Chapter 13: 18-25

“Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. ¹⁹ But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. ²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, ²¹ make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. ²² And I appeal to you, brethren, bear with the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words. ²³ Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I shall see you if he comes shortly. ²⁴ Greet all those who rule over you, and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. ²⁵ Grace be with you all. Amen.”

As we approach the end of our journey in the great book of Hebrews, I pray that you have learned, as I have studied it, the wonders of our salvation that we have in Jesus. That you have seen the absolute confidence we can have in God’s power to both save us and keep us saved. That you have seen the very clear connections to the Old Testament, and you will now gain more and more confidence in reading the Old Testament when you see the connections between the two. I pray that you will see that God has never been caught off guard and that even our salvation was never a ‘plan B,’ but THE PLAN from the very beginning. I pray that you will draw closer to Jesus as you, and I, for that matter, struggle with our carnal man, our flesh and its desires.

May we grow more and more gracious to each other as we experience the loving kindness of God when we fail. I pray that we will see and appreciate the lengths to which God and Jesus went to redeem us from death and Hell. I pray that we will all live more deliberately for the Lord as he died deliberately for us.

Pray for us, verse 18

I have met Christians from all around the world. Just last night, I had a conversation with a lady from Beijing; she is a born-again lady. We talked for an hour or so about the Lord and about life as a Christian in China. We vowed to pray for each other. I have dear friends whom I have never met face to face, but they love the Lord, they live and work in Pakistan, and they are always asking us to pray for them. Here in Hebrews, written sometime in the mid-first century, Paul, a captive in Rome, is asking for his brothers and sisters to pray for them. This is one of the most important things that we can do for each other, and I think we take it for granted.

Knowing that someone is actively praying for you is powerful. I have a dear friend who is a pastor in Indiana, and every now and then, I will get a simple message saying, ‘I prayed for you today.’ Oh, what wonderful words to read, feel, and see! Someone thought about me, my family, and our church. There is this energy and this power that comes to God’s people when they know that there are people praying for them.

Do you pray regularly for your Christian friends, your kids, your Pastor, your Sunday School teachers, and your kids’ bus driver? Do you have a missionary that you pray for regularly? Let them know that you are praying for them. Paul needed prayer; your missionary friend does as well. Do they have children? Maybe you can get your children involved by praying for their kids. But pray, when all else is happening, pray. The same Paul puts it this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Pray without ceasing; we should always be in a state of communication with God about everything, and we should be praying for each other as often as we can. Pray for us. Send your requests, and we will pray for you.

Living Honorably, verse 18

What do we pray for? Paul tells them that his desire is to live honorably. Why? Paul was under house arrest in Rome, and as we can see later in the text, verse 24, “Those from Italy greet you’.” He was sending greetings from the Christians in Rome. Paul won most of the soldiers, it would seem, that guarded him, and he won many of the household of Ceasar; see Philippians 4:22.

“All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.”

Paul lived in such a way that even as a prisoner, he led his captors to the Lord. We should pray for each other that we live honorably in this world and that we, too, can win our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to the Lord. Paul led many to the Lord, but he had many brothers and sisters praying for him and meeting his needs in Rome. This is what happens when we begin to pray for others; the Lord begins to show us how to help, how to make a difference in these folks’ lives, and you become the catalyst for how God helps and how you can spearhead others to help. You see, in this way, the person being prayed for can actively see the hand of God meeting needs. This empowers them to be more committed to the work and more secure in God’s commitment to them, and it helps to calm fears, the kind of fears that we all have.

There are countless stories of men and women who have been bolstered by someone praying for them, and often, they did not even know that they were being prayed for. Let us pray for each other that we would live honorably among the people in our lives and, as such, create an environment that offers people a place to come and talk, chat, cry, ask for help, and even just shoot the breeze so as to create a window for the Holy Spirit to find a way in.

James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

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There is a sense among readers that the next proverbial shoe is about to drop—i.e., something big is about to happen, or break, or however one wishes to put it.

With all the movement in the world that, from the spiritual perspective, assaults morality every day, comes anxiety I hear expressed consistently. It goes something like: “I just hope the Rapture happens before they are able to put us all in prison, or worse.”

The anxiety comes across in different phrasing, but the angst is there and growing. And with all that’s going on, one can’t disagree totally that such worry isn’t somewhat warranted.

My own intention is to steer away from getting absorbed in the political process. I’ve gotten too immersed in such “hope” before and now realize that it isn’t earthly politics but heavenly prophetic truth we should base our hope on. Hope in the future, yes, but hope in the near time as well.

In looking at the political situation, however, we see our nation coming apart at the seams. We are losing the constitutional republic that Benjamin Franklin once said we now had—if we could keep it. The way this presidential administration and its Department of Justice are using their officialdom to destroy people in order to accomplish their absolute rule is indeed troubling, if not terrifying.

The way the mainstream media follows and implements the party line of that DC cabal now seems to mimic the Goebbels propagandist machine of the Nazi years. The blatancy with which the constitution is being ignored and eviscerated indeed should give the thinking American citizen reason for worry, to put it mildly.

And now there is more and more talk that a new pandemic is on the way. It is as if we are being prepared through that same system of propaganda to expect pestilence even more virulent than the COVID so-called pandemic. That was almost certainly a test to check the degree of compliance that could be achieved, both by Americans and the rest of the world. Sadly, it looks to have been successful in many ways.

The powers that be of Ephesians 6:12—both demonic and human minions—have changed this country and other nations, I believe, in ways that have set in place a pathway for Satan to bring his man of sin to power.

The lockdowns have some still sequestered in their homes here and across the world, either forbidden to go out into the world in a normal way through governmental edict, or continued fear people have of exposure to their environment.

The minions, in that regard, are using the climate-change lie to further bring about the lockdown of humanity they want, as the World Economic Forum and other agencies of the Luciferian sort continue to move toward implementing their blueprint as expressed in the Agenda 30 plans.

This planning is somewhat exposed in the following.

Covid was just the test run for what the WHO is planning for next time. The World Economic Forum (WEF), run by Klaus Schwab, is also involved with spearheading the scheme, which the Daily Exposé describes as follows:

“WHO’s ‘Pandemic Treaty’ will not only be concerned with pandemics. It introduces globally the ‘One Health’ ideology. The concept recognizes the interdependence of human and animal health and the connection with the environment.

“Through this One Health agenda, WHO will have the power to make decisions in matters relating to the environment (including greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and deforestation), animal health (e.g., livestock), and human health (including vaccinations, social determinants, and population movement). With these extended powers, WHO could readily declare a climate or environmental emergency and enforce lockdowns.” Patricia Harrity, Expose, “Next On the Agenda Towards Totalitarianism…..Climate Lockdowns!” 8/4/23)

As stated before, those who are spiritually attuned to what is taking place often state they hope the Rapture occurs before we’re all placed in lockdown—and not just in the sense of being sequestered in our homes. There is coming a time when one will come on the scene who is worse than Adolf Hitler and his Nazi terrors.

But we know one thing we can take comfort from. God has not appointed us to that time–the seven years of Tribulation when the entire world will be locked down in the most heinous way.

We are to be looking up—Looking up for our “blessed hope” (Titus 2: 13). When we see exactly what we are witnessing by way of the wickedness preparing the way for Antichrist, Jesus Instructed us what to do:

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).