By ICC Fellow Greg Cochran, PhD 

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul engaged in a mission on behalf of Christ and nearly paid for it with his life.  

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, he speaks with gravity about the situation, saying he and his companions “despaired of life itself.” Their circumstances pointed to a single, unmistakable conclusion: It’s over; we’re going to die!  

Which historical mission placed Paul and his companions so decisively in the jaws of death? No one knows for sure. In truth — as Paul later states — he faced death “countless times” on behalf of Christ (2 Cor. 11:23).  

Whatever historical uncertainties cloud the mission mentioned in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, the peril was certain, clear as the finest crystal. Paul faced death. His own power had failed. He had no resources, no earthly hope. 

Surprisingly, the situation somehow reversed. The doom that enveloped Paul and his team morphed into deliverance. The despair turned into blessing. What happened? Why the opposite outcome? Paul offers two explanations for the events: reliance on God and the power of prayer.  

First, reliance. Paul explained to the Corinthians that his circumstances taught him (what he had already said he knew elsewhere) —namely, that he must rely not on himself but on God.  

Not “god” in the generic sense, nor God as a philosophical construct, a tribal deity, or even a faith commitment. No, Paul relearned through this experience to rely on no one less than the God who defeated death in Christ, the one who rose triumphant to give life to all who abide in him! The God who raises the dead — he proved reliable to Paul and his mission team. He proved sovereign and dependable to Paul and his fellow missionaries even in circumstances that threatened death. 

Second, Paul invited the Corinthians to support his victory further. While God delivered Paul and company from immediate peril, danger still existed for them (see verse 10). Paul expressed confidence that God would deliver them again, but he urged the Corinthians to help God in that deliverance. He invited them to participate through prayer. Prayer from others provided Paul a resource for deliverance from deadly persecution. 

Notice in the verses below that prayer is more than a pleasantry. Prayer provides genuine help.  

“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many” (2 Cor. 1:8-11, ESV). 

Paul still needed help to escape the danger. He needed Corinthian prayer help. They “must” help him.  

The Greek in this verse is a little tricky. Paul does not command the Corinthians to help him. He speaks in characteristically long sentences. Read the verses from “Indeed” to the end. For Paul, this is originally a single sentence. English translations break the flow into shorter sentences. The point remains clear. Paul’s team had a death sentence. God delivered them. God will deliver them further from trouble — with the Corinthians participating in the deliverance through prayer. 

Paul speaks with confidence. The deliverance will come. He also offers a gracious invitation. The deliverance will come through your prayers. The passage makes the remarkable claim that God is sovereign in all things and — somehow — human beings voluntarily join his work to accomplish his will.  

New Testament scholar Mark Seifrid explains the passage this way: 

“Prayer is thus neither surrender to the inevitability of God’s will nor the attempt to manipulate God to do our will. Prayer is the entrance — at God’s marvelous invitation — into the effecting of deliverance and salvation in the world.”(1) 

Seifrid’s explanation clarifies the role of prayer for the persecuted. God makes his will known: the salvation and deliverance of his people — and the evangelism of those who will be.

In that work of deliverance, God invites others. In praying for the deliverance of the saints, Christians know they pray according to God’s will. Such prayers neither manipulate God to satisfy selfish human wills nor surrender responsibility for outcomes to “whatever God wills.” Rather, they join together to accomplish God’s will. 

And Paul further states that such joining together in prayer unleashes praise and thanksgiving. Many will give thanks for Paul and his team being saved. Praise will abound for the blessing of participating in God’s deliverance. Prayer indeed accomplishes much! Not because prayer bends God’s will. Rather, prayer accomplishes much because it increases the number of workers on mission.  

When they prayed for Paul according to God’s will, they literally joined the work. And, like a football team winning the Super Bowl, they joined the celebration when the work was completed. 

Here lies the heart of the matter when Christians are offered the opportunity to pray for the persecuted church. God invites believers to join the mission team and the work, to pray for — and expect — God’s will to be done.  

Thankfully for us, Paul spoke these truths to the Corinthians. The Corinthians learned how effective their prayers were. Prayer warriors do not always hear the reports of their effectiveness.  

Nevertheless, the truth remains: when we pray in accordance with God’s will, our prayers will be effective. As Paul noted in 1 Corinthians 15, Jesus’ resurrection ensures that faith-based labor in the Lord is never in vain. Here, he makes plain that prayer joins the ones praying to the work. Such labor must not be in vain. 

The invitation to join the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP) on Sunday, Nov. 1 reverberates the same spiritual signal Paul sent to the Corinthians 2,000 years ago.  

God works through the prayers of his saints to deliver his people from times of peril. Use International Christian Concern’s IDOP page to host or pray for the persecuted this year. 

Join other believers worldwide in prayer. Become better informed about persecution and encourage others to get involved. Such labors will prove effective in God’s plan. The effort will not be wasted. 

But we need not wait for IDOP to start praying for persecuted believers. The opportunity never disappears. Christians today can pray for suffering saints. Keep up with where and how Christians are persecuted worldwide and join through prayer.

In fact, resources exist to help parents, children, and families work together with God for Christians around the world. Ultimately, these resources empower us to support God’s mission through prayer. 

Several years ago, a group of university students and I decided to open each class meeting with prayer for the persecuted. Because of the intensity and severity of persecution there, we chose to pray for Christians in Nigeria. After a while, our prayers shifted as we remembered that God was working to deliver sinners from death, as well as delivering believers from those pursuing them to death. 

With that in mind, we began praying for the persecutors to be delivered from sin and death through Christ. Class after class, we prayed. Unlike the Corinthians, we received no reports.  

Nevertheless, what Paul wrote to the Corinthians remains timely and true. When we join in prayer, we join the work. The work will be accomplished according to the Lord’s will; it will not prove vain. So, we prayed for God to save Fulani terrorists. We prayed for Fulani to make the same transition the Apostle Paul made — from persecutor to persecuted for Christ’s sake.  

This month, Baptist Press released an article about recent successes in Christians reaching the Fulani people in northern Nigeria. The article notes that mission work has continued for years among the Fulani, as Christians have built schools and built relationships with children and their parents. Through these patient labors, thousands of Muslims have come to Christ.  

Miraculously, some former Boko Haram and Fulani terrorists have been converted. The article recognizes (anonymously, of course) one former Fulani terrorist who, like Paul, transformed from persecuting Christians into a traveling evangelist and missionary. He now faces persecution for Christ’s sake.  

Was this former Fulani terrorist delivered from his sin through the prayers offered by students in a California classroom? Maybe. Though one may not be able to tie a particular prayer from students to this Fulani man’s conversion to Christ, the truth remains that those who prayed joined the work.  

Such work is never in vain. 

 Source 

1. Seifrid, Mark, The Second Letter to the Corinthians in Pillar New Testament Commentary, Don Carson, editor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 44. 

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