Hebrews 13-Part 8
Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Hebrews 13:18-19
LET IT GLOW
Ministers and Christian leaders need prayers offered up for them daily. We should pray that God will teach those who teach us. That God would make them vigilant, wise, zealous, successful, assist them in all their labors, support them under all their burdens, and strengthen them under all their temptations. (Matthew Henry)
"It isn't out of our resources that we pray prayers of intercession, but out of God's inexhaustible grace,"says The Preacher's Commentary Series on Hebrews.
Here is a cry for help, a person in need. If it is Paul writing this letter, he's probably in prison. What kind of help is he asking the readers to give?
- Pray for us. (Don't we assume that an admission of need is a confession of guilt?) This is definitely not the case here. Pray, used here, refers to praying to God, supplication, pray earnestly for.
had already been prayling for him. (Guzik)
We are created interdependent people, whether a society or a church, functioning like a body.
Each part has its abilities, which it offers to the whole, yet each part is dependent upon other
members of the body for its supply of strength. So it is with prayer. God has given us
responsibility for one another. (The Preacher's Commentary)
How faithful am I to pray for my brothers and sister believers? Do I specifically pray when
asked? Am I spending enough time in prayer, that God wants me to spend?
How am I to pray, according to scriptures?
- so that your faith fails not (Luke 22:32)
- night and day praying exceedingly (1Thess. 3:10)
- that ye do no evil (2Cor. 13:7)
- to come over here (Acts 16:9)
- for them that despitefully use you and persecute you (Matt. 5:44)
- fall on your face (Matt. 26:39)
- kneeled down (Acts 9:40)
- pray, pray, and pray, even a third time (Matt. 26:44)
- in a solitary place (Mark 1:35)
- when you stand praying, forgive (Mark 11:25)
- in my house (Acts 10:30), on the house top (verse 9)
- in the city (Acts 11:5)
- singing praises to God (Acts 16:25)
- in the temple (Acts 22:17)
- praying always (Eph. 6:18)
- giving thanks (Col 1:3)
- do not cease to pray for you (Col 1:9)
- when someone is afflicted (James 5:13)
- everywhere-on a mountain, in the wilderness, on a lake
Jesus interceeds to the Father when we pray in His name. Even when we don't know what to pray.
LET IT GROW
What else does the writer have to say, according to New American Standard?
2. We are sure that we have a good conscience. King James Version uses the word
"trust." Trust is putting to proof, experience. Conscience is a co-perception, a
moral conscience. "A good conscience is sanctified by the Spirit of God, sprinkled by the
blood of Jesus," stated John Gill. They are walking in purity.
"A good conscience has respect to all god's commands and all our duty," said Matthew Henry.
3. Desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. The term desire is from a Greek word
that conveys the idea not of a"wish," but of "firm determination." They were determined to live
honestly-not as men, but as ministers, faithfully dispensing the Word of Truth; willing to behave
with decency and propriety.
4. I urge you all the more to do this (pray). This writer, soldier of the cross, is healthy and pure,
but he's in need of reinforcements. Keep on praying! Bring in the assistance I need so that I can
survive through this battle. He wants to revisit the readers again. (Swindoll)
Do you have an urgent need? Are you willing to share it with us so we can pray for you? You may want to use generalities.
LET IT GO
When I feel the urgency to pray for another, let go and do it.
Keep prayer as my priority.
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