In our text for this week Paul pauses twice to say a prayer to God. These prayers are key for a few reasons which we will explore below.
Romans 15:5-6, 13
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
The first thing we should see in these prayers is the character of God. Paul calls God the God of endurance and encouragement and the God of hope. God is the ultimate source of encouragement, endurance and hope. These are aspects of his character. Since these are aspects of his character ultimately we are in need of him to grant us these characteristics. We must return to the source of these in order to live in them.
Paul has just said in the previous verse (v. 4) that we have hope through endurance and the encouragement of Scripture. So our encouragement is found in God's Word that he has given in Scripture. When we turn to Scripture and see God's faithfulness to his covenant promises to his people Israel our spirits should be lifted. There were many dark days throughout history that God led his people through. He was faithful then. He will be faithful now. When we see his faithfulness we have the strength to endure any conflicts and trials that come our way.
God is also the God of hope. Our experience of believing in Jesus should be one of joy and peace because we are abounding in hope. This is a very different message than we often get from the "turn or burn" messages of salvation. God is the God of hope!
When we consider the length of time from the original promise given Abraham to be a blessing to the nations and its subsequent fulfillment in Jesus we should be filled with joy and peace at the inclusion of all the nations into the people of God. Yes, it comes with problems. But those are good problems to have. If our ultimate aim is to bring God more glory and he is more glorified when all the nations worship him together then we should be overjoyed at this development and take the challenge of unity head on.
It says a lot that in the midst of these challenges to the house churches of Rome that Paul pauses and turns to God to ask him to grant these characteristics to the church. This indicates Paul's theology of dependence on God for true change to take place in the church.
Additional Content
I don't have any additional content because I really want you to do the reflection time prayers.
Reflection
Pray these prayers for you and and one another. You can go ahead and repeat the same words in the prayers Paul uses here. Pray for endurance amidst our differences on disputable matters. Pray for encouragement for those who are just tired—encouragement in the hope we find in Scripture. Pray for unity, that with one voice the church will glorify God together. Pray that joy and peace would characterize your experience of believing in Jesus. Pray for hope even amidst some of the dark and difficult challenges facing the church today.