He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

I am reminded of Paul’s words in Phil.1:18b,19: ”Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

Paul understood the great power of prayer. So he requested prayer from the churches, and expressed gratitude for them. He had no doubts about the part played, in his recent deliverance, by praying believers.

In ‘The Message’, Eugene Peterson renders today’s verses like this:

” And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.”

A few days ago, I picked up a book I read a number of years ago: ‘Mountain Rain’: the biography of the missionary James Fraser, by his daughter Eileen Crossman. ‘A powerful story of total dependence on God’, says the subtitle. As I opened it, I saw these words: ‘James had a quickened sense that people were praying for him at home. Thousands of miles away, they were directly engaged in the work of God among the Lisu. Tthey were also concerned with keeping James himself filled with the Spirit of power. He knew conclusively now that the prayers of God’s people had brought the harvest’ (p.131).

Today, as I write these notes, Jilly and I will be hosting an afternoon Bible study in our home. What an encouragement to receive a message early this morning, ensuring us of someone’s prayers. It means a lot! It achieves a lot!!

”…your prayers played such a crucial part.”