Strive Together with Me in Your Prayers

On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Peter and Andrew were casting their nets, Jesus calls them. They left the life they had known as fishermen just as it was and followed him at once.

This call shows the very purpose for which Jesus came into the world. To draw people out with the net of the gospel is the work of evangelism to which Paul gave himself, and it is like the priestly work of presenting the Gentiles to God as an offering. To help the church in Jerusalem, Paul sets aside his plan to go on to Spain and, at the risk of his life, turns toward Jerusalem instead.

Each time his plans did not go as he intended, Paul sought God’s will within them, and even when he finally reached Rome in chains, he went on preaching the gospel to the end. Helping a brother is not the task of one person but a work of prayer that the whole church shares, and kneeling before God in this way is the quickest road.