"The prayers of many"

"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 Corinthians 1:11)

This is a wonderful verse. It has encouraged me so many times. In vs.8-10 the apostle Paul shares that though he and his co-workers in the gospel were in such a great affliction, burdened beyond their strength, and despairing of life itself, but God has delivered them. Their situation was so beyond their strength that all they could do is to hope in God and depend on him for deliverance from the murderous persecutors. And because God has delivered them once they had hope that their God will deliver them again. So now Paul is asking the Corinthian believers to pray for him and his co-workers for protection and deliverance from those who would persecute them, as they proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ.

Notice in v.11 it says that we can help each other as believers in Jesus Christ by praying for each other. Friends, God is saying to us not to hold on to our own burdens and deal with things on our own, but he is inviting us to share with each other our prayer burdens, because our God will answer us. There are two types of prayer requests or burdens, public and private. And we need to ask God for wisdom to know the difference. Some burdens like Paul and his companions' are so life threatening they need to be shared with many, like when someone has cancer. Some burdens still maybe urgent, but they should be shared only between close friends. And still some prayer burdens are best kept only between me and the Lord. And when God answers and pours out his abundant blessing on you, or on me, there will be so much more thanksgiving and praise to God because many have prayed. Let's not hope in ourselves that things will work out in the end, but let's hope in God alone and pray to him and let others pray for you, so we all may be amazed at how good our God is to us!