Thank you for joining me back here, as we start our final week in our study of the Book of Romans.
Our passage of Scripture for today is Romans 15: 30 - 33 ...
Now I appeal to you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join with me in fervent prayers to God on my behalf. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that the gift I am bringing to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you.
33 The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.
Paul longs to visit the church at Rome, of whom he has heard and with whom he has communicated, but whom he has not yet met in person.
He wants to come to Rome to enjoy their fellowship in person, and also to receive their help with funding his work of spreading the Gospel in Spain (see Romans 15: 22 – 29).
However, before he can go to Rome, he must make a dangerous trip to deliver a gift of financial aid from Gentile Christians to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
The part of this passage that really grabs me is verse 30: "Now I appeal to you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join with me in fervent prayers to God on my behalf."
Paul doesn't ask the Believers in Rome to send him bodyguards for the journey, or for them to petition Jerusalem for safe passage ... he asks them to pray!
Of course we can (and in many cases should) ask our fellow-Believers for practical help when it is needed.
However, I believe that we too often underestimate and ignore the value and importance of prayer as a form of both weapon and aid in our times of challenge and need.
Paul knows how powerful prayer is, and he asks his friends in Rome to pray powerfully, fervently!
Corrie Ten Boom famously asked: "Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?"
When we are faced with need, illness, loss, or other difficulties, do we go in to "fix-it" mode, and rack our brains for plans and strategies to get out of the situation?
Or do we go in to "grumble" mode, telling anyone who will listen how bad our lot is, how hard we have it, and (if we do it right), spreading our complaints until everyone we meet is just as miserable as us?
And then, when none of these strategies works, do we only then turn to the Lord, and ask for His help and direction?
What difference would it make in our lives our circumstances and the lives of the people around us if we went to prayer as our first resort, instead of our last? If we steered through our challenges by prayer, instead of praying when all else has already failed?
"We often neglect the most useful thing that we can do as a Christian - pray. Prayer can seem passive, like we're not doing anything, but the exact opposite is true!" (Kelli LaFram)