God’s Peace

Posted on by korgrocker

“And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.”
Romans 15:33 NLT

This verse, the last in Romans 15, is almost as though it’s Paul signing off from his long letter. He’s said all he wants to say and this is his “Yours sincerely” moment, or something similar but less formal. It’s the sort of statement that would be made by a minister at the end of a church meeting, before walking to the exit door to say his goodbyes. And it’s not unusual for Christians to say to someone on the way out of our home, “May God be with you”. On my business card I have included the verses from Numbers 6:24-26, “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favour and give you his peace.”

But two things emerge from this verse, Romans 15:33. Paul asked that God was with all his readers. Why would he say that because God is with all His followers. It is in fact a form of greeting with which he encourages the Roman believers. In those days of severe persecution, knowing that God was with them would have brought a smile to their faces. It would have reassured them that their trials were all worth going through because God was alive and well. Isaiah 41:13 was a verse with which the Jewish exiles were similarly encouraged. They too were going through a difficult time in a land where they didn’t want to be. We read, “For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you”. Whatever situation we pilgrims are in just now, we too can be encouraged by the reminder that God is with us.

The second piece of encouragement from Paul was the reminder that God is the Source of our peace.  In John 14:27 we read Jesus’ words about peace. He said, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid”. A Christian isn’t so much concerned about peace in its worldly sense. We might of course pray for peace, and particularly about the war in Ukraine. But the peace Jesus was referring to was something far more important and beneficial. It describes the peace we have with God because we are in a right relationship with Him. As our bodies, souls and spirits line up with God and His ways, we find that we are experiencing a precious gift from God. Jesus taught about it. Paul reminded the Roman believers about it, and we experience it too. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul wrote about some practical help to those who are anxious and worried. He wrote, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”. The remedy for the sickness of worry is firstly prayer, and then thankfulness, leading to “peace of mind and heart”. 

Just a few words at the end of Romans 15 would have had a profound impact on the readers of Paul’s long letter of teaching and encouragement. We too can read these words, perhaps at the end of a day, as we head into a night of restful slumber, secure in God’s peace.

Dear Father God. We thank You for Your real and precious presence with us. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Pray for Paul

Posted on by korgrocker

“Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. 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. Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.”
Romans 15:30-32 NLT

Paul writes that he needs prayer. He firstly asks for his readers to join his “struggle” by praying for him. What “struggle” was it that he was experiencing? As we read through Paul’s experiences in the book of Acts, we see a struggle emerging between the wonderful things, miracles of healings and so on, that God was doing through Paul, and the forces of the enemy doing their utmost to shut Paul down. People were being saved in droves, churches were being established, lives were being transformed. It’s no wonder he was experiencing a “struggle”. But he wasn’t so complacent that he failed, humbly, to request prayer. We read in James 5:16, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results“. It wasn’t just James that knew the truth of the power of prayer. Paul was very much aware of it as well. 

Paul appealed to the Roman believers’ love for him, which he knew had been given to them through the Holy Spirit. God’s love is truly amazing, because it cuts right across distance, ethnicity, social standing, and everything else that would otherwise divide believers. The love that prefers the needs of another person over our own. The love that penetrates even the most insensitive of human hearts. And the love spawned by the Holy Spirit in their very beings motivated them to pray earnestly for Paul. 

A specific need that Paul had was for safety from the attacks he expected would develop against him when he reached Jerusalem. And that was a very real threat, as we read in Acts 23:20-21, “Paul’s nephew told him [the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem], “Some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the high council tomorrow, pretending they want to get some more information. But don’t do it! There are more than forty men hiding along the way ready to ambush him. They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him. They are ready now, just waiting for your consent“”. But as we know, as the story unfolded in Acts 23, Paul was indeed kept safe, so their prayers were answered.

Lastly, Paul asked for prayer that the donation from the Macedonians that he was taking to Jerusalem would be accepted by the believers there. It would have been a bitter-sweet gift for the believers of Jewish origin, that Gentiles in another place were supplying their needs. So Paul’s prayer was that there would be no proud rejection due to the Jew/Gentile divide.

Paul finished these two verses with the conclusion that once the prayers had been offered up on his behalf, he would be able to journey to Rome with a joyful heart, knowing his job in Jerusalem was done.

We pilgrims also have prayer needs. But how often do we continue to suffer in silence, too proud to ask for prayer? We continue to experience pains and aches, dosing ourselves with various pills and potions, when what we should do is pick up the phone and call a Christian friend, asking for prayer. Or we may be facing into family or work issues that are driving us to distraction. Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done“. We pray for our needs and worries and involve our brothers and sisters as Paul did. We can never pray too much!

Father God. We know that prayer changes things. Please forgive us for neglecting Your Heavenly hotline when we have needs. We know that you hear our prayers and the prayers of our brothers and sisters. Thank You. Amen.

Giving Thanks

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Ephesians‬ ‭5:18-20‬ ‭NLT

Paul wrote that we should give thanks for everything. Hang on a minute – everything? For that unexpected bill that has just fallen through the letter box? For the dressing down we have just had from the boss? Surely he meant just the good things that have happened to us. 

Perhaps the key words are “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Why should Jesus’ name matter? In faith we should call on Jesus with a thankful heart, grateful for the good things that we have experienced and in faith that He will come through for us when bad things are in danger of overwhelming us. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ“. God wants us to be a thankful people. Not people who look at their circumstances and go down the tubes, ending up in misery and depression. 

Pilgrims look at, and live in, the world around them. The bad news is that faith in Jesus, being a Christian, will not prevent the problems rolling in. After all, Jesus said in John 16:33,“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” 

So we can give thanks in everything, because even when the bills are stacking up, when inflation is eroding our income, when sickness is dragging us down, we know that through Jesus we have the strength to overcome them all. So in faith-filled prayer we present our needs to Jesus and thank Him that the answers are coming. The scoffers and cynics dismiss our faith as just a deluded form of escapism and predict our ruin. But the God I worship made a promise to me – in Philippians 4:19 we read, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus”. God has more than enough resources to go round and He knows what we need.

God will sometimes have other plans for us. I love the story in Daniel where the Jewish lads refused to bow down before a statue of Nebuchadnezzar. We read in Daniel 3:17-18, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up“. There is a dear young Christian woman I know who lost her husband, at the age of 37, to cancer. Two young children under 5. How will she ever be able to thank God in her circumstances? I don’t have an answer other than we live in a sinful world and the devil’s wickedness will take its course. But I do know that our loving Heavenly Father is there for her and will provide for her. And one day He will wipe away her tears. Sometimes the answer to our prayers won’t be realised until we are in God’s presence.

So the brotherhood (and sisterhood) of pilgrims walk on together, our eternal home in sight. And together with thankful hearts we reach out to our loving Heavenly Father, secure in our status as sons and daughters of the greatest family that there has ever been.