He means all men, even kings and all that are in authority. I believe the reason he mentions people in authority, after saying all men, is because it is easy to not want to stand for the truth with people who are over us. Praying for them is in the context of wanting their salvation, and being thankful for any part we can play in it. It is easy to compromise our stand for the gospel with someone who has the power to either help or hurt us. Simply stated, we would rather they help us than hurt us. Help is a good thing. Hurt seems like a bad thing. We generally move to the help side of the equation. It's harder to challenge the salvation of your boss, or the chief of police, than a homeless man you will probably never see again, and who can't retaliate if He doesn't like you.

The thing that makes it hard to share with others is the fear of rejection. Faith sees past such temporary fear, but it is still a real temptation. People in authority are people who have power to back up their rejection with some sort of force. We instinctively know that people in authority often wield their power against people they don't like, and so we don't want to be one of the people they don't like.

But God wants all men to be saved (4), including kings and those in authority. These are the hardest people to take a stand with, but God wants them saved as much as anybody else. We are to pray especially for them because they are the easiest to not share with. Praying helps us have the right attitude, so we can maximize our effectiveness if we do get a chance to share with them. It helps us want to go forward with the gospel instead of backing off.

By specifically mentioning the king, he lets us know that there is not one single person exempt from God's will for all men to know the truth and be saved. This includes the whole totem pole, even the guy at the very top.

About a year after I was saved I went to my family reunion. My goal was to share with everyone about the great salvation I had received. I found it much easier to talk with my cousins, my peers, then to share with my aunts and uncles. I didn't do as good of a job with them because I was a little scared of them as being authority figures. On one hand, if I had trusted God more with them, I could have done a better job- period. By making my next statement I don't want to blame my lack of boldness on anything but sin. But God's grace is so wonderful, that He gives us passages like these so we can be extra prepared walking into those situations. It would have been nice to have known this passage, and been better prepared for the temptation. I'm sure saved children face this temptation when they take a stand for truth with their parents. God wants us to keep seeking Him about these people, and He wants to help us with super-abundant grace to do the job well!

We must still give honor to whom honor [is due]. These verses, obviously, don't encourage us to be rude or bossy; but to stand for truth with humility and love. Praying for them helps us get past any animosity. They may have it, but we shouldn''t have even the slightest bit of resentment that keeps us from doing what's best, in the most loving way. Again, prayer will help accomplish these goals and attitudes. It will help us be peacemakers. Instead of being rowdy troublemakers, it will help us keep peace and quiet. It gives us peace and quiet; godly fear and integrity. We are to die to ourselves, and care about their needs. Everything will work out for our good- even persecution. How selfish it is for us to not get past ourselves for people that will spend all eternity in Hell.

Part of my work is in sales, and I face the temptation to not share with people until after I make the sale. But them seeing me being willing to share beforehand, and putting the sale into jeopardy, may be the very thing they need to see in order to make the gospel real to them. They need to see that souls are more important than sales. We all face this same temptation to back off when we want people to do us a favor. God help us not compromise His will!

That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness (good reverence) and [all] honesty (honorableness, uprightness, dignity). Crying out to God and caring about others is what it takes to experience the wonderful tranquility and stillness of a quiet and peaceable life. He is describing an inward lifestyle of peace and quiet, regardless of how hectic the world around us is. Crying out to God and caring about others is a lifestyle of good reverence, and it's honorable. That is how we lead (active voice) a life in godliness and dignity. It's easy to miss the real focus of this here. He is not talking about outward circumstances. He wants each of us to individually live a godly life that is honorable. Good reverence and honesty (honorableness) are attributes of those who seek others well being above their own.

This passage is not teaching what some say: that we should pray for the king so he'll leave us alone or be good to us. This wouldn't describe Paul's life very well, would it? If this was Paul's formula to keep from being persecuted, it didn't work. It would be like the bald guy trying to sell the miracle hair tonic. You had better arrest the shyster and look for a different hair tonic. If R&D did this poorly coming up with a formula for hair growth, it's time to fire the scientists or change your product line. If the Apostle Paul was selling a book on how he managed to live a persecution free life, I don't think I would buy it. And Paul is not trying to tell us how to keep from being persecuted by men. Paul and Timothy suffered a lot of persecution for sharing the gospel. Paul suffered tremendous persecution. It's hard to even grasp how much he suffered. In fact he was imprisoned and beat by those in authority, which is precisely why I think they are specifically mentioned. History tells us that Nero, the most powerful man in the world, is the one who had Paul beheaded. Yet Jesus said that we need to pray for those who despitefully use us. It is easiest to back away from the truth with those people who outwardly have power to hurt us. No one wants to be hurt, but in Christ we can get past ourselves to count it a privilege to suffer for His sake. Praying in this context of God wanting everyone to be saved is praying so that we see them with God's eyes and not the eyes of our flesh. It's easy to not seek God's mercy for those who abuse us. But we need to seek God's perspective, that is, actively lead a life of prayer, to see them as He sees them, and how to manifest Jesus to them. We need wisdom for our boss as well as the no name we meet on the street corner. It's much easier to be bold to someone underneath us than with our superiors. Therefore he encourages us not to forget about those in authority over us.

Paul goes on to say, in 2 Tim. 3:12, that if we live godly we shall suffer persecution. Living in all godliness, mentioned in this verse, won't eliminate persecution. Godliness is not the cure from persecution, but rather the guarantee of it.

It was in this same city that Paul had earlier preached so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus. The whole region knew of his preaching! In this same city his preaching caused the famous uproar in Ephesus. (Paul was minded to enter into the uproar and share, but some of the leaders persuaded him not to. This just goes to show that we should reach out to leaders and trust God for the results. God can use them as instruments of deliverance as well as instruments of persecution. Paul was bold either way, and encourages Timothy to do likewise.) As Paul and Timothy boldly and publicly proclaimed the gospel they were dragged before rulers numerous times. But even then their attitude was to count it a privilege to stand for the gospel. It's tough to witness to the judge when you are in risk of going to prison for preaching too much. But in the midst of this very kind of persecution, Paul encourages Timothy to keep seeking the salvation of these leaders. If they were seeking immunity from any problems with the leaders, they would have just shut up, or compromised their message. But they counted it a privilege to share the gospel with leaders as well as all men. As Paul said, I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews.

Leaders are often times insecure. Our boldness and confidence can challenge them, as if we are somehow undermining their ability to run the show. We speak of another authority who is higher than them. Even though we teach obedience to this world's leaders, they can be insecure and feel threatened. We may even have to speak against some of their laws when they go against God's laws. For whatever reasons, leaders will sometimes persecute us. They may even call us troublemakers. But we aren't troublemakers; we seek peace. We are experiencing a peaceable and quiet lifestyle, and not at all troublemakers.

One application of a lifestyle of peace and quiet is how we respond to those in authority when they persecute us. It's a terrible witness to them when we are angry. Instead of fighting back, we should respond with peace. We should respond peaceably instead of with anger. The "church" historically has often taken up arms to fight back against authority. But this is not our kingdom. Pray so that our response is not hostile or retaliatory. It's tough to come back with love and peace in this kind of a situation, which is why I need to seek God's help. It's not natural to pray for these people, which is why he tells us to do so.

And it's hard to witness to them when we're mad. We won't go out of our way to witness to them when we're angry. Yet God wants us to be ready and waiting for a chance to share good news cheerfully with them, as Paul did with Agrippa.

Paul and Timothy kept seeking God's best for other people. And outwardly, it cost them much persecution. Yet in spite of the outward turmoil surrounding their lives, they lead a quiet and peaceable life in their inner man, in the sight of God. They lived a life full of good reverence and honesty. These are the true riches of life. This is a life that is fulfilling its purpose before God. They were the champions, the real winners, and their persecutors were the miserable losers.

We will share the gospel with others who will not respond with peace and quiet, but at least they will be able to see it manifest in our lives. Again, praying (1,2) helps our attitude. It manifests in peace and quiet within! They are trapped in the problem. They are fighting against God's conviction, His message, and it's causing turmoil inside them (it is hard to kick against the pricks). They have no peace. We can be free from that though. We only have to face it outwardly. Inside we can be free. How did Paul face such incredible persecution and keep coming back for more? It was because he had peace inside. He was truly free.

We can't out-give God. He says to take a stand for Him and He will take care of us. He will! Trust Him in those tough situations! God took care of Paul, so that he was full of joy and peace. He was free and his captors were in bondage. And now even more so Paul is free and they aren't (except the one's who became born again). God help me trust you for this. I miss this more than I care to admit.

We need to be begging for help, while keeping a reverence of God (1,2). We need to get serious with God and have a meeting. By faith we need to approach the throne and express our heart (3). And we need to keep offering up thanksgivings for everyone that God blesses us to come in contact with (4).

I want a life of peace and quiet on my inner man. I don't want to run. I want to live a life apart from fear and doubt. And He is our sure tower in time of trouble, to hide us in the cover of His wings. Rich people spend great wealth in vain trying to obtain inner peace and quiet (stillness and tranquility). People search for peace and yet it alludes them. They try to be free from their anxieties and yet they haunt them still. They think money will give them peace and it doesn't. Religion, apart from truly serving God, is another fake. People take tranquilizers to try to obtain a tranquil spirit, and yet the anxieties continue. Our list could go on and on. Apart from fulfilling our role with God, everything is vanity vanity. Vanity pictures worthless and empty.

