Each of us grows through trials on the Sanctification Road. This daily devotional looks at the joy we have through hope, even in the hardest trials, by remaining in communication with God.
Nuggets
- Even in the trials, we can have joy because we have hope.
- This joyous hope has an element of patience in all circumstances.
- We should always pray to our Heavenly Father — especially when we are going through trials.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
This is Paul’s bullet point section of Romans 12. He just highlighted diligence and passion in service. Next, he highlighted hope, patience, and persistence.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Joy Because We Have Hope
“Rejoice in hope …” (Rom. 12: 12 CSB)
Even in the trials, we can have joy because we have hope.
The source of our joy is hope. Hope is a future expectation, called a living hope, based on the confidence that our names will be found in the book of life.
Thomas called hope an “… instinct of the soul.” He contended that we gain hope when we make progress on the Sanctification Road. When we succeed in growing closer to being the disciples God calls us to be — even though the sanctification steps have included difficult trials — we use that as a springboard for future success.
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When we hope, we are believing not only can something good happen, but it can also happen to us. We don’t try to make excuses that we aren’t worthy enough. We are worthy because we have accepted Jesus’ blood as a cover for our sins.
Thomas said that this hope has to engage all of our being. Well, think about it.
What if we hope there is a Heaven — but don’t think down in our hearts that there is one? That really isn’t hope — hope that brings us joy.
Hope can only really come from moral goodness. That moral goodness comes from God.
Why can we have hope in salvation?
- Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with good and eternal life.
- The consequences of sin are spiritual death and physical separation from God.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin. The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
- Eternal life is the promise of living eternally – even if we have died in this life – because we have admitted our sins, believed Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, and confessed God as Sovereign Lord.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Glossary
We can have hope in salvation because God not only provided the means for it, but He also made it so we could access it. God designed the Plan of Salvation so that Jesus’ death could pay the penalty for our sins.
God brings this salvation to us by the Holy Spirit. He prompts us as we navigate the trials of life to show us God’s love.
If we don’t accept God’s gift of salvation, we cannot have true hope and joy. Worldly hope and joy will prove to be fleeting. We must look to God as He is its source.
How to Get Through Trials
“… be patient in affliction …” (Rom. 12: 12 CSB)
This joyous hope has an element of patience in all circumstances.
When trials are surrounding us, this hope helps us to not give up. It gives us patience to keep our eyes focused on God through it all.
We show that focus by continuing to praise God — even in the worst of times.
- “Why, my soul, are you so dejected? Why are you in such turmoil? Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him, my Savior and my God” (Ps. 42: 5 CSB)
- “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (I Thess. 5: 18 NLT).
I hear you. “But Chick, these trials are hard.” Yes, they are.
Satan didn’t develop a brand new trial just for you. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are” (I Pet. 5: 9 NLT).
Everyone. All over the world.
No, this may not be talking about the minutiae of the trials. We are all individual people with unique experiences.
But bottom line, each trial is asking the same questions. Are we going to remain strong in our faith, or are we going to deny God? Are we going to live by God’s laws and commandments or break them?
Beveridge wrote, “By patience we change them [trials] into mercies as in Job, Joseph, David.” God has a plan and a purpose for these trials. This is how we grow on the Sanctification Road.
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We can take heart, even in the hardest of trials. Whatever we suffer, Jesus suffered more.
God delivered Jesus. He can deliver us.
Keeping in Constant Touch with God
“… be persistent in prayer” (Rom. 12: 12 CSB)
We should always pray to our Heavenly Father — especially when we are going through trials.
Prayer is a two-way communication with God in which we pour out our soul to Him. We can do this by saying the words out loud or in our hearts.
Sometimes, I think that we feel like prayer is just a commandment that we can’t keep. We have to switch our mindset. Jortin wrote, “The Scriptures urge a constant and careful performance, then, not only as a duty, but a privilege.”
