Advent: Overflow With Confident Hope
Romans 15:13
Through January 6, I’ll be posting devotionals with an Advent and Epiphany theme to focus our minds on the nativity of Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!
“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 NLT
In this chapter near the end of his epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul encourages the Christians of Rome to live to please others, not themselves. He asks both Gentile and Jew to come together in the pure grace of Jesus, forgiving each other’s faults.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon wrote of the meaning of Romans 15, saying that “Christ did not receive us because we were perfect, because he could see no fault in us, or because he hoped to gain somewhat at our hands. Ah, no! But, in loving condescension covering our faults, and seeking our good, he welcomed us to his heart; so, in the same way, and with the same purpose, let us receive one another.”1
Paul concludes this section, just before explaining his reasons for writing the epistle, with this prayer and blessing. To quote theologian David Guzik, “As God fills us with the blessings of His joy and peace in believing, we are equipped to live in this common bond of unity God calls us to.”
May the coming month find you overflowing with joy, peace, and hope!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Loving Father, I am filled with joy when I realize the depth of Your love for me! You are my God of Hope, and I thank You for giving me not the doubtful hope of the world, but a definite Hope founded on Your unfailing and unchangeable Word. Help me to share this truth with those I meet today in order to multiply Your praise and glory. In Christ’s name I pray, AMEN.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon: "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)