Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Continue In Prayer

"Continuing instant in prayer."  Romans 12:12.  Prayer is our personal speaking unto God.  God is our Father, and He delights for us to talk with Him.  Prayer is our way of thanking God for blessings which have been bestowed, and making requests.  Prayer is our help line to the Father.  Prayer brings comfort and peace to the soul.  We tell God our problems and our concerns.  We confess unto Him our wrongs, and request His forgiveness.  We find strength in prayer.  We find courage in prayer.  Prayer needs to be constant.  There is not a time when we cannot pray.  God is always available.  There is not a situation about which we cannot pray.  God always listens.  Prayer enables us to unburden our soul.  Pray now and pray later.  Pray any time.  Pray all the time.  Pray in the morning, and pray in the evening.  Pray softly, or pray aloud.  Pray when we are bewildered, and pray when we are happy.  Pray when sad, and pray when glad.  Pray when cast down, and pray when lifted up.  Prayer seeks God's blessings, and God's help.  God is there, waiting for us to pray.  There is never a bad time to pray, and always a good time to pray.  Continue to pray, instantly.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Patient In Tribulation

"Patient in tribulation."  Romans 12:12.  It is our lot in life that trials will come.  This present world offers many difficulties that we must bear.  We live in a time of sorrow and disappointment.  The devil will try our souls with his many devices.  Tribulation can draw us away from God.  We must not allow this drawing away to happen.  Rather, in times of hardness we must draw closer to God.  We must find in Him a source of strength and stability.  We must persevere.  We must continue to fight against all the negative forces that seek our overthrow as a child of God.  Our faith must stand the test of trial.  Only in trial do we become stronger.  This leads us to a greater dependence upon our Father in heaven.  When we read Hebrews chapter eleven, we read of those of old time who had to persevere against various conflicts that threatened their soul.  God's people have always found themselves facing burdens that they had to overcome.  They faced enemies that had to be defeated.  The road to the kingdom of heaven is paved with patience or endurance.  At last, all enemies will be overthrown and all burdens will be lifted.  In that day we will forever rejoice.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Rejoicing In Hope

"Rejoicing in hope."  Romans 12:12.  Our hope should certainly cause us to rejoice.  Many difficulties in this life bring sorrow.  Our journey in this world is laden with hardship.  However, we have hope through Christ our Savior.  The Christian life is one of expectation.  We have hope that difficulties with pass.  We have hope that darkness will be absorbed in light.  We have hope that God will walk beside us and lift our load.  Our joy is a joy of the soul.  Because of hope, we endure.  Satan can not destroy our hope.  We hope in the God that has all power.  We have hope in a Savior that destroyed death.  Our hope dispels fear.  Our hope gives birth to a greater faith.  Our hope lifts us above the world.  Our hope is a firm assurance in life without death.  Our hope is planted in the world to come.  Because of hope, we look for the coming of Jesus.  With hope, we anticipate the resurrection of our bodies from the tomb.  With hope, we long for the heavenly land.  Our journey from this temporal land to the eternal land is traveled with joy that is unspeakable.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Serve With Fervency

"Fervent in spirit: serving the Lord."  Romans 12:11.  Our relationship to Jesus Christ and His church is to have life.  We must have a feeling about our commitment.  Our service to the Lord is to be performed with a high enthusiasm.  We have been converted to serve Jesus.  He has become our Lord.  We thrive on His commands and His mission.  A casual commitment will not suffice in the kingdom.  In the kingdom of God, there is a war between spirits.  We battle against a great force in Satan.  To overcome this demon, we must war against him with the full devotion of our being.  Jesus has removed us from the world, and given us a cause that is worthy of heaven.  Our spirit is fueled with the power of God.  God's might does not fail.  We are conquerors through Him.  We serve with the greatest promise of reward.  We have been delivered into the army of the King.  Our calling is one of service.  We bow at the feet of the greatest Lord ever known unto men.  His mission is the greatest that has ever been realized.  With a commitment that resounds through our whole spirit, we cry for Him to send us.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

With All Diligence

"Not slothful in business."  Romans 12:11.  Whether it be our human business or our church business, we are to be diligent.  The Christian lives in the world, and also, lives in the church.  Our lives are both physical and spiritual.  Therefore, we are to be diligent in both areas of our life.  God has never approved of slothfulness.  Nothing is accomplished by laziness.  If we do not attend to our physical lives, weeds will grow.  If we do not attend to our spiritual welfare, the devil will sow seeds of evil in our heart.   Kingdom business must not be neglected. The Lord calls us to labor so that we might earn the necessities of our life.  The Lord has blessed us with the charge of labor in His kingdom so that our souls and the souls of others might be saved.  We must not depend upon others to do our labor in His service.  With diligence, we complete the assignments that have been delivered unto us in our life.  Diligence is admirable both with man and also with God.

Monday, July 10, 2017

With Kindness And Honor

"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another."  Romans 12:10.  There is a prescription in the Bible as to how we are to treat each other.  This is particularly true of the brotherhood of Christ.  Love is the character that cements the brotherhood together.  All that we do toward each other is to be done with brotherly love.   Each one is to give careful consideration to the other.  Self cannot be the principal subject of our relationship with each other, and certainly, not in our relationship with God.  God and the other brother or sister comes first before ourselves.  Self has died.  Each other lives in our heart, and becomes the concern of our affection and honor.  Each individual within the brotherhood of the church is to treat others with the grace of kindness and honor.  This treatment of each other flows from a heart of love.  Love is never unkind, nor does love treat one with disrespect.  It is my will to love another, but it must also be the will of another to love me.  This grand concept taught in this passage creates an atmosphere of harmony and strength within the brotherhood of believers.

Friday, July 7, 2017

Abhor The Evil

"Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."  Romans 12:9.  In the world, there is both good and evil.  We cannot take part in both.  As Christians, we must hate or detest the evil, and we must cleave or join fast to the good.  Evil is of the devil, and good is of God.  Evil is born in hell, and goodness is born in heaven.  God, because of His holiness and goodness, abhors that which is evil.  Evil violates the character of goodness.  Evil opposes all that is right.  Jesus spoke of those who loved darkness because their deeds were evil.  We are to hate all forms of evil.  We are to avoid every evil path.  Evil leads one away from God.  Goodness leads one to God.  Evil is only overcome with goodness.  To abhor the evil is to flee from the snare of the devil.  We are to attach ourselves to the goodness that flows from God.  Goodness is a virtue that helps oneself and also helps others.  Goodness glorifies God, and evil blasphemes God.    Evil takes one to hell, and goodness takes one to heaven.

Monday, July 3, 2017

Love Without Dissimulation

"Let love be without dissimulation."  Romans 12:9.  The word "dissimulation" means pretense or hypocrisy.  Christians do not pretend to love.  Love among brethren is to be genuine.  Love for others is to be true.  No area of the Christian life is to be hypocritical.  We truly love because God truly loves us.  Every expression of our love is to be true.   Genuine love for others is a mark of our devotion to God.  Our hearts abound with love because God has filled us with love.   Love flows from the fountain of heaven into the souls of the redeemed.  From us, that love flows outward.  True, genuine, and pure love that helps, consoles, and abides.  Hypocrisy cannot fulfill its obligation.  Being loved, we must love.  The love of God's children is not confined.  It reaches into the lanes and byways of the world and touches each soul.  We love our brethren faithfully.  We love our neighbors truly.  We love our enemies sincerely.