Guard What You Say About Leaders

ACTS 23:5 "I'm sorry, brothers. I didn't realize he was the high priest," Paul replied, "for the Scriptures say, 'You must not speak evil of any of your rulers.'"

A major, yet often unrecognized, problem is members of the Body of Christ using their words to curse leaders. (It is not necessary to use profanity to curse. Any time anyone speaks badly of someone the Bible calls it a curse. Jesus cursed the fig tree by simply saying no one would ever eat fruit from it.)

Don't fall into the devil's trap. Christians have been delegated authority on Earth by Jesus Christ. When we speak bad things about people we are abusing that authority which was given to us to bless, and not to curse.

ROMANS 12:14 Bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them; pray that God will bless them.

The world tries to get us to focus on the shortcomings, weaknesses, and failures of our leaders. Admittedly, all leaders are human. Not one of them can be expected to be perfect. This is why it's important for us to pray for them, and not to joke about them, or say anything bad about them.

1 TIMOTHY 2:1-2 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. 2 Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Think about this: you cannot pray in faith for a leader and also talk badly about them. Such negative speaking would negate your prayer. The leaders when the New Testament was written were certainly not perfect. Yet the New Testament never encourages any disrespect to those in positions of authority. ROMANS 13:1 ESV 1 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.

The spirit of the age is to mock, belittle, and criticize everyone, but especially those in authority. We must guard against this trap of our enemy. We can discuss issues without condemning people. We can disagree with policies, but that does not mean we should speak badly of a leader as a person. Should we curse someone Jesus died for? Our job is not to condemn people but to offer them a way of deliverance through the love of Jesus. You don't have to lie and say anything good about a leader. You don't have to vote for them. You can just keep quiet.

Lord, help me to not speak badly of others, especially those who are leaders.Amen.

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