Peter’s Prayer Letter

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain. 1 Cor 15:58 RSV

The message of this verse began to settle into my consciousness as I read Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright.

For Paul, this section of the letter to the Corinthians is his longest and most dense discourse on the resurrection of the dead. He starts with the resurrection of Jesus. He moves forward to a promise and a hope for those who have faith in Christ – they too will participate in the resurrection of the dead and they will witness the destruction of their arch-enemy, death. “Therefore” he concludes, in the light of this great promise continue in steadfastness doing the work of the Lord. Why? Because in the Lord your labour is not in vain – empty, worthless. In the transition from life to death to the resurrection of the dead nothing of worth is lost. The work of the Lord done today will be preserved for the future. This is without doubt a message of hope.

And what is the work of the Lord? As we bear witness in words and deeds, in the power of the Spirit, to the reality that Jesus is both Christ the King and Lord of all creation, we do the work of the Lord.

So what does all this have to do with a three week ministry trip to Cambodia? Everything!

Lord willing, we will arrive in Phnom Penh on July 15th. We will work for and with the care-givers and children at Daughters Cambodia. We will be Christ’s ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation. We will do the work of the Lord. We will take with us the Spirit who dwells in us and gifts us according to the needs of the moment. We will walk the path that has been marked out for us before we were born. (Eph 2:10)

In spite of the immensity of the task and its deep roots, we will not end the scourge of child sex slavery in Cambodia. But the work we do will not be in vain. It will produce a harvest. We do not know when, but we do know it will happen.

So, whether it is teaching the children how to count, or how to dance, or how to style hair; or telling a Bible story, or whether it’s simply being kind in a very unkind place, the Lord guarantees that it will not be useless or empty.

We will arrive home on August 5th.

Therefore, I ask you to pray for us:

• Pray as we travel to and from Cambodia.


• Pray for the leaders of Cambodia. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)


• Pray that we will be encouragers for the caregivers and the children who receive their care; and that we will be encouraged by them.


• Pray that each of us will understand that the Kingdom things we say and do on behalf of the children and their caregivers, are not be in vain - empty, useless, valueless.


• Pray that as we labour on behalf of the children we will be steadfast, immovable, that we will abound in the work of the Lord toward them.


• Pray that the teeth of the roaring lion will be broken. (1 Peter 5:8)