Can you explain what you meant with that verse, Intercessor, I don't quite understand...and would like to....God bless you.
I’ll try : ) Ok, I prayed for wisdom...
One of the things the Lord was showing me yesterday as I was reading through the comments and studying verses was that, especially for encouraging another person who may have been going astray, is encouragement is almost like when you rescue a young bird that has fallen out of the nest but may not have its eyes open and can’t fly, or if you take a baby rabbit out of a dog’s mouth or find a young squirrel — not only do you pray for each of those creatures, yes, but one must be gentle with them, feed them on regular intervals, check on them and devote some time to them until they are old enough to be released back into the wild. Kind of like “The Good Samaritan” did when he found the person beaten up in the road — rescued him then took him to an inn keeper to give him a room and feed him until he recovered enough to go on with living again (see Luke 10:25-37). That parable Jesus gave to answer the “Religious Leader” when he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” That’s what Jesus means to love our neighbor as if he were ourself...
I said that to say this — when God’s sheep said in a reply, “Most prayer replies will have encouraging words/phrases/paragraphs about 'hope' and a related Bible verse. I cannot explain how much that helps me to get thru my situations.” My immediate response from my heart was, “Yes! And I thank God You testified and gave glory to the Lord on how His Word is living and active (Heb 4:12), and that together with prayer, was powerful and effective, like James says in James 5:17. Lord let us give quickened verses together with our prayers in Jesus’ Name...”
What I deduced from that statement from God’s sheep was the necessity of not just praying for another who is broken, or clicking a button and it saying, “I prayed for this,” but to actually give the person asking for prayer a verse to nourish them, like God’s sheep testifies when others did that it was a great encouragement to her. This is not just the case for God’s sheep, but for each of us as humans, even the unsaved, need encouragement from God’s word, as it is written, “Humans cannot live by bread alone, they need every Word that has proceeded forth from the Mouth of God (Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4, Deut 8:3). When Jesus said “man” He meant “mankind” or “humanity — Adam means human, and Eve came from his side, so all men and women are in one sense, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, and therefore a good translation of man is mankind, and a better probably, the humman race, or best, humanity. Please note it does not say “Christians shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word God has said,” or “Pastors,” (although it is true Christians and Pastors ESPECIALLY need the Words of Jeus abiding in them richly, and Pastors even more, for they are not sustaining and shepherding merely themselves, or their families, but as Peter says they, “shepherd the Flock of God.”
So when God’s sheep said, “You are so right, definitely need to thank the prayer warriors. Most prayer replies will have encouraging words/phrases/paragraphs about 'hope' and a related Bible verse. I cannot explain how much that helps me to get thru my situations. Thank you everyone on this site for being there in my painful situations. God bless everyone on this site,” I replied to her, “Yes! And I thank God You testified and gave glory to the Lord on how His Word is living and active (Heb 4:12), and that together with prayer, was powerful and effective, like James says in James 5:17. Lord let us give quickened verses together with our prayers in Jesus’ Name,” I was saying, “thank you for testifying that WE ALL needs God’s Word, like God told Moses in Deut 8:3, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY Word that God has said (and has been written down to protect its content from changing and copied into thousands of manuscripts and they keep finding more in ancient caves and in archeological excavations that validate to a higher and higher degree that the Bible we have is actually the one that people had thousands of years ago (but that is another topic we hope to write on in the future), Anyway when she testified that when people both prayed and gave “encouraging words/phrases/paragraphs about ‘hope’ and a related Bible verse” and that helped her, she was bearing witness and testifying to the whole Bible, which Paul says, “Everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through the endurance taught in The Scriptures and the encouragement The Scriptures bring we might have hope” (Rom 15:4). She was validating the Word of God is inspired, and the fruit it brings is hope.
I quickly put that together with Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” — and I also put that together with a Word from Isaiah Chapter 50...
“The Lord GOD has given Me
the tongue of discipleship,
——> to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning;
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple” (Isaiah 50:4).
Paul also says we should “let The Word of God indwell us richly, singing to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Col 3:16, see also Eph 5:19).
So when I was saying that whoever has been quoting “a related Bible verse” whenever they TYPE an actual prayer specifically to the situation encouraging the one who posted a prayer for help, that that has been bearing the fruit of “hope” for everyone, since it’s God working through people with His Word.
I was merely giving the nod to the fact that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable” (2 Tim 3:16), and the main point is that IT REALLY IS GOD’s WORD... It has come to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as Peter says in The 1st Chapter of His Second Epistle, “20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever brought about through human initiative, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21).
I was relating this to the raising of a rescued baby bird, or bunny, or the tending of the beaten man, bleeding and left for dead in the heat of a dusty road by the good Samaritian our Chief Shepherd taught us about in Luke 15 as I mentioned above, and how I believe this parable ltaught us that the man left for dead by the robbers not only needed compassion shown on him, but nourishment from God’s word (remeber the encouraging words that helped God’s sheep were associated with “a related Bible verse” and its effect was “hope.” That verse and all the pertinent “related Bible verse(s)” when combined with “the effectual, fervent prayers of a righteous person (that are both powerful and do much good)” (which is actually James 5:16, not 17, whoops, so much for relying on memory : ) Well that prayer and scriptural encouragement are a powerful combo (see how prayer together with the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on Pentecost in Acts 2 lead to the conversion of 3,000 people right away...
Anyhow, these go together... It is love that prays and love that quotes. i will add a third thing, as I mentioned above about the rescued helpless birt or rabbit, or the Good Samaritan, that we take time to continue to pray for the ones we come across... See the line of thought James has in the verses immediately following his encouragement on prayer at the very end of his only Epistle... James last words to us...
“19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Sounds like Peter’s statement, “above all, love each other fervently from the heart, for love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
Now I will show how they are confirmed and summarized by Paul...
“1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:1-2). What Law is Paul talking about?
Probably this, “The entire Law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal 5:14).
Sounds like the summary of The Law and The Prophets, referenced together with the “which is the greatest commandment” question in Luke 10:25 and other gospel accounts, and instituted comfirmed by Jesus to love God and to love others, but Jesus knew one could be said and the other had to be shown, and the showing of a true, unconcerned loving another not for rewards, but out of true love for Jesus and his church was harder to actually do since people sin and God doesn’t, and Jesus has saved us and died for us, while others have probably caused us grief.
This importance is displayed by Jesus with foot-washing, which as Peter was told, he was already cleansed for salvation by Jesus’ words, he needs not a whole bath, but just his daily offenses forgiven, and we should do this one to another. He also inaugurated this New Level and higher standard to loving our neighbors, sealed with Communion at the Last Supper (See John 13 — A “New Command” I give you, that love one another, and that means laying down your life for Your friends [He could have said, “Like I am about to show you how I myself will do this — in conjunction with The Trinity’s strength, plan and sovereignty and my prayers in the Garden that God’s will be done, instead of what happened in the last garden, where the devil’s will was done — that you all might be with me forever), and to show us what loving our neighbor can actually look like and has looked like for many missionaries, as Peter says, “leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 1:21).
If this isn’t enough emphasis that the Second commandment is the proof of the first (loving your neighbor with prayer, Scriptural encouragements and carrying their burdens until they are well is the proof we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength), we have The Entire 1st Epistle of John which is a sort of commentary that reiterates this point in numerous ways and at various points in the epistle — “if you do not love your neighbor, whom you have seen, how can you say you love God, whom you have not seen?” (1 John 4:20-21), “If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.”
So we see the Original teaching of Jesus in The Parable of The Good Samaritan as the visual punchline given to show exactly what is meant by loving one’s neighbor as their own self...,such an Inspired Conductor The Holy Spirit is that The Parable of The Good Samaritan left a lasting mark on James, for the very last thing The Apostle James leaves us with in his Epistle sounds like rescuing a lost person, Paul sounds the same and links gently restoring a person (which will always be with the living Words of God gently, together with “bearing their burdens in prayer, thus fulfilling the Law of Christ), as Jesus says to go directly to the person and show them their error in Matt 18:15 before getting anyone else involved v16, and like Hebrews 4:12 says that Word is alive, and as Isaiah says in Isaiah 50:4 says, will sustain the weary one with a Word,
What I get from after writing this is that we should not just “click a button that said we prayed,” nor only actually paus, look to our Father in heaven and request life and light and protection be given to the person for whom we are praying, believing it is God’s idea that we both pray and that it is His invention and instrument to bring His will as it is in heaven here on this earth and in this person, but also we should write the person’s name down and pray for them for a few days. Or if you are able to use technology well, create reminders to ask God for grace to continue in prayer for the person, believing God for verses that willspeak to the situation, thus showing the Word of God is living and active, and that persistent prayer, as Jesus taught in Luke 11:1-9, is as James says, powerful and effective. The whole law, as Paul says, is summed up in this Word, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
*Notice Jesus never gave a parable on what it looked like to love the Lord with all one’s heart (I think His life is the Living Parable of being Obedient unto death, even death on a cross, trusting God will raise Him to the highest place, See Phil 2, below... May God add His blessing to His Word...
“1Therefore if you have any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being of one mind, having the same love, being united in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
The Attitude of Christ
(Isaiah 52:13-15)
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place
and gave Him the name above all names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Shining as Stars
(Matthew 5:13-16)
12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good pleasure.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation,a in which you shine as lights in the world 16 as you hold forth the word of life, in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain” (Phil 2:1-16).
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
