12/10/2008

Romans 5:1-5 NIV


1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.


It is through Jesus that we have access to the throne of grace. He gives us joy and hope. When we become true believers, a change takes place. He takes away sin and the guilt of sin; then we can have perfect peace. We have hope because of the Spirit of love. Let us have faith in God's love and His Word. Even though we will have trials and tribulations, we still rejoice because we know that it helps us to come closer and depend more on Him. Trials and tribulations also teach us to be patient. We know that God will not make us be ashamed because of His love for us. Through all our problems, we know God will show up and prove that He is God. This amazes our family and friends who do not know God and therefore is a testimony of His goodness and His grace. The Holy Spirit was given to us - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Praise God!

Sometimes we are for God and with God when the joy is there. But how do we react when we go through our problems? Everyone rejoices when everything in their life is going well. Everyone is with God when things are going right and we are all happy. In the Book of Job, it tells about how God allowed some trials to come into Job's life. They were not easy trials either. He felt sorry for himself and started to question God. Read Job 38 and see what questions God asked Job. Paul wrote Romans 5 to tell us that it is not the problem we are going through but our reaction to it. He says to rejoice in our problems that same way that we would rejoice when things are going terrific. It may sound strange to someone in the world but as believers in Christ, our hope is in Him. So today no matter what you may be going through, rejoice because Jesus has saved us, our hope is in Him and He will bring us through...that's a promise!