‘Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honourably in all things. And I exhort you the more exceedingly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.'
He then asks prayer for himself and his fellow-workers. He does so on the grounds that their conscience is right towards God in all that they do, and that their aim in life is truly to live honourably before God in everything. They are living as they require of others. Thus they are worthy to be prayed for, that their ministry may be successful.
And one reason why he asks this with a greater urgency is so that he might be restored to them the sooner. This may suggest that he is under some restraint such as prison, which he expects to be of limited duration, possibly affected by their prayers, or it may suggest that he has a work to do for God which he cannot leave until it is firmly established. Either way he wants them to know that he desires to come to them, and would do so were it not for circumstances and the will of God. They are clearly very dear to him, and he wants them to know of his eagerness to see them.