Romans 1:9 - God, The Gospel & Prayer

• Romans 1:9 (NIV84)

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It's of great interest to me to note the differences between how people in the Bible expressed themselves and how we talk. Here Paul doesn't talk about how he LOVES God with all this heart, instead he says that he SERVES God with all his heart. That's quite a difference because serving is something that can be seen and evaluated, love isn't.

Could it be that's why we prefer to talk about love more than we do serving?

Note that Paul serves God by preaching the Gospel of His Son. This must always be the primary avenue of service for all Christians. Whether you're a preacher or a cook or a ditch digger, your primary service to God is sharing the Gospel, everything else comes after that, because without presenting the Gospel nothing else has any real meaning!

And then in a flash Paul returns to prayer. Paul must been a man of prayer, a real - I hesitate the use this over used term but will anyway - prayer warrior! Over and over and over again in his letters we see him not only command us to pray, but reference his own deep prayer life.

And yes, he he does pray for specific things. Paul was no believer in prayer is just communing with the All Mighty, never asking, just enjoying His presence. Nope - here he's praying that God will open the doors so that he can finally get to see the Roman Christians! He wants to see them very much, but wants God's will even more.

Quite the lesson for everyone I suspect.

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