However, this is clearly not how Paul viewed the gift of prayer in his second letter to the Corinthian Church. In 1:8 Paul reflects on his time in Asia when he was under such intense affliction that he gave up hope of living through it. But then he goes on to recognize the purpose of all of it in vs. 9.
Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in the God who raises the dead. He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again,
So, through this near death experience, Paul and his companions got to learn what it meant to depend on the God who is capable of resurrection in a situation in which he absolutely could not control the outcome. He learned to put his hope in the deliverance of God both then and in the future. What does Paul attribute this miraculous rescue and spiritual lesson to? The prayers of the Corinthians and many others.
As you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many.
I never really had chance to despair of life itself, but had I been able to see the ice coming at me in the few seconds of our rapid decent, I probably would have. But meanwhile, my church is praying and I know from experience, one of the most popular prayers out here in the bush is for safe travels. So thanks to that gift, miraculously, we survived impact.
As I lay there on the ice for hours waiting for rescue, I could take comfort in knowing, there were shockwaves of prayer requests reverberating across the globe.
As the story unfolded in the next few days, we learned that there was a divinely placed Alaska State Trooper who was responsible for making very difficult decision about how our rescue would go down. He asked for prayer and in minutes before the deadline the best case scenario plays out on the scene as rescue squadrons arrive.
Another memory that sticks in my mind is being wheeled out of my hospital room on the way to surgery and there is one of my fellow passengers, Eric, he had hobbled over from his room on a broken ankle and camped outside waiting for me since he wasn't allowed in. The one thing he was able to say as I passed by, "People all over the world are praying for you."
I don't take the gift of prayer for granted anymore. I used to see prayer teams as support personnel and the pastors, and missionaries and such were the real "combatants" in our battle against the spiritual forces. But after a few years of being involved in spiritual warfare, I've come to see it differently. The prayer warriors are the Navy, the artillery, and the Air-force bringing the spiritual bombardment on the enemy and when the "infantry" shows up, it's to clean up the mess.
So thank you to the thousands who offered your gifts of prayer. The Lord heard you and spared our lives and our legs. Because of you, we are walking / hobbling and talking today. But please bear in mind that while we are grateful for our physical salvation, the reason we were out there in the first place remains. It's the reason I gladly took the risk of the trip and plan to do it again. The thousands of Alaskans who are stuck in despair and spiritual darkness, and need the hope that we already have in Jesus Christ. Would you join me in launching a spiritual bombardment against the forces evil that would like to destroy our villages? This weekend over a hundred people are coming to our camp here in Port Alsworth for Spring Family Conference. Would you pray that Jesus would rescue those who are lost and whose faith has been shipwrecked, like you prayed for me?
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