In this final episode of our Prayers of the Apostle Paul series, host Kim explores the powerful prayer of Romans 15:13 and Paul’s message of hope, joy, and peace through the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to truly abound in hope? Kim shares how biblical hope is grounded in trusting God and His promises rather than depending on circumstances. This episode encourages us to rely on the Holy Spirit, receive what God desires to pour into our lives, and allow His joy and peace to shape how we live. As the series concludes, we are reminded that the hope God produces within us can overflow into the lives of others.

The content shared on Living the Selah Life is for spiritual encouragement, personal reflection, and informational purposes only.

It is not intended to diagnose, treat or replace medical, psychological or professional advice of any kind.

Please consult a licensed healthcare provider or qualified professional for any physical, mental or emotional health concerns.

The views expressed are those of the host, Kimberly Lockanor, and our base on personal experience and biblical insight, not clinical or professional training.

Welcome back to Living the Selah Life, a podcast that invites you to slow down, to breathe and to connect with the presence of God.

I'm your host, Kim, and this space is for anyone longing to become more familiar with his presence.

Whether you're just discovering what it means to pause with God or you've been walking this path for a while, I'm so glad that you're here.

Each episode is an intentional pause, a moment to reflect, realign and remember that God meets us when we create space for Him.

So take a breath.

You are right on time.

Let's live the Selah life together.

Well hello there my friends, and welcome back to Living the Selah Life.

Today we are in Part five, the final episode in our series of the Prayers of the Apostle Paul.

We have covered a lot of ground together.

We looked at prayer as a lifeline.

We prayed for spiritual vision, we asked God for inner strength and fullness, and we sat with Paul's prayer for love, discernment and fruitfulness.

Today we are closing the series where Paul closes his letter to the Romans with a benediction, Romans chapter 15, verses 13 in one sentence, but it is one of the richest sentences in all of Paul's writing.

He calls God the God of hope, and he prays that believers will be filled with joy and peace as they believe, and that they would overflow not just a little hope, but overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And this is the prayer I want to close with this series with.

Because if there is one thing the people of God need right now, it is not just a little more hope.

It is overflowing hope.

So let's get into it before we look at the prayer itself.

It helps to understand what Paul was dealing with when he wrote it.

The church in Rome was not a church by far without conflict.

There was genuine disagreements between believers, disputes over food over special days, over how much freedom a believer actually had.

Paul had spent several chapters calling them to accept one another, to stop judging each other over secondary matters, and to pursue the things that build each other up.

Right before this benediction, in Romans 15, verses 5 through 7, he writes, now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

And that is the backdrop, a church learning to stay unified in the middle of differences.

And it is out of that context that Paul prays this final blessing over them.

He is not again praying for circumstances to get easier.

He asks for something that will sustain them through whatever comes.

Paul begins In Romans, chapter 15, verses 13 by saying, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace.

In believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The first thing I want you to notice is how Paul identifies God.

Here he calls him the God of Hope.

Throughout Scripture, God has given many names.

He is the God of peace, the God of all comfort, the God of glory.

But here Paul calls him the God of Hope.

He is saying that hope flows from who God is.

He is the source of it.

He is the origin of it.

When you have hope, it is because you are connected to the one whose very nature is to give it.

And the hope Paul is talking about is not just positive thinking.

It is not crossing our fingers and hoping things turn out okay.

In Scripture, hope is confident expectation, confident expectation.

It is the assurance of what God has promised.

It is settled, trust in a God who keeps his word.

And we usually know that by experience or by watching it in the life of another.

Paul's first request in this prayer is that God would feel them, not just a little or not sometimes fill them completely, fully, until there is no room left with all joy and all peace.

Joy and peace are two things we often try to conjure up or to generate.

We think if we can just get our circumstances right, joy will follow.

Or if we can resolve a specific conflict or conflicts or have specific problems removed, peace will follow.

And that's not always the case.

But Paul is not praying that their circumstances again change.

He is praying for God to fill them in the middle of their circumstances.

