Unanswered Prayers

November 29, 2017

Unanswered Prayers

Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation I am taking to Jerusalem.

Romans 15:31

Read: Romans 15:25-33

Libraries are filled with books about what the authors think they know. It would take an infinite space to house an index of what we are sure we do not know. Conspicuous on that index is all they we do not know, or understand about prayer. In Paul’s brief prayer request in today’s reading, one request appears to have been answered; the other was not answered in the way we would have hoped.

Paul’s tender heart for people is revealed in the way he sought and collected offerings for the church in Jerusalem which was so beleaguered in the decades following Pentecost. The offering, which was one subject of Paul’s prayer request, was graciously accepted.

In this closing passage to chapter fifteen, Paul reveals his heart’s desire to come to Rome and enjoy fellowship with the church before he continued on to Spain in his mission to “preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard” (Romans 15:20). Paul did go to Rome, but not as rest stop on his way to Spain. He went as a prisoner where he spent his last days writing his prison letters, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon.

My Takeaway: I struggle with the timing of Paul’s death. The letters he wrote from prison are pure gold; I can’t imagine the New Testament without them. But, couldn’t Paul have written them from Spain. Interestingly Paul apparently didn’t struggle with the timing as much as I do. From prison he wrote another prayer request:

“Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.”

Colossians 4:3-4

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.