Day 2 - Prayers for the strengthening of the church
9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, 10making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. 11For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established— 12that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
Summary: Paul is eager to get to Rome to encourage the believers there, to be encouraged by them, and to allow God to work through Him to "establish" or strengthen the church. It is God who will do the establishing of the church as they remember their mutual faith that came through the hearing of the gospel. Paul is so overwhelmed with thinking about Rome that he prays for them every time that he prays! He cannot help but pray for the believers at Rome. The only person who could stop Paul from getting to Rome was God Himself.
Questions
Have you ever wanted something this badly? What? Why?
Imagine you are one of the Christians in Rome reading Paul's letter for the first time. How would it make you feel to know he prayed for you all the time and wanted to encourage you?
Worship in Song
The only hope for the church to be strengthened in the faith - to grow as disciples - is the faithfulness of God to finish what He has started.
Sing Great is thy Faithfulness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k1WhFtVp0o
Prayer
Parents, lead your family in praying that God would strengthen your church and that he would allow your family to be a part of the mutual encouragement that comes only through a common faith in Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment