Overflowing River of Joy and Peace
Romans 15:13 13 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.
The power of believers rejoicing together is an earth-shattering thing and the enemy knows it. So he seeks to devour us by pitting us against each other. His plan involves destroying lives, marriages, friendships, churches, and basically anything that God has put together. Paul was writing to the group of believers at Rome and in the midst of that persecution by the Roman Emperor Nero He was encouraging them to rejoice. In just a few verses before verse 13 Paul quotes scripture where it says “For this, I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to your name.” 10 And in another place it is written,
“Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles." 11 And yet again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Praise him, all you people of the earth.”12 And in another place Isaiah said, “The heir to David’s throne will come and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hope on him.”
Paul quoting scripture to encourage those Roman believers to rejoice even in their trials and tribulations and their connected praise not only sustained them, but overflowed to others in the area who had not hope. We should be the most hopeful people on earth because of the Holy Spirit's power and our rejoicing should be together as voices raised in unison because of our oneness as believers. Of course, we know that Jesus is coming back and I believe it won't be long before He comes to take us home. But until then we should rejoice in the hope He has given us through the Holy Spirit and live in that hope encouraging each other to rejoice, and rejoice together!!!
Our source of hope is Jesus and he has filled each of us with joy and peace as the above scripture says. That joy and peace are magnified when we raise our voices together to rejoice for what the Lord has done. It is unhindered praise and it does not stay within the bounds of human understanding, but overflows the banks of doubt and heaviness to bring life-giving hope to all who hear it!! Rejoice. Rejoice. As Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter 4 verse 4 4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
To which I close this blog entry.......
The Pilgrimage continues..
David Warren