Romans 15:12-13

Isaiah’s word: There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse, breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!

Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

The good tidings of great joy from thousands of years ago is that there is a root breaking through and growing big enough for everyone, everywhere to take hope.

That same promise made thousands of years ago is just as true today, on a daily basis. There is a root that has already been planted in your life because of what happened in Bethlehem thousands of years ago. And that root of hope can break through the ‘earth / ground of your life’ and grow.

Because of the root of Jessie, thousands of years ago, and the root of Jesus growing in our lives today, verse 13 comes alive. The hope, that is the fruit of what has already been planted as followers of Jesus, becomes infectious to all of those around us. Let’s personalize this passage.

May God of green hope,

fill me up with joy,

fill me up with peace,

so that my believing life is filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit and flows over with infectious hope.

Let’s pray: “Immanuel, Lord Jesus, We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us. To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus! Help us to receive and embrace the Hope eternal that only You bring. Emanuel, God with us. Amen”