“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV).
This is a huge prayer. In the previous verses and those following Paul instructs and encourages us to to do some amazing things. He says those who are stronger should “bear with the failings of the weak,” we should, “accept one another, “ we should be of, “one heart and mouth” so that God is glorified. As I’m reading this I’m thinking, “Yes, yes! This is awesome Paul! We can do this.” But then reality sets in.
Yeah, you caught me. What reality am I living in? God’s or mine? God’s or the church’s? Aren’t they one in the same?
Over and over Paul emphasizes that this is the work of God. He even says that all he has talked about and done is part of a great mystery kept for “long ages past” (16:25). Over and over Paul points to Jesus Christ who accomplished all those awesome things in which the people of God should participate, practice and pursue. Reality is God’s reality. The world as it is supposed to be is a place where our strength, endurance, acceptance, longings, motives of the heart, encouragement, generosity and hope all flow from God the Father to His people where we then overflow out into a hurting and dying world.
And so this is our prayer today: May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, amen.
Nathan Tillotson
April 20
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