"Paul knows his theology – he knows that God is sovereign over his imprisonment, but he doesn't make the mistake that many of us do today and say, 'well, if God is sovereign and controls all things, then why pray?' No. Paul understands that God uses means to work his divine will, and he gives us two of them here in verse 19. The first is the prayers of the saints. Paul says to the church at Philippi, 'I need your prayers,' because he knows that God will use their prayers to work out his sovereign will for his life. Church, I want you to think about that this morning: God uses your prayers to accomplish his will in someone else's life. So then the question that confronts us then, is do we pray like we believe that? Do we pray believing that God will use our prayers to actually and really affect someone else's life? Paul believes that – so he says that "through your prayers, this will turn out for my deliverance.'" |
