Grace For Your Day August 7

Hebrews 13:18-19 comes close to the end of the Book of Hebrews which is a book that we have been studying for a year and a half as a church. We began looking at it on February 6, 2022 which makes these final verses so important because they come with the force of the entire book behind them. Here is what it says:

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner.

As you can tell, the key theme in this passage is prayer because, after writing 12 chapters, the writer of this letter asks his audience to bring his name before the throne of God. He does not ask them to visit him first or send him money. Before all of that, he asks them to cry out to God on his behalf.

Why?

Because ministry is hard. The reason he makes this request of them is because the work of a pastor is difficult. Pastors face temptations and oppositions that are so powerful that they take nothing less than the Spirit’s help in order to overcome them. For example, they are often prey to the following challenges:

• Discouragement
• Criticism
• Power Struggles
• Spiritual Warfare
• Exhaustion
• Fatigue
• People-Pleasing
• Bitterness
• Loneliness
• Impatience
• Gossip
• Slander

This is why the author of Hebrews ends with this request. It is only three words in English but with them stand an entire volume of meaning because in these words you can hear the heart of a man who is resting entirely on the grace of God. He knows that he cannot do anything on his own without the Holy Spirit’s power to uphold him so he begs the people to take his requests to the Lord which leads me to ask: Do you do that for your pastors? Do you ever ask the Lord to uphold them in the work that they do?

When you listen to a pastor preach on the radio, do you pray for him? When you read a book that he has written, do you mention him in your quiet times? When you come across a blog that he has written, do you implore the Lord to show him grace in the ministry even though you have never met him before? You should because no man can survive in the ministry for long if you do not which is what we are going to be talking about this Sunday morning at Grace Fellowship Church.

This week, we are going to look at one of the last verses in the Book of Hebrews which reminds us that we need to be a people of prayer. In fact, we need to be praying for everyone in the church, not just our leaders. It should be something that we do for every single person in the Body of Christ as Ephesians 6:18 says,

With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

How often should you pray in the Spirit? At all times. How many people should you pray for? Every single person. Do not skip a soul.

Why?

Because they all need it. No one can survive in the Christian life for very long, either, without your prayers so that is how we will approach this subject. This passage in Hebrews 13 will instruct us to pray for our leaders but, out of that instruction, we will discover how to serve everyone in the Body of Christ with this important ministry.

If you would like to learn more about that, our service begins at 9:30 at 46024 Riverside Drive in Chilliwack. I look forward to seeing you there!

– Jeremy Cagle