Struggle

DEVOTION

ROMANS

STRUGGLE

Rom 15:30-33

30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. 31 Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, 32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed. 33 The God of peace be with you all. Amen.

NIV

Paul was heading for Jerusalem, the place packed with Jewish people who were bent on remaining Jewish and did not accept Jesus as being the Messiah. Not only those Jews, but also the Jewish believers who had accepted Jesus but were insisting that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised. There was a lot of opposition to his mission of bringing an offering to those Jewish believers who were not happy about Gentiles receiving the Gospel without first becoming a Jew. It would be much like any denomination today saying a person is not saved unless they are a member of that church. One denomination, or maybe they are called a fellowship insist that salvation is not achieved until baptism occurs. In other words it is Jesus plus something, which we know is not right. Paul was in that situation headed for Jerusalem knowing that a group was Jesus plus circumcision believers. Then there were those who might well attempt to take his life because he was once their zealot, trying to kill Christianity and now he is spreading the very word he was opposed to. He is asking the saints in Rome to pray for him and at the same time he is asking the God of peace would be with them. That is our life as well. Some of us are in a struggle while others are enjoying the peace of the Lord. Those who are at peace with the Lord ought to pray for those who struggle. But then that might require a certain amount of openness regarding being in a struggle. It is not that our struggle would be with sin, but in our ability to spread the Gospel, or do the work of the Lord we have been called to. It would appear it is alright to struggle with our calling, looking back at Moses. He argued or tried to convince God he was not the right man for the task. He struggled with his calling. But God convinced him that he would be with him. God must have been with Paul, for he was successful in his endeavors, including his time in Jerusalem. His life was in danger, the crowd wanted him dead. He was put in prison, but after letting the Roman leaders know he was a Roman citizen he evidently was sent to Rome to stand trial. The whole account of this encounter is recorded for us in the book of Acts. Nevertheless how does all that relate to us? Back to our struggle to do what we are called to. Do we struggle alone, or do we ask others to pray for us? Do others even know of our struggle? Are we afraid to admit we struggle in following our call, or for that matter in just following Jesus? Have we built that wall of defense so high it is impossible to penetrate? We don’t call it a wall, but maybe a façade, always looking good in the outside, but having a rough time in the inside. Let us learn to share our struggles, our weaker areas of our journey with the Lord. We can pray for one another and all be stronger as a result. It is just like that shield of faith, we are much better defending the enemy when we stand beside each other forming a better defense than standing all alone. So let us pray for each other about our need. We all should have the peace of God in our lives. We all can be refreshed by others and experience that joy of the Lord. No need to struggle.