Speaking Directly From His Heart

November 27, 2017

Speaking Directly From His Heart

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Read: Romans 15:7-13

I believe God used the Apostle Paul to build the three foundational pillars of the New Testament church: Jesus is God’s Messiah, Jesus is the hope of all the world, and Jesus, the immeasurable gift of God’s grace, gives to his followers all that the Father has given to him.

To establish these foundations Paul brings forward the essential teachings of the Old Testament interpreted through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Much of Paul’s writing can be quite dense, each verse as heavy as the preceding. There are, however, places where Paul seems to relax a bit and speak directly from his heart. Most often these places are his prayers for the church. Paul’s prayers are so important to me in understanding Paul’s theology that I have a separate file where I keep the prayers of St, Paul. One of those prayers was included in yesterday’s meditation and another is in today’s reading.

 

“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (15: 5-6)

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (15:13)

My Takeaway: What do you think our communities would become if we prayed the way Paul prayed for his friends in Rome?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

Copyright © 2017 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.