The true blessings come freely from God. And to experience them we have to seek other people's best. We are designed to work this way. Operating any other way than God's design causes internal turmoil. We work best when we do what we're designed for. And God designed us to care about other people's best. If we hold back from God and don't care about other people's souls, we won't experience His peace. When we do reach out, it's a wonderful peace that floods our soul.

This passage lays out a crucial and basic principle of God. Caring for others is the real way to find peace and tranquility. This is as true as gravity. We can't get around it. The flesh will always try to find contentment by being selfish. It always thinks it has to use others to gain happiness. Sure sin sometimes has a moment of pleasure, but the end of the flesh is always misery. If we skip over these verses and refuse to die to ourselves to care about other people's best, then we are being selfish, and we can not really have peace and tranquility.

Love and good will co-exist with joy and peace. Selfishness co-exists with envy, strife, and bitterness. When we hold onto our lives, we hold onto death. The fruit of selfishness eventually ripens into wailing and gnashing of teeth. The fruit of God's way, which is love, caring about others, eventually ripens into eternal bliss. Heaven is a place where everyone gets along with no problems whatsoever.

When we don't do what God designed us for, we are like a tool that is being used for the wrong job. A chisel will work somewhat as a screwdriver, but it leaves a dull chisel behind. A screwdriver will work somewhat like a pry-bar, but it gets bent out of shape. The world is full of people who are chipped and marred, and all bent out of shape. They are searching for inner peace and quiet in all the wrong ways. Any way but God's way is going to leave us unfulfilled. Man's selfish ways to find fulfillment always leads to vanity.

I would rather have persecution and the Lord, than riches and mirth apart from Him. Every true believer knows that we are most content when we seek God, regardless of the outward circumstances. It may seem like a contradiction to the world, but true peace can only be experienced when we reach out at risk of persecution, which doesn't look like peace. But God's peace is greater than the world's turmoil. And not being at peace with God is worse than the world's mirth. It is only by caring about others that our inward man can be quiet and peaceable, in all godliness (good reverence) and honorableness. We simply can't experience these priceless treasures otherwise.

ALL good reverence and honesty is a lifestyle of integrity in the presence of God.

Godliness: Let us fear God, and not men. We need to maintain good reverence. We are so perverted apart from the Lord, that we will reverence all the wrong things, like the temporary benefit people in authority can offer us. We may never face kings and leaders as Paul and Timothy (then again we might), but each of us has our own authority structure around us. We need to live a life that reflects fearing God above all others.

Honesty, honorableness: Let us live upright in all honesty and integrity, apart from compromise. Someone who is honorable and filled with integrity is someone you can count on. God wants us to be someone He can count on. He wants to be able to brag on us like He could on Job. He wants to say ‘look at my servant ________ (your name), I can count on Him, even when he's in a tough situation. He will trust me, even when he's under pressure from his superiors. In the end, all that matters is what God saw. Popularity in this world will soon be worthless. Only what's done for Christ will last.

An honorable knight won't chicken out no matter how tough the battle rages. If their job is to defend the king, they will form a single line around the king and not break ranks no matter what. That's what honor and integrity are all about. He doesn't hold his ground to be proud or haughty, but simply to obey the king. He answers to a higher authority than the enemy. God wants our lives to reflect that same honor for Him and His kingdom.

If we lead a lifestyle of fearing God and having honorableness, we can stand against giants. We can face the fiery furnace and maintain our honor, regardless of whether or not we perish.

Godliness and honorableness are independent of how the world responds to us. Godliness is not measured by how the world treats us, but rather by how we treat God. Whether the world receives us or persecutes us, we can experience godliness. This passage has nothing to do with how the world treats us. Godliness is not one of the world's virtues. This is a lifestyle seen by our King. These are attributes that are good and acceptable in the eyes of God (3). This is what matters when all the dust settles.

How are we going to fear God more than our superiors down here? How are we going to be so honorable? It sounds good on paper, but it's tough to walk out in real life. It looks easy in the movies, but there aren't very many real-life heroes. The key is right here. It's to keep crying out to God for help. Beg Him to help us help others (1), so that we can lead a life of good reverence (2). That's where it's at. We have to keep being strengthened within, so we can be strong without. We have to talk to Him about what's going on. It's almost like a kid tugging on her mommy's dress. We don't exactly jerk God's robe, but we need to approach Him in desperation and have a meeting with Him. At the same time we need to be thankful that He has the situation under control, so that we don't crumble under the temptation that it's turning out bad for us.

I have a long ways to go, but I want to be like Paul. He was able to look people in the eye and say "I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the council of God." (Ac 20:26,27). Paul was at peace with himself. He could go to bed at night with a good conscience because he didn't compromise. He knew he had done all that God had asked to reach the world. For this to be a reality our lives, we need to practice these verses.