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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Unanswered
Prayer Romans 15:30 to 32 in
the Christian Standard Bible reads: "Now
I [Paul] appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus
Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me
in prayers to God on my behalf. Pray
that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry
to Paul suffered much
because of his association with Jesus.
As he penned his letter to the Christians at If you read the Book of
Acts you will see that the trouble Paul expected in Jerusalem
was realized. He was falsely
arrested and relocated to Caesarea
where he was held in prison for two years.
He did end up in Knowing Paul in the limited way we do, and, knowing God's mission for his life, I'm sure he was frustrated at times. He was called by Jesus to cross the known world and preach the gospel, and here he was, stuck in prison for two long years. I don't think the
prayers to rescue Paul from the unbelievers so he could have a joyous
visit with the Roman Christians were answered as anticipated.
However you think about this, Paul took what was handed him.
He served Jesus to the best of his ability in whatever situation he found himself. In the
process, he trusted his path of life with Jesus, no matter where that path
took him, and it did take him to his execution.
One thing we know for sure. God
called Paul to preach Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles and their leaders,
and in the process, he would suffer (Acts 9:15 - 16).
We offer many prayers to
our Lord. If we are honest,
many of these prayers are not answered in the way we hoped or anticipated.
We're not yet living in the recreated life we read about in
Revelation 21. Until that day
comes, we exist in this sin-inflicted world.
As Don Henley, of the Eagles rock band sang on his Cass County
album, "It's just the cost of living and everyone pays."
As Don Henley didn't sing on his
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