Even believers sometimes refuse to ask God for what we need. Ja 4:2-3 Why? Because of pride, which hates to admit weakness, hates to ask for help, hates to admit dependency. Pride pretends to be God who needs no help, but pride is folly. The Bible contains many examples of prayer requests of the kind in He 13:18. Some were when people were frightened and urgently asked someone to pray for them. Others were from church leaders like Paul who had been humbled by God and accepted his constant need of divine help. He even wrote to the Romans whom he hadn't yet seen, asking them to pray for his safety, for success in his trip to Jerusalem, for a good trip to Rome, and for spiritual blessings among them when he got there. Ro 15:30-32 His request for prayer sounds much like what happens in many Christian churches at prayer request time. The author of Hebrews therefore writes, Pray for us. Whatever his troubles are that his readers might have heard of are not his fault: he has a good conscience. The more they pray for him, the sooner he will be restored to them. |
