Ps 72 Covenants and authority

Psalm 72:4Covenants and authorityMay the king, and any man in authority, prove the champion of the weak. May the king save the children of the needy and judge and defend the poor of the people. May he deliver the forlorn and vindicate the afflicted of the people and break to pieces the oppressor. Ps 72:4, Moffat, KJV, the Amplified.It is for the sake of creating a sense of great emphasis that I have chosen to blend the three translations together into one single statement. It is to lift forward and to expose the nature of authority and royal benevolence that I have allowed the amplification of the, to so many so dear, ”Amplified version”.Inspire the king, the president, our MPs, our regional principals and prefects, any person positioned in or laying hold of authority with thine own justice, endow his majesty and the first men with thine own equity, Ps 72:1 - Moffat. Amplification again added for the sake of generating prayer prayed with focus and precision and intercession which gathers willingness to give itself away to men who ought to be shields of the earth.

2. Authority must not turn offensive. Authority must not become aggressive. If it does, it sides with terrorism and dictatorship. The true nature of authority manifests in a willingness to defend and protect. Authority is closely allied with humility in a ruling in favour of the weak and defenceless. Authority is humility which gives itself to the defence of the humiliated and crushed.Pride and arrogance, flippancy and self-seeking are but shiny expressions and indications of the absence of authority. Royal virtue and dignity are displayed and experienced in its relation to and interest in the welfare of the people, the whole nation as an integrated unit. Royalty brings dignity. Royalty serves its nation by imparting dignity, guaranteeing common rights and prescribing common duties.

3. First priority prayer brings dignity. First duty prayer places men in authority in a position, in a situation in which they have to consider ways bringing dignity and godliness to their particular realm of reign, 1 Tim 2:1-4. First priority prayer brings conviction, Prov 21:1. ”The woman bothers me.” Luke 18.15. The intercessors bother and stir the ruler. Intercession brings conviction.Prayer touches men’s hearts, reminding them about a ruler’s duties towards his people. Prayer touches men’s hearts, bringing them back to take a fresh look at their covenants and commitments and to the faithfulness to the Covenant.

4. True prayer is a matter of revelation. It reveals the foundation and nature of the covenants cut to establish a ruler. It sheds light on the spiritual forces in operation for the sake of binding together the covenant partners, the ruler and his people. True prayer brings conviction as to the necessity of cutting a covenant with God for the sake of protection, peace and provision.Priestly prayer has the unity between the king, the people and the Lord as its main object, 2 Chron 23:16. Priestly prayer brings balance, brings proper interaction between a ruler and his people, holding forth the Covenant as the plumb line and measuring rod.

5. Intercession discerns the enemy of the people. I will go to the great and will speak to them, they have with one accord broken the yoke and burst the bonds, Jer 5:5. Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us, Ps 2:3. Severing rulership from its true source opens the door for a Pharao to establish himself behind a ruler. There is a spiritual dimension behind the physical. There is a spiritual dimension as to rulership. Ruling and reigning takes a solid relation to a spiritual force and to the spiritual dimension to become powerful in its operation. The covenants cut to create the dynamics between the ruler and his spiritual counterpart is the root of enmity between the ruler and his people. There is a Pharao behind any Pharao. The existence of a spiritual dimension behind an evil ruler becomes a challenge to an intercessor. The intercession of a priestly intercessor carries this reality to the cross in persistent prayer, expecting intervention from Heaven. Some of the bowels of prayer in Heaven are large indeed, but they have to be filled. When the work of filling them is done properly, certain very drastic results will become unavoidable.

6. Prayer brings a nation back to the Covenant of the Lord. Effectual, fervent prayer for a nation is covenant conscious and covenant related. It brings the covenant dimension to bear on the main issues. It sheds light on covenants and their relation to the Covenant. It brings discernment.Praying for a king does not necessary equal approval of his decisions and behaviour. Reasons for disapproval might abound. The greater reason for disapproval, the greater need of agonising intercession. Intercessors are not afraid of pain and they are finding themselves again and again learning to gather strength in the Lord to be able to carry burdens of both the people and the first men.

7. First priority prayer takes sound judgment and soberness. It does not allow itself to ”come against” a king. Priestly intercession displays servanthood. We are made and prepared to be a royal priesthood. Our dimension of work and of living is the royal dimension. Royal prayer cannot feed on the spirit of partiality or any party spirit. Christianity is neither partiality nor a party. The beauty of holiness is her mark. Royal prayer aims at fencing off any effort of dissension and discord. It wards off any effort of division for the sake of division. It brings peace. It prays for its enemies. It has its source in the atonement. It aims at covenanting for the sake of true worship, godliness and proper defence of the poor, the needy and the crushed. Partiality produces poverty at all levels of societal life. Royalty brings back dignity and humanity.

8. A Pharao restricts worship. Any covenant between rulers and spiritual powers choke true worship. Kings are judged according to their relation to the high places. The altars and the high places attract attention, but it is the covenants that provide the foundation for them that need to be touched in prayer. First priority prayer brings men in authority back to the Covenant. First priority prayer brings conviction. If a king prays, it is as if the whole nation prays. If a king cuts a covenant, the whole nation is affected. The Covenant closes the inroad for the oppressor.Intercession brings the king, a man in authority back to prayer. Intercessors lead the first men back to the Book and the Covenant. First priority prayer brings conviction. Conviction leads to repentance. Repentance opens for dignity to be restored. Dignity and godliness is heaven on earth.END