The joy he is praying for is the kind that Jesus described in John, chapter 15, verse 11.

These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.

It is not happiness that depends on things going well.

It is a fullness that remains even when things are hard.

The peace he is praying for is the kind that Jesus promised in John, chapter 14, verses 27 that says Peace I leave with you.

My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

And again, this is not necessarily the absence of difficulty.

Even though I thank God when we have peace, because we have no difficulties.

But that is not even the case 50% of the time.

Usually it is God's presence in the middle of a thing.

In believing, Paul says.

Here is the key phrase in this prayer.

In believing, Paul says, God fills you with joy and peace.

In believing.

In believing.

And this is present tense in the original language.

It is an ongoing action.

As you believe, as you keep trusting, as you keep depending on God, and as you keep taking him at his word, the filling happens.

Joy and peace are not rewards you received after your faith has been proven.

They are what God pours into you as you exercise faith in the middle of whatever it is you're facing.

When you believe that God is who he says he is, not just in the word, but who he says he is to you, joy fills you.

When you believe that God will do what he promised, peace has the power to settle you.

When you believe that God is working even when you cannot see it, then hope begins to rise.

Then Paul says that you may abound in hope again.

Abound.

Overflow.

Have more than enough.

And this is the same word that Paul used In Philippians, chapter 1, verses 9, when he prayed that love would abound.

He wants the same kind of abundance for hope.

He wants hope to be so present in your life that it spills over, that it reaches the people around you, that your overflow becomes someone else's encouragement.

Hebrews chapter 6, verses 19 says, this hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.

And hope is not always a feeling.

In fact, I would say it never is.

It is an anchor.

It is what holds us in place when everything around is moving.

And Romans chapter 5, verses 5 tells us that hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who.

Who has given to us.

And this hope is not fragile.

It is grounded in the love of God and sustained by the Holy Spirit.

By the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is the final phrase of this prayer, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul is very clear that this is the work of the Holy Spirit.

It is supernatural.

It is something only God can do.

Romans chapter 8, verses 11 tells us that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us.

And Romans 8, 26 tells us that this Spirit helps us in our weaknesses.

He is present, active and working in the lives of every every believer.

And when you cultivate an awareness of his presence There I go again with cultivating an awareness of his presence.

When you create space for him to work, he does exactly what Paul is praying for.

He fills you with joy, he settles you in peace, and he causes hope to overflow.

Let's move on to this week's pause prompts.

And remember, there is never any condemnation here.

Paul's prompts are designed to see where we are so that we will know where we are going or where we need to be.

Let's go when you are honest with yourself, are you filled with joy in peace right now, or are you running on empty?

Is hope abounding in your life, or does it feel scarce?

What has been draining your hope?

And what would it look like to bring that to God?

Do you find yourself trying to produce joy and peace through circumstances?

And what would it look like to receive joy and peace through believing instead?

Are you depending on the Holy Spirit to do this work in you, or are you trying to manage it yourself?

And what would this look like to genuinely surrender that to Him?

This week I think we all can do better at receiving.

It's such an unnatural thing in the world that we live in to believe that all of these amazing things have been provided for us.

We just have to position ourselves to receive them.

I'm actually going to do a series on receiving from God because it was probably one of the hardest things the Lord has ever taught me is being able to receive.

Let's move on to this week's Scripture Spotlight.

For our Scripture spotlight, I want to take us to a passage that speaks to the same truth from this perspective of what hope does in us.

And this is first John, chapter three, verse three.

And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

This one verse tells us something about the nature of biblical hope.

Hope that is genuinely grounded in God produces a change in the way that you live.

Everyone who has this hope in him.

John is referring to the hope of Christ's return and the promise of what we will be when we see him face to face.

He has just said in verse two, beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be.

But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

That is the hope John is pointing to, the confident expectation that what God started in us, he will complete.

That story does not end here.

Purifies himself, just as he is pure.

When you genuinely hold on to that hope, when it is not just a theological concept, but a living reality in your heart, it changes how you live today.

