The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

Romans 15:5-6 5 Now may the God of endurance and comfort give you unity with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Context (NET)

As I read this prayer, I am at first reminded of some of our discussions here on the Forum! But "unity" is a big deal in small fellowship groups, in churches, and between churches. Diversity and difference, I believe, are wonderful. God calls all sorts of people with all sort of ideas and preferences to be his children - but we need to maintain unity while allowing others to be different to ourselves.

So Paul prays for endurance.Let us remember to pray for those who are suffering persecution, or who are having a hard time at work or within their families - because of their faith - for Jesus' sake. Strengthen them, Lord, and help them to endure patiently knowing that you are in control of all things. As well, when faced with what we think is error, we have an obligation to try and reason and help our brothers and sisters to see the truths about God that he has revealed to us in Jesus and in the scriptures. So, I pray for those who are in the ministry of apologetics in our Worldviews section whose patience can be tried as they seek to proclaim the truths of the gospel in what can be a hostile environment.

Paul adds comfort ... when we find we are in the wrong, or when we are sorrowing for one we feel is going away from the truth. In times of grief and loss, we need comfort. When we feel alone, forsaken, at odds with all and sundry - we need the comfort only God can give.

We need the help of God to maintain unity with one another despite our differences. The old man within is full of pride, and wants to be right. It is not easy to accept correction or rebuke ... but praise God when he ends loving brothers and sisters who are brave and caring enough to take the risk of rejection and tell us the truth about ourselves.

Our aim is to praise and glorify God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - with one voice! Surely we can all identify with how fantastic that is - when Christians join together and sing praises to God ... be it at church, at a big convention, even round a table as a family or small prayer group. Thank you Lord, for enabling us to have emotions that can be lifted - just by praising you together.

_________________
Avid Reader

“Lord, in my zeal for love of truth, let me not forget the truth about love.” - Thomas Aquinas
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forum Code of Conduct
Forum Statement of Beliefs

thank you Avid for that very timely reminder .... and also the encouragement in your post.

I think we have this mental block with the words : 'endurance' ... 'perseverance' ... etc
it is so against the tenets of our instant gratification type of culture ....

But how often in the NT are we told to persevere ... many, many times .... sometimes change takes a long, long time .... and comes only with great effort and sometimes also with great pain. So it is important to remember that even our endurance comes as a gift from our Gracious God.

But the middle of that prayer gives the reason for all we are and all we do as Christians ....

"in accordance with Christ Jesus"

Paul rightly puts Christ in the center .... He is the strength and hope behind our efforts .... He is the reason that in all things, even in the middle of our hardest times, yet because of Christ, we can always "with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"

blessed be His Name

Dinah

_________________
Forum Code of Conduct
Forum Statement of Beliefs