‘I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints’ (Rom 15:30-31).
Paul is a Bible hero. It’s easy to read his story, to read his wise, challenging and caring words in his letters, and think he was self-sufficient. He could travel place to place, endure stoning and ridicule and arrest, and based on his own strength he could knuckle through it all: alone, and strong.
But this is to misread him. For one thing, he was a team player. He was always with others, and when he was alone he longed to have friends with him. Read Acts and you see Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and others. Read through his letters and continually you’ll come across names of his fellow workers.
More than this, however, he never relied on his own strength. He always asked churches for prayer. Paul knew his dependence on God. He knew that God was in control of all circumstances; the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Are you in prayer for the ministry in Eaglehawk? That not only will we be delivered from unbelievers – from antagonism and unjust laws – but also that those unbelievers would become believers? Are you praying that the ministry would be acceptable to the saints here, that we would all be unified in the truth, loving one another and proclaiming together the mysteries of the gospel?
Would you like some guidance in your prayers? Join the prayer team, calling on God to work in and through our church, knowing that you are joining with others praying the same thing.