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Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans
12:12 (NIV)
Be joyful-
Joyful means what it says-full of joy. Some
would say that to be joyful means just that and nothing more. When we believe
in Christ, we invite Him into our hearts, we give Him all our grievances and
our sadness.
In hope-
In the New Testament, hope means the expectation
of good. Presently, the world needs to have hope to survive the Coronavirus
pandemic. Our hope is in Christ. He will guide us through this time of restrictions.
patient-
Patience
is a gift of the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament uses the phrase, long-suffering
to describe it. I love that meaning. Waiting is part of patience.
in affliction-
We will have
difficulties come to us as we walk this earth. No one is immune from them. Jesus
told His disciples,” In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I
have overcome the world.” (John 16:22)
faithful-
The writer of Hebrews tells us that faith is “confidence in what we hope for and
assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) When we have hope we have
to also have confidence. We must rely on God to get us through those tough
times that we all will face at some time in our lives.
in prayer-
Prayer
is the way we converse with God. Through this avenue, we thank Him for what He
has done for us. We tell Him we love Him. We bring our requests and our
intercessions for others before Him.
Added Thought:
As I searched for a graphic to put here. the thought came to me that the qualities mentioned in this verse are all listed in the Fruit of the Spirit that Paul writes of to the Galatians.
What a perfect verse for our current situation! Wow! And the "graphic" also goes along with it exactly right. I'm afraid I am not being as patient as I should be during this time. I really want to get back to "normal", especially back to church. But I realize that may not be what is best for everyone, so I must be patient and wait on God. I need to pray a lot more about this. Thank you for this reminder.
ReplyDeletePam: Thank you for you kind comments. I always had a problem with patience because it required waiting. One day I was reading the Fruit of the Spirit passage in the King James, I noticed the word for patience was the phrase "long-suffering." It made me pause and ponder. It has also helped me to learn to live in the moment. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
DeleteExcellent Cecelia, I see another post coming :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marja. I hope to get back on schedule very soon. Peace and blessings to you and yours.
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