Bible League: Living His Word Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time.At the end of the 12th Chapter of the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul lists a number of qualities that mark what it means to be a true Christian and he exhorts the church at Rome to embody these qualities. His exhortation applies to all Christians at all times. Our verse for today includes three of these qualities. First, we should be happy because of the hope we have. Although not everything in our lives may be a cause for happiness, we have at least one thing that should make us happy. Hope. We have the great hope of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Whatever may happen in this life, we know that the next life will be glorious. So significant is this hope, there should be an underlying happiness deep within us that cannot be touched or diminished by whatever trouble there may be on the surface of our lives. Second, we should be patient when we have trouble. If we allow ourselves to be happy because of the great hope we have in Christ, then we will be more inclined to be patient in our trouble. To be patient in trouble means more than simply going through or enduring trouble. The manner in which we endure is all-important. If trouble can overwhelm our patience, then we are still immature in the faith. Indeed, James tells us that we should be joyful in our troubles, because they make us "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). Instead of trouble overwhelming our patience and our happiness, our happiness and our patience should overwhelm our trouble. Finally, we should pray all the time. If we refuse to allow our trouble to overwhelm our patience and happiness, then we will be in a position to pray about it. The person who has lost patience and lost happiness has been captured by trouble and tends to forget prayer. The very thing that is needed most is then not put to use. Further, just as happiness and patience can support our prayer life, so likewise our prayer life can support our patience and happiness. This is because when we pray about our trouble we can also pray that God will maintain and sustain our patience and our happiness through it all. Today, be sure to package happiness, patience, and prayer together, for they are mutually reinforcing qualities of the Christian life. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading2 Chronicles 1, 2, 3 2 Chronicles 1 -- Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom at Gibeon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 2 Chronicles 2 -- Solomon Prepares to Build a Temple and Palace NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 2 Chronicles 3 -- Solomon Builds the Temple in Jerusalem NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading John 12:1-19 John 12 -- Jesus Anointed at Bethany; Enters Jerusalem; Sought by Greeks; Foretells His Death NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. Insight Jesus began his sermon with words that seem to contradict each other. But God's way of living usually contradicts the world's. Challenge If you want to live for God, you must be ready to say and do what seems strange to the world. You must be willing to give when others take, to love when others hate, to help when others abuse. By giving up your own rights in order to serve others, you will one day receive everything God has in store for you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon 2 Samuel 15:23 The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron.David passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning company from his traitor son. The man after God's own heart was not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was both the Lord's Anointed, and the Lord's Afflicted. Why then should we expect to escape? At sorrow's gates the noblest of our race have waited with ashes on their heads; wherefore then should we complain as though some strange thing had happened unto us? The King of kings himself was not favored with a more cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all points like as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of these Kidrons the King has gone before us. "In all our afflictions he was afflicted." The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and forever, for he who is the Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the Honourable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is Head and Captain. Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in triumph to his city, and David's Lord arose victorious from the grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and so shall you. Daily Light on the Daily Path Genesis 32:28 He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed."Hosea 12:3,4 In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God. • Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us, Romans 4:20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, Mark 11:22-24 And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. • "Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. • "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, "'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Luke 1:45 "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord." Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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