The God Who Gives Endurance
“Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus.” — Romans 15:5 (CSB)
Paul gives God a title here that most of us have never used in a prayer. The God who gives endurance and encouragement. Not the God who watches you endure. The God who supplies it.
That's worth sitting with, because a lot of us secretly believe endurance is a personality trait. Some people just have grit, and if you weren't issued any, you're out of luck. Paul says no. Endurance is something God gives, which means you can ask Him for it, which means running out isn't the end of the conversation.
Now look at what Paul prays comes out of it, because it's not what you'd expect. He doesn't pray that the God of endurance would make them tougher. He prays He would grant them to live in harmony with one another.
That connection isn't an accident. When a group of people is genuinely drawing strength from God instead of from their own reserves, the whole community changes. Tired people who are running on empty are difficult to be around, and churches full of them come apart at the seams over things that don't matter. But people whose endurance is supplied from outside themselves have something left over for each other.
Shared struggle, brought to God together, bonds people in a way comfortable seasons never will. Ask anybody who's been through something hard alongside other believers. Those are the relationships that lasted.
So look around your church this week and ask two questions. Who's enduring right now? And what would it look like for me to be a tangible piece of God's encouragement to them?
The church isn't a place you attend. It's a body you're part of.
Ask God to show you one person in your church who is quietly enduring something. Then do one specific thing for them this week. You can pray He sends somebody, or you can go. Which prayer are you actually praying?
Prayer
God of endurance and encouragement, thank You that endurance is something You supply and not something I have to manufacture. Fill me up past my own need. Grant real harmony in my church, and make me part of the reason it exists. Show me who is struggling and let me be Your encouragement to them this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Paul gives God a title here that most of us have never used in a prayer. The God who gives endurance and encouragement. Not the God who watches you endure. The God who supplies it.
That's worth sitting with, because a lot of us secretly believe endurance is a personality trait. Some people just have grit, and if you weren't issued any, you're out of luck. Paul says no. Endurance is something God gives, which means you can ask Him for it, which means running out isn't the end of the conversation.
Now look at what Paul prays comes out of it, because it's not what you'd expect. He doesn't pray that the God of endurance would make them tougher. He prays He would grant them to live in harmony with one another.
That connection isn't an accident. When a group of people is genuinely drawing strength from God instead of from their own reserves, the whole community changes. Tired people who are running on empty are difficult to be around, and churches full of them come apart at the seams over things that don't matter. But people whose endurance is supplied from outside themselves have something left over for each other.
Shared struggle, brought to God together, bonds people in a way comfortable seasons never will. Ask anybody who's been through something hard alongside other believers. Those are the relationships that lasted.
So look around your church this week and ask two questions. Who's enduring right now? And what would it look like for me to be a tangible piece of God's encouragement to them?
The church isn't a place you attend. It's a body you're part of.
Ask God to show you one person in your church who is quietly enduring something. Then do one specific thing for them this week. You can pray He sends somebody, or you can go. Which prayer are you actually praying?
Prayer
God of endurance and encouragement, thank You that endurance is something You supply and not something I have to manufacture. Fill me up past my own need. Grant real harmony in my church, and make me part of the reason it exists. Show me who is struggling and let me be Your encouragement to them this week. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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