I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people there, so that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed. The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Car side mirrors are interesting little items. The more complex ones have two different sections: the top is to see long distance behind you. And the bottom is to see right alongside of you, in your blind spot. Now imagine with me if the only mirrors in your vehicle were side mirrors, and these mirrors only had the ability to see in your blind spots right alongside of you. They would not show long distance to tell you about approaching vehicles. How effective would these mirrors be? Probably not very effective. Why? Because in trying to change lanes, we must know both who is alongside us and what vehicles are approaching quickly from a farther distance.

When we think about navigating through life, we have our physical perspective and our spiritual perspective, kind of like the short and long distance mirrors of our lives. If we live our lives only by our own eyesight physically, then we will find ourselves not understanding why trouble comes our way from a distance. We will not be able to be ready for it and approach the trouble with the power of God. We see Paul here is keenly aware of the spiritual warfare around him and the potential battles set out before him. And he strategically plans ahead for these. He calls for reinforcements along the way. How does he do this? By asking his people to pray for safe travels and against attacks. Does he do this out of a primary care for himself? No! He wants to deliver needed provisions to his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem and then to visit the believers. So he asks these believers to pray for him. And he calls this “joining him in the struggle”. A bit mysterious, right? But in reality, our prayers are offered up to God as incense in his galactic throne room, and they impact his hand of action in calling his angels into spiritual warfare. These prayers support his angels as they fight these battles for us (Daniel 10, Ephesians 6, Revelations 8:4). So the reinforcement Paul calls in by asking the Romans to pray — this is God’s power being multiplied in his angels and through those he chooses to use to fight off evil. This is the immense power of our prayers and we should not easily forget it!

Who can you or I pray for today? What spiritual battles in the future can we cover with prayer now?

Lord, reinforce into our hearts to pray for the spiritual battles we face. Help us to look through the long-term mirrors of your spiritual world in prayer. May our prayers go up with fervor and passion and may they honor you in your throne room! Power to your kingdom and your angels and your truth!