Stand Strong

"Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer."

Romans 12:12

One problem I struggle with, is letting my emotions control me. Though being emotionally driven can be good in some cases, it can also lead to my downfall in many others.

For example:

If I have an issue that is bothering me, I tend to get overwhelmed by the size of the perceived obstacle in my way. Feeling like there is NO WAY to get around it because I've tried many times, I get quite stressed, worried, and sad.

I feel like these types of situations come from a lack of trusting my heavenly father, who has promised to take care of me and help me walk through all things.

The lack of trust comes out when I begin to worry about the future instead of trusting in the one who planned it out already.

When we go through hard times, but still trust God through the trial, that is how our faith is built.

I came across Romans 12:12 this morning. It gives us a pretty clear picture of how we should handle life.

Sadly, if I translated my usual reaction into a verse, it would be more like...

"Freak out, there is no hope,

flounder while suffering,

pray sometimes with not a lot of expectation."

It's sinful human nature to think we have to count on our own resources, strength, and merit to take care of things. We tend to think that we should be able to make everything okay, and we just cant.

A lot of times I put my hope in myself rather than in God. When I do that, I feel like there isn't a whole lot of hope at all.

Your faith is only as strong as the person or thing you have placed it in. I've put my faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross to give me a new relationship with God as my father. That is a pretty sweet set up. With God as your father, what else really matters?

There is reason to rejoice in hope after all. The hope we have because Jesus died to take away our guilt before the judge of the earth. We have been made holy, as strange as it seems. God wanted to give us new life even though we didn't deserve it.

One day we will be reunited with our creator and live in a new and wonderful place. The struggles will be no more. We are loved and cherished and befriended by the God of the universe. God is by far the smartest scientist, the artist of the most beautiful works, the most brilliant composer of elegant music, and he is now FOR you, and not against you. (Phew!)

We've got to endure in our suffering. It's only for a while, and it builds our faith in our God as we trust him to see us through. Our love and relationship with him grow best when we trust that his love, grace, and mercy are enough to see us through any difficult time. There is always something to be thankful for.

We've got to be persistent in prayer. We've got to lay our requests at God's feet and wait expectantly for him to take care of us. His answer may be no at times to some of our requests, but we have to trust that his ways for us will always be what's best for us. Instead of worrying about everything, we've got to pray about everything and trust God to give us peace as we lean on him.