Week 2 - Sunday

A Heart for God

For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers .... (Romans 1:9-10a)

In the Bible, Jesus tells us that God the Father seeks true worshipers. True worshipers are those who worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). Whenever the word Spirit begins with a capital letter, it refers to God's Holy Spirit. When it is not capitalized, it usually means the inner part of a person, their mind, will or feelings. The spirit is the main motivational force within a person. In the Bible it is also sometimes referred to as the heart. The greatest worship a person can offer to God, is to serve Him with all their heart. The reason Paul was so completely focused on serving God was because he had his whole heart in it. Nothing was more important to Paul than God and so the greatest desire of his heart was to serve Him.

Paul's main duty in serving God was the preaching of the gospel. Paul devoted his life to traveling from city to city and telling as many people as he could about the gospel. This kind of devotion to God is not a normal human response. Most people would rather not serve God because they are too busy serving themselves. They have put the things of this world ahead of the things of God. God doesn't expect every Christian to be a full time preacher like Paul was, but He does expect everyone to serve Him with all their heart. Wouldn't you like to be more devoted to serving God? If so you need to refuse to be like the rest of the world, and then allow yourself to be led by God's Spirit and the teachings in His word(Rom. 12:1-2).

Paul calls on the greatest possible witness, God, to back up the claim he makes about having a deep concern for the Christians in Rome. Even though Paul had never met most of them, he wanted them to know how deeply he cared for them and that he prayed for them unceasingly. To pray unceasingly does not mean to pray without ever stopping. It means to pray regularly and frequently. It's likely that Paul prayed for the Roman Christians, as well as many others, every day. All believers, from the least to the most faithful, need the support of the prayers of other Christians. Even a spiritual giant like Paul realized that he needed the prayers of others. In his letters he frequently asked people to pray for him. Are you regularly praying for the people that you know? One of the ways you can serve God with your heart, and at the same time show your love for others, is to pray for their needs. Some people that you know, need to come to Christ and you should pray for that. Others are experiencing physical or spiritual difficulties and they need your prayers too. We should always remember to thank God for the good things we see happening in the lives of others as well.

Readings for today: 1 Tim. 2:1-4; Eph. 6:18-19; Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 5:17-18