You become intentional about the condition of your inner life because you know that what is being built in you now matters for eternity.

And this is the connection back to Romans 15:3.

Paul prays that hope would abound in you.

John tells us what abounding hope produces.

It does not just make you feel better in the moment.

It changes you from the inside out.

It makes you want to be more like the one that you're hoping in.

And it gives you a reason to cultivate an awareness of his presence, to stay connected to the vine, to keep your heart open to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Hope that abounds does not stay contained.

It changes you.

And as it changes you, it overflows to the people around you.

Let's move on to our Selah moment and prayer.

This is our opportunity to receive what Paul prayed for.

To be filled with joy and peace, and to let love overflow.

Begin by sitting comfortably and taking several slow, deep breaths.

With each exhale, release the things that have been draining your joy and your peace.

With each inhale, cultivate an awareness of his presence.

Picture yourself as a vessel that is ready to be filled, filled by the God of hope.

Think of any things or thing that has been stealing your joy and disrupting your peace.

Bring it to God and leave it there.

He is not asking you to resolve it before you come to Him.

He is asking you to come.

Ask God to fill you completely with joy and peace.

All joy, full peace.

Receive it in believing, not because your circumstances have changed, but because he is who he is, says he is, and will do just what he promised.

Trust that as you believe, hope will abound.

Overflow.

Ask the Holy Spirit to do this work in you, because this is his work.

Let us pray.

God of hope, we come to you asking for exactly what Paul prayed.

You are the source of hope.

You are the giver of hope.

Hope flows from who you are.

Faithful, promise, keeping, unchanging, sovereign and good.

And the list goes on and on.

Fill us with all joy and peace.

Peace, complete feeling, all joy, full peace.

We confess that we have been trying to sometimes manufacture these things on our own or trying to arrange our circumstances so that joy would come, trying to resolve our problems so that peace would come.

Forgive us for looking to the wrong source.

You are the source.

Fill us, Lord Jesus, help us receive this feeling in believing.

Help us to trust your character when circumstances are hard and help us to rely on your promises when we cannot see what you are doing.

Help us have faith when it does not come easily.

We pray that hope would abound in us.

Not barely enough to get by overflow, more than enough abundance that spills over to the people around us.

Let our hope be an anchor that holds us secure.

Let it be a testimony to those who are watching that you are real and that you are faithful and that you are accessible in a real, present way.

Holy Spirit, this is all you do this work in us.

Now we cannot produce this ourselves.

Fill us with joy by your power.

Give us peace by your power.

Cause hope to overflow in us by your power.

We depend on you.

Make us people who are filled with joy, filled with peace, and overflowing with hope all by believing and all by your spirit's power.

When others see us, let them see your work.

Let our joy point to you.

Let our peace testify to you.

Let our overflowing hope draw them to you.

It is in Jesus name that we pray and it is so.

Let's lean into our Selah moment.

This week I want to challenge you to Pray Romans chapter 15, verses 13 over yourself every single morning.

Just say it out loud.

God of hope, fill me with all joy and peace in believing that I may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's it.

Simple, direct and straight from Scripture.

Let that prayer set the tone for your entire day and pay attention to what shifts when you start your morning asking for what Paul prayed for rather than asking for circumstances to change.

Well, thank you for listening to Living the Selah Life.

If this moment stirred something in your spirit, please share it with someone.

Someone who needs to be reminded to pause.

You can connect with me on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram Living the Selah Life or email me a Selah moment or your testimony.

I'm loving reading them and I want to continue to read them.

You can send that email to livingtheselahiferoton Me that's Living the Selah Life at the P R O T O N Me.

May you go from this place rested not just in body but in spirit, carrying the awareness that his presence is always near.

May you be rooted not in the shifting voices of this world, but in the unshakable word of God, the Logos that ground you and the rhema that guides you.

For man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And may you keep rising into the life he designed for you, into purpose, into peace, into the fullness of his calling.

May your life become a living.

Selah.

An intentional pause that reveals his presence.

It is in Jesus's name that we pray, and it is so, Selah.