2 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
I wanted to be and still want to be a mediator; I feel some of my most significant accomplishments came from bringing people together in the same room to accomplish a goal. A mediator stands between two people estranged from one another to facilitate communication between them. If there's a power differential between them, the mediator is duty-bound to protect the interests of the weaker party. I’m told in many assessments that I have a strong since of justice and want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly. We all have some sense of justice, if we did not care about our fellow brothers and sisters I believe the world would be in a worse place, I am not saying everything is perfect, but I am saying that things are better and they get better when people are willing to help others and not just help themselves.
1st Timothy is considered a Deutero-Pauline letter, a pastoral epistle probably written around 100CE. Paul was doing hybrid ministry before COVID; Paul pastored churches, visited churches in person, and sent letters to other churches. Paul's involvement in the churches was not an either/or situation but a both/and situation. What the Galatian church did, didn't stop the Corinthian church, the Corinthian church didn't stop the Ephesian church, the Ephesian church didn't stop the Philippians church, the Philippians, the Philippians didn't stop the Thessalonians, the Thessalonians didn't stop the Colossians, they all had work to do for the Kingdom of God, so they did the work.
1st Timothy is different from other Pauline letters; Paul usually thanks God for the person to whom Paul is writing the letter. This time Paul thanks God for what God has done for Paul. Paul is happy about Timothy but happier about what God brought him through. Paul is thankful that God saw fit to save him even though he violently persecuted the church. Because Paul is thankful, Paul is also prayerful.
Prayer is a duty and a privilege. God wants us to pray for everyone. We should pray for everyone, and everyone should pray. There are not many instructions or mechanics around it; Paul says we should just pray. Prayer is for all things and all people. Paul doesn't lay out some complicated plan; he just says pray. Paul says to pray for everything and everybody. Paul doesn't have a bunch of steps to prayer; he says just to pray.
Isaiah 55:6 (NKJV)
6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV)
17 pray without ceasing,
Matthew 7:7 (NKJV)
7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Mark 11:23 (NKJV)
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
We can pray because we have the best mediator and intercessor operating on our behalf.
The word "intercession," de ē seis, is derived from a verb with the meaning "to have the good fortune to be admitted to an audience [with a king]. "
Once a year in the Old Testament, the High Priest was allowed to go into the inner section of the temple to make a sacrifice for the sins of all the people. The High Priest was a mediator for all the believers to God. Usually, no one was allowed into the Holy of Holies, and going in without being worthy meant instant death. They did one time a year for the people's sins for that year.
Paul says in today's reading: "there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all." Jesus does not fear stepping through the curtain blocking the Holy of Holies, for he, the second person of the Trinity, is the same as God and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is our mediator; in this case, Jesus is going in on our behalf. Jesus is willing to save us no matter how bad we were in the past. The God who desires salvation for all, whose son gave himself as a ransom for all, is the same God who appointed Paul a teacher of the Gentiles. If God can save Paul, God can save anyone. God looks beyond our faults and satisfies our needs. God loves us and there is nothing that can separate us from that love. We just have to be willing to take what we need to Jesus. Pray, and keep praying, after you are done, pray some more.
Have A Little Talk With Jesus
Have a little talk with Jesus
Tell him all about our troubles
Hear our fainted cry, answer by and by
Feel a little prayer wheel turning
Know a little fire is burning
Find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
I Know the Lord Will Make a Way
I have a Savior who I can tell all my troubles to
When I'm burdened and don't know what to do
I can go to Him in secret prayer
And I can leave all my burdens there
I know the Lord will make a way
Somehow yes he will
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