Greetings:
You’ve heard about the guy who was asked if he thought ignorance and
apathy were the two greatest problems of human nature.
He responded, “I don’t know and I don’t care!”
Well, Paul doesn’t want to see that kind of attitude in the church.
In Romans 12:12 (NLT), Paul offers exhortations about dealing with our
attitude towards difficult circumstances.
“Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.”
I like the Good News Bible version of Romans 12:12 which says, “Let
your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at
all times.
Rejoice in hope. It seems like enough of a request to patiently endure
tribulation, but we're supposed to be rejoicing all through the whole
thing.
This mandate doesn't apply exclusively to when we're facing
tribulation, but rather in our day by day attitude, no matter the
circumstances.
How many of you know on some days it's easy to rejoice; the sun is
shining, people are nice to us, and things are going our way?
However, those days don't last forever, and at some point life won't
be such a cooperative bed of roses.
How can we rejoice when life begins to seem like an endless trail of
misery and broken hopes and pain?
There's a song on “The Bible” movie sound track that deals with hope.
The lyrics talk about our craving for hope. It's very true. We all
must possess a desire, a craving for hope in our lives.
In Romans 8:24 we read, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that
is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?”
Faith and hope are closely related. It's kind of like describing to
someone how chocolate tastes. Can you really put that in words?
This is the hope in which we were saved. The hope that since Jesus
Christ died to forgive our sins and since we have accepted His
matchless gift, we now are in an unbreakable relationship with Him.
That's not a hope that can be broken by persecution, broken
relationships, shattered dreams, or anything else Satan can throw at
you.
We are also directed to be patient in tribulation.
Most of us have no clue about the tribulation that the Apostle Paul
experienced. Paul tells us II Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to
live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
The devil, though fighting a war already lost, will stop at nothing to
tear us down, whether through circumstances that tempt us to give up
our moral standards or through outright, vocal opposition to our
beliefs.
How does God ask us to handle tribulation? With patience.
That's the hard one for me.
We can patiently endure, knowing that no tragedy of any scale can
budge the Lord's plan for us.
The key to any problem in our life is to be steadfast in prayer.
Keep praying no matter what.
We will always be faced with circumstances we cannot handle or
control, people we cannot understand, and choices we cannot make.
We need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit to get through it. Seek his
presence in prayer. Ask for his direction in our lives. Ask for favor
when we are surrounding by circumstances that seem to be swallowing us
up. Pray for peace in the midst of the storm.
When we feel confident in our own ability to solve problems and make
decisions, we will end up eventually spiraling out of control and bad
things will continue to happen.
We must entrust our lives including our choices, relationships,
secrets, time, friendships, and everything else to God.
When you're thinking of what courses to take, wondering how to respond
to somebody you really can't stand, or struggling with a loss that
nobody else seems to think is a big deal or understand simply take it
to the Lord in prayer.
Be blessed.
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