Romans 12:12,  Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

There are just 3 little parts to this verse but wow, they speak volumes!  

Rejoice in Hope!  Sometimes when we are in the middle of storms or struggles in life we find it difficult to believe there is hope if we are just looking around at our circumstances!   If you aren’t facing any major struggles right now, it can even get discouraging when you watch the news and see all of the craziness going on in the world, satan is on a rampage to create as much chaos as possible.  The world is out of control!  How can you hold on to hope when you look around and there doesn’t seem to be any?  Keep your focus on God!  Write down verses that deal with what you are facing and that remind you of Who God is and carry them with you!  Read those verses over multiple times a day so you can block out the lies that satan is trying to throw at you!  There’s always hope and that hope is found in Him and Him alone!

Be patient in tribulation!  I am not sure that any of us are really great at waiting!  How are you when you are in a hurry and traffic is backed up and someone cuts you off?  How does it set with you when you are at the grocery store and you are waiting for that parking space and just as that person pulls out someone rushes in from the other direction and takes it so you have to park way down the line and it is raining?  Some days that might just shove you right over the edge if there have been enough other little things going on.  We live in a world where we have gotten used to not having to wait for much!  We have fast food and cars that move at great speeds compared to a horse and buggy!  We even have Amazon that will ship something to us in just a matter of hours!  We don’t like to wait!  

Be constant in prayer!  How serious are you about your prayer life?  Is that a sort of “fast food” order too?  Do you just sort of spew out your requests as you run from one thing to the next or do you also have a time during your day to just sit with Him?  Do you ever ask Him what dreams He has for your life or what is on His heart that you can be apart of?  Do you write down those requests for others so you remember to pray for them? 

How can we “rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and constant in prayer, regardless of whether or not we are on the mountaintop or in the valley?  Spend time getting to know Him better!  Remind yourself of who He really is!  Our daughter-in-law was in the grocery store with our granddaughter (3 years old) yesterday and she insisted to her mom that the picture on the front of the “Captain Crunch” cereal box was Papa (my husband Bill)!  Now personally I found that hysterical, I am not so certain Papa did, but my point is that clearly, her image in her mind of who Papa is wasn’t quite right.  We do the same thing sometimes.  We see something going on in the world or in our lives and we allow satan to distort our vision of who God is!  God is still the same God of the Bible!  He is a God of miracles, and full of love and grace!  Spend time in His word and get to know Him more!  As it says in Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  Trust Him!  Follow Him and wait for Him, knowing that His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’ ”  ~ www.simpletruths.com

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