfolding before our eyes and has just taken a great leap forward.

How do we, as the people of God, respond?

With earnest, heartfelt prayer. And an earnest, heartfelt show of support.

Today’s Prayer Assignment

I plead with you to pray for our law enforcement agencies, 12,000+ of them with nearly 700,000 officers, in all their diversity, as well as our appointed and elected civil authorities. Here are some pointers:

• Pray for spiritual revival to come to our police departments. They are ministers of God whether they know it or not. Pray that they come into their true identity as “appointed by God.”
• Pray for divine wisdom to come upon every sheriff and police chief in our nation to turn grief into constructive self-reflection on how to better serve the evermore complex needs of the communities they serve.
• Pray for God to stir in the hearts of the communities to come alongside them, dialogue with them, and help them with reforms where needed out of a place of love and support instead of a place of anger and hate.
• Pray for the plans of the Enemy to promote lawlessness, anarchy and hate to come to nothing and for God’s hand of restraint on the armed and violent extremists – on the political left and right.
• Pray for protection on our police officers and their families in light of increasing aggression against them and danger on the job. Police mortality is at an all-time high.
• Even if the situation seems hopeless at times, let us be assured of this: Bringing supplication and intercession for authorities is pleasing to God, and threatens the enemy more than protests, plans, or opinions.
• Pray for the civil authorities that have caved in to extremists and are promoting agendas and ideologies that are contrary to God’s will for the US to see the error of their ways and for their power to be neutralized.

Download this entire series in a PDF format.

Share your own prayers and scriptures for the authorities.

Author Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years’ experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the US. Born and raised in the Netherlands and pastoring his first church in Amsterdam, he moved to the US in 1986. He and his wife Jennifer currently live north of Atlanta, GA When not writing books, he blogs and assists his wife as content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo Credit: zbindere/Getty Images Signature via Canva Pro.