| “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” – Romans 12:12 |
|---|
| Three Essentials to the SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN LIFE Starting in Romans 12 the Apostle Paul moves from doctrinal teaching to practical teaching for living out the Christian life. As one lives a transformed life one now sees and lives life differently in their relationship to God and to OTHERS. The Christian’s view of others will have them demonstrating genuine love to them (v9) and honoring others above and better than themselves. (v.10) The believer moves from living for themselves where their purpose in life is seeking to fulfill selfish desires to now seeking to serve the Lord and others and serving the Lord and others with intense enthusiasm. (v11) To help one serve the Lord, the Apostle Paul now gives three actions to take. He first calls on the believers to have a joyful attitude as one always has hope when one is serving the Lord as the Lord is always with them. (A great promise from the Lord is He will never leave us nor forsake us.) There is the hope that His Word never returns void! There is the hope that as we share Christ there will be a breakthrough. And ultimately, we rejoice in hope because our salvation concludes with us in heaven so the best is yet to come! What a HOPE we have in Jesus! Now, being very realistic, the Apostle Paul tells the believers they will need to be patient in tribulations. This means they will need to endure and persevere as they face tribulations. Jesus told his disciples that in this world they would have tribulation but be of good cheer as He had overcome the world. John 16:33. I trust no one told you that becoming a Christian means you will have no more problems and no more trouble. If they did you were told something that just is not true. Getting saved does not mean we do not have any more trials, troubles, or tribulations. It does mean though that we have someone to help us get through the tribulation, helping us to ENDURE. I truly believe one of the great marks of the Christian is endurance or perseverance. To help the believer be patient as they face tribulation the Apostle Paul teaches us to CONTINUE STEADFASTLY IN PRAYER. One will only persevere in life by handling life with continuous prayer!! This, friends, cannot be just a quick morning prayer. It needs to be persevering, continual prayer. The harder life gets the harder (if you will) one must pray!! The idea of “continue steadfastly” is that of continuing to do something with intense effort. The harder life gets the harder one must pray!! So, we have three actions of the transformed life. There is a JOYFUL attitude because of the HOPE we have. Never QUITTING because we are PATIENT, and always PRAYING! Do these actions describe your life? The verse to DATE the Word on December 12 (12/12) is Romans 12:12. It says, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;” “In hope, rejoicing; in tribulation, enduring; in prayer, persevering.” Continue Strong rejoicing, enduring, and praying! And remember to DATE THE WORD |