A Prayer From Romans 15

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Father, help me bear with the failings of the weak, to love them as you love me in my failings and my shortcomings. Help me extend grace. Help me not to pride myself on what strengths you have given me. May I lay myself down, use all of my strength and gifts and talents for you, for them. May you grant me wisdom to build them up. Grant me your eyes to see them, your vision of what you have called them to be, your words to build them up and speak to them individually. May the weak become strong to build others up and pour themselves out to build your church. Jesus! My Lord! You did not seek to please yourself. May your life and your character be made manifest in me, so that those in the church will see you and your love for them individually. Help me be your hands and your feet and your words and your love to them so they may know there is a God in heaven who loves them individually and sees exactly where they are spiritually and physically, a God in heaven who loves them that he speaks to them, a God in heaven who loves them so much he sent his Son to them and still sends his Son’s body to them.

4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Father, you are the God of endurance and encouragement. Where there is dark discouragement, bring hope. Bring life in seeming impossible situations. May your Word be alive and active, speaking and infusing hope in the darkest places. Lord, where there is division and disunity, bring harmony. May we speak life into one another. Lord, may we have such a Spirit of unity (Eph. 4:3) that the world sees you, a supernatural God who powerfully works beyond human nature and human pride and human glories to unite a people for himself, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14), a God who himself is our peace having broken down every barrier (Eph. 2:14), a God who himself is active and involved in his people. May we with one voice glorify you! In English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, may we sing your praises! May every word we speak to other believers—other temples of the Spirit, other members of Christ’s body, other’s anointed by the love of God whether homeless or out of prison or rich or educated or uneducated or smelly or bejeweled—be a word of glory to you. Lord Jesus, we only extend what you yourself have given us! Help us see you in your welcoming glory, in your costly welcoming, to see ourselves truly in the light of you.

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,

    and sing to your name.”

10 And again it is said,

“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

11 And again,

“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

    and let all the peoples extol him.”

12 And again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,

    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;

in him will the Gentiles hope.”

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Christ Jesus! You became a servant! You the demonstration of God’s faithfulness! Lord, you reached out to all, Jews and Gentiles, so that they might glorify God for his mercy. Help me to pour out myself, just as you my Lord did, for I am not above my master, so that all will hope, so that the neighbors next to the church and down the street will hope in you and glorify you for your mercy. Help them see you as the faithful God who calls them individually, who sees them and their needs individually. Lord, let praise ring from our city! Let us sing to your name! Let us rejoice together, across all classes and socioeconomic statuses and races. And grant your church body here such hope, joy, and peace that it overflows into the community, that the community will be blessed by your common grace, but even more than that, that they will hunger after that tangible gift of your presence and seek the God of hope. Fill our church with your Holy Spirit power and the fruit that you alone can produce. This isn’t of ourselves, but you alone, O Lord, can produce this!

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; 20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, 21 but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him will see,

    and those who have never heard will understand.”

Father, in Christ by the Spirit you equip your church. Lord, grow us up in goodness, knowledge, the ability to instruct one another. May we use the gifts you have given us. May we have the courage and wisdom and discernment to speak. May we be zealous for your truth and your glory and be willing to instruct one another. Help us break out of our fears and constrictions and be bold for you! Fill us with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we might know you more! (Eph. 1:17). Lord, may I and your church leaders be priests in the service of the gospel of God, and speak of nothing but the gospel and of Christ crucified so that you may be all in all. Lord, may this local church be an offering to you, acceptable, pleasing, delightful to you in all of our words and deeds, sanctified by the Holy Spirit! Spirit! Bring your power and cleansing to bear in every heart, in every word, in every deed! May we invite you to search our hearts (Ps. 139:23-24) and listen to your still small voice. May we find the conviction and discipline sweet for a harvest of righteousness! (Heb. 12). And Lord, our hearts can be greedy for our own glory, but may we point to you alone so that you are glorified. Lord, in word, deed, power, signs, wonders, your own Spirit—bring growth! Sanctification! Pleasing deeds and an upright heart, down to the deepest motives and secrets of our hearts! So that it is so clear it is from you, that this church is yours, so that we may be a pure and radiant city on a hill, a golden lampstand in your hand. Lord, grant your power so that everyone in our city will know your name and have heard truly of your greatness and love and power and wrath. Open their ears and open their minds!

29 I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. 30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Lord, may I bear the fullness of the blessing of Christ to those I go to and minister to. Lord, build the love of the Spirt in us so that we strive in prayer. Grant your servants a heart of prayer, to see our God so big, a God who answers prayers, that we run to you. Lord, bring refreshing and encouragement to all the weary saints in your body through others in your body. May we be agents of your refreshing, a shelter from the storm (Isa. 32:2). Lord! By the name of Jesus, we praise you that you the God of peace can be among us and with us. What a wonder, that you who cannot be contained in this universe, who is above the sun, more radiant than the glowing lava, deign to dwell in our humble little church buildings in our humble little people, among the weak and the strong. What wonder! And may our church life be a testimony to that wonder! Let us be filled with awe as we gather.

In Jesus’ great and mighty and present name, amen.