An Oregon Prayer List

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay 
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. 
I Timothy 2: 1-3 

This post is a bit of "housekeeping" before we really get into the nitty-gritty. A friend once told me she divided her prayer list up into the days of the week: one day for family, one for the nation, one for missionaries, etc. I was shocked as I had assumed you had to pray for everything on your list every day. Not so.

Rule number one of prayer and prayer lists – there are no rules. We won’t insist on keeping a journal, or praying an hour a day, or getting up at the crack of dawn, although those things work for some. But – on the other hand – we do want to explore who, what and how to pray for Oregon.

Some of the “who” is found in I Timothy 2: 1-3 where we are instructed to pray for “all who are in authority.” 

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay 
For many of us the first step is to discover who those folks might be, although many of us are familiar at least with names frequently in the news. In Oregon we have an executive branch of government made up of five departments: Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, and the Labor and Industries Commissioner. In the legislative branch there are two houses, the senate and the house of representatives. We have 60 districts for representatives and 30 for the senate. For example, my senate district is 9. For state representative I am in district 18. I have learned the names of my senator and representative and they often go on my prayer list.

To dig further: The Oregon Secretary of State web site has an overwhelming amount of information about Oregon. To find out about the branches of government and locate your district representative and senator, go to the Oregon Blue Book on the Secretary of State site, and click on the button for “state government.”  

The Oregon Blue Book page also has tabs for the “judiciary,” “local government” and “national, international and tribal.” Under that last tab you can find pictures of our federal senators and representatives. 

This is all useful information to beef up your prayer list and fulfill the command to “pray for those in authority.” 

Pick some names. 

And, of course, that is just the tip of the iceberg. More to come…
Margaret Mills

P.S. What government officials are on your prayer list? Leave a comment.

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