https://odb.org/2026/05/07/faithful-in-prayer
Romans 12:9–19, 21 (NIV): 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The apostle Paul wrote to the early church, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12). In his letter, Paul exhorted believers to do many things that displayed love in action—hating evil and loving good (v. 9), honoring others above yourself (v. 10), passionately serving God (v. 11), and practicing hospitality (v. 13). These good works would be empty without the love of Christ working in us. That’s where faithful prayer comes in. Paul called his friends to “join [him] in [his] struggle by praying to God for [him]” (15:30). Prayer empowers us to live in a way that “overcomes evil with good” (12:21). Though we may not always see the outcome, it creates a legacy of faithfulness for generations to come. (Karen Pimpo, Our Daily Bread 7th May 2026)
Here in Romans, we see that love can overcome evil as we live in faithful dedication to others (v. 21). Mirroring the words of Christ in His Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5-7), the apostle advocates that the Roman believers embrace humility, meekness, and faithfulness (Romans 12:10-16). For them and for us today, a life of love overcomes the evil in the world and shows the worthiness of Christ, who Himself never repaid evil for evil but first loved those who hated Him. As we’re “faithful in prayer” (12:12), the Holy Spirit will help us love others and leave a legacy of faithfulness. (Jed Ostoich, Insight, Our Daily Bread, 7th May 2026)
When I was younger, I used to pray for those in the congregation iny church and my friends. Not a sweeping prayer covering everyone but a specific prayer naming each and every one of them. So I would imagine the faces in church and the faces of my friends, and pray for each and everyone of them. So if I know someone is going through something, I pray for that person for that situation. Otherwise, I’ll just pray for his or her spiritual life, their general well-being, their health and jobs. It is a long process and quite tiring and so I didn’t do it often. However, it illustrates that we can love others by praying for them. No one will know, but Jesus hears our prayers. The Holy Spirit will do the work and in time we will see change amd transformation.
As believers, we are called to love, not hate. Of course, there are people who are difficult to love. Especially those who are hell bent to undermine or stab us in the back so that in the process they prove that they are better. It is tough or even quite impossible to wish or pray that God is good to such people. The tendency is to pray for fire from heaven to consume them!
There are all kinds of people we meet in this world, but our calling is still to love. Most of the time, we can’t do much or anything meaningful, except to pray for them. It’s illustrative of our love and compassion as well as our despair. There are times when we can do something but we are limited by distance and time. We work 5 days a week. Saturdays we catch up with our household chores and Sundays we are at church. So we are busy and tied down most of the time.
Prayer during our quiet time is a good way to respond to Jesus’s calling to us to love others. Try it. We will find it refreshing and satisfying. Pray for our family, loved ones, our cell group members, our congregation and our friends. Soon we will that 30 minutes passed so quickly!
Ronnie's Thoughts 