Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Unified believers are more powerful than unified unbelievers because unified believers have the Holy Spirit. God blesses and multiplies unity. Paul asks the believers in Rome to pray for his deliverance from his enemies. Every leader has opponents and enemies.

The apostle says, “[Pray] that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea.” We might think the unbelievers are the non-Christians, but Paul is talking about the religious people. The greatest threat to Paul, Jesus, and even us today is unbelieving, religious people. They think they’re doing it for God but don’t even know God. This was Paul before he got saved.

He was a murderer of Christians. He was a religious zealot. Then he met Jesus, and his former team turned against him. The religious people began harassing Paul, following him, and trying to kill him. Eventually, they brought false charges and had him arrested. Paul spent a few months under the oversight of a Roman guard while being held for trial. The apostle probably thought That’s great. I’ll tell that guy about Jesus. He will go tell the other soldiers, and we will have a revival in the military!

After having his reputation destroyed, being placed under arrest, and narrowly avoiding assassination attempts, Paul made the point as a Roman citizen: he had the legal right to transfer his case to the city of Rome. He wanted to go to Rome and made it there as a prisoner through arrest to have his case heard! The book of Acts ends with him under house arrest in Rome.

The story's moral is that God has you where He wants you, even if you don’t like how you got there. The same thing happened to Jonah earlier in the Bible. He was called to Nineveh—he just didn’t expect to travel in the belly of a giant fish. Paul wanted to go to Rome, but he got there by the unbelievers arresting him and religious people persecuting him. So, he asks for prayer for his enemies.

Paul also prays that he will help God’s people be able to serve him, bring them joy, and “be refreshed in your company” (v. 32). I love these words. The apostle wants the people to have joy and experience peace. That is my prayer for you today. I pray you will experience the supernatural spirit of joy. The Bible says Jesus went through hard times for “the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). I pray you will experience the peace of God. This world can be so discouraging, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will refresh you in His presence.

Today’s Reflection

Have you seen times in your life when God got you to where He wanted you, but it might not have been the way you would have chosen to get there?