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If it is a privilege, we need to be all in when we pray. Spurgeon wrote, “We must go with our whole soul to God or He will not accept us. We are to pray as if all depended upon our praying.”
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Is that a new concept for us? God doesn’t have to accept our prayers. I think we sometimes keep the focus on He is a loving and forgiving God, so that we gloss over what isn’t right about our prayers.
That means we can’t approach God with an attitude of entitlement. He doesn’t have to answer prayers that really aren’t prayers at all.
If we go with the attitude of entitlement, it really isn’t a two-way communication with God. It is us demanding what we want regardless.
When we pray to the Sovereign God, we must pray in meekness, worship, and submission.
- “Abraham answered and said, ‘Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes’” (Gen. 18: 27 ESV).
- “I prayed, “O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens” (Ezra 9: 6 NLT).
Beveridge and Jortin gave us a list of what we should pray for in the right way.
- Our lives for eternity.
- What is good. Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people.
- Our faith to grow.
- Growth in the spiritual graces.
- The ability to recognize sin in our lives and deliverance from it.
- Forgiveness from sin.
- God’s constant renewal and sanctification
- Direction for our daily lives.
Praying with persistence means we aren’t done when we’ve finished the prayer. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (Jas. 1: 6 ESV). We need to meditate and do what God calls us to do to accomplish it.
Still, Jortin called it an effort. I can see where it is hard. Satan is working on us to make sure we fail.
I see it as the effort means that we make a conscious choice. We have to do something. That something is to always choose God.
Howat gave a good description of what “pray without ceasing” (I Thess. 5: 17 ESV) means. He said that it isn’t talking about thinking or speaking a prayer. He contends that “… there are prayers that are not spoken or even thought of.”
Howat argued that this means that our hearts should be right with God. It is the desire to do God’s Will at all times.
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That makes sense. While we are in these physical bodies, we are not going to be able to “sin no more.” God isn’t going to judge us on something that there is no way for us to have success.
We can put wanting to be like Him as our priority.
We’ve said it isn’t about us doing. It is about us being.
It is about our desire to be like God. It is our desire to grow.
“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Eph. 6: 18 NLT). Jarvis said we make praying a habit.
I loved Jarvie’s phrase “The habitual maintenance of a prayerful spirit.” If it is a habit, it does take maintenance. We have to take advantage of the opportunities for prayer and make more opportunities.
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Prayer gives us strength. We get that by ensuring our prayers have the components of faith, trust, hope, and love, according to Martin.
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Making the Connections
We are going to have trials. But we can have hope as we go through them.
• “Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?” (Lam. 3: 39 NLT).
• “What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this” (Ezra 9: 13 NIV).
God is punishing us for our wrongdoings, but He could have punished us so much more. His showing us mercy gives us hope.
How Do We Apply This?
- Practice patience.
- Have a prayerful mindset. Jortin wrote, “We are taught that God is worshipped by the mind and thoughts, and not by external observances.”
- Don’t miss an opportunity to pray.
- Don’t give up when we don’t feel our prayers are being answered. (If God is saying no, give that up.)
- Pray daily.
- Focus on heavenly thoughts.
- Worship God 24/7/365.
- Pray both in private and in public. Neither should be skipped.
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We should always expect an answer to our prayer. God can give us that for which we ask.
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But that does not mean we will always get the answer we expect. Prayer isn’t a gum ball machine. We don’t put in the quarter and get the gum ball we want every time.
We would generally not want trials to occur. We may question if that is really the way we grow on the Sanctification Road.
It is.
While we are going through the trials, we can have joy and hope. Communicating with God through prayer brings us that.
Father God. We know that we will have trials. Lord, help us to strengthen our faith, trust, hope, and love. Increasing our hope in You increases our joy. Help us to remain in constant communication with You. Amen.
What do you think?
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A blessed message from your table. Am blessed for the eyes opening.
Shalom!
Thank you. Blessings to you, too. Elaine