Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Paul’s letter to the Romans has a wealth of knowledge within it. We could spend an entire month on that book alone and still not get through everything in it. Today’s verse is a list of three commands, each short and simple yet essential to our spiritual growth and Christian walk.
When you look at this short verse you see one word that doesn’t seem to fit with the others – affliction. But it is affliction that helps make the other commands all the more relevant. Without painful circumstances, hope is not as inspiring and encouraging. Without affliction, our prayers lack direction. We NEED affliction, painful as it may be, to help us grow and mature in our faith.
The first command is to be joyful in hope. Paul is not commanding that we feel joy and hope, because feelings cannot be forced. Rather, we should recognize where our hope comes from and the associated feeling we have when considering it. Our hope should inspire us and bring us joy. We have joy in realizing we have a future with God, an eternity with Him (Romans 8:23-24).
The second command is to be patient in affliction. Our lives are not going to be easy. Life can bring you many troubles. And sometimes those troubles are hard to walk through. They may feel overwhelming and cause you to be discouraged. But through our prayers and remembering the hope we have (Romans 8:18), we can endure the trials. We can be patient and learn from the experience.
And the third command is to be faithful in prayer. There are many verses in the Bible that encourage us to be faithful in prayer, to pray continuously, and there are many examples of prayer from different people. Prayer is an essential part of our lives and is very important to our spiritual growth. Without prayer, how do we communicate with God? Prayer is how we talk to Him and we need to be practicing active prayer time daily.
Have faith, friends. Following these three commands will help us to grow closer to God and stronger in our walk.
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