Another crazy Sunday with a baptismal service today and had our weekly sunday night prays. Was at church from 8.30a-11pm. Pretty nuts haha..
Anyway since im tired, I'll just jump straight into my devotion. Managed to do it before going to church today, so i felt pretty happy, because Anne said that God normally gives in the morning e.g manna and quail. So today i read Romans 5:1-5.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
v1-2 had quite a bit to digest, but i think what it was trying to say was that we are now justified through faith, and have peace with God. We have gained access into grace by faith in which we now stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we are justified through our faith, which is a spiritual gift. So since it was given to us because its a gift, means we already have it, means that we already are justified. We also have peace with God, not any ordinary peace, but peace that is with God. Whats the difference? I guess in this case does that mean that we are on like a truce with God, and are on the same side because of Lord Jesus Christ? We normally pray for the peace from God, to help us in our daily lives, but in this case we have peace WITH God.(totally different) Which we already have since we are justified by faith.
v3-5 was interesting cause it talked about us suffering, or in the NKJV version it calls it tribulations, which means a condition of affliction or distress. This was interesting because we always think that since we are Christians, we will have a victorious life since God is a victorious God. However if we're victorious, why do we still need to suffer? Don't only people who lose suffer? Then i realised that even though we are victorious, to get to that victorious stage, we first have to mature in Christ and go through the whole growing stage. And in that growing stage is where we will experience all the tribulations and sufferings. Whats more, even when Jesus himself was on earth, he had to grow up like any normal human and had to go through sufferings as well. Furthermore, from what i learnt yesterday, long suffering is also a fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, the bottom line is that Christians will go through sufferings and it is normal, just like how it is normal to experience pain and hurt if you love a lot.
However the bright side is that through all these sufferings, it produces perseverance, character and hope. Don't know why they used "perseverance, character; and character, hope" thought the way they structured it was a bit funny..maybe im missing something?(not too sure..) Then in v5 we realise the importance of hope and it explains that God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So the whole point of suffering is to develop perseverance, character, and hope..and through that hope, we receive God's love! So it's all worth it at the end of the day!
Your love broke through my night, restored exceeding joy, Your love fell like the rain and made this desert live..
Anyway since im tired, I'll just jump straight into my devotion. Managed to do it before going to church today, so i felt pretty happy, because Anne said that God normally gives in the morning e.g manna and quail. So today i read Romans 5:1-5.
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
v1-2 had quite a bit to digest, but i think what it was trying to say was that we are now justified through faith, and have peace with God. We have gained access into grace by faith in which we now stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we are justified through our faith, which is a spiritual gift. So since it was given to us because its a gift, means we already have it, means that we already are justified. We also have peace with God, not any ordinary peace, but peace that is with God. Whats the difference? I guess in this case does that mean that we are on like a truce with God, and are on the same side because of Lord Jesus Christ? We normally pray for the peace from God, to help us in our daily lives, but in this case we have peace WITH God.(totally different) Which we already have since we are justified by faith.
v3-5 was interesting cause it talked about us suffering, or in the NKJV version it calls it tribulations, which means a condition of affliction or distress. This was interesting because we always think that since we are Christians, we will have a victorious life since God is a victorious God. However if we're victorious, why do we still need to suffer? Don't only people who lose suffer? Then i realised that even though we are victorious, to get to that victorious stage, we first have to mature in Christ and go through the whole growing stage. And in that growing stage is where we will experience all the tribulations and sufferings. Whats more, even when Jesus himself was on earth, he had to grow up like any normal human and had to go through sufferings as well. Furthermore, from what i learnt yesterday, long suffering is also a fruit of the Spirit. Therefore, the bottom line is that Christians will go through sufferings and it is normal, just like how it is normal to experience pain and hurt if you love a lot.
However the bright side is that through all these sufferings, it produces perseverance, character and hope. Don't know why they used "perseverance, character; and character, hope" thought the way they structured it was a bit funny..maybe im missing something?(not too sure..) Then in v5 we realise the importance of hope and it explains that God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So the whole point of suffering is to develop perseverance, character, and hope..and through that hope, we receive God's love! So it's all worth it at the end of the day!
Your love broke through my night, restored exceeding joy, Your love fell like the rain and made this desert live..
Posted by
L
1 comments:
Hey Lol...
Just a note: Quail came in the evening .. but manna came in the mornings - hence, daily bread, that we need for food for the day must be eaten in the morning. Also Ps.143:8 & other references that I used.
We need morning & evening sustenance from the table of the Lord.
Starting the day without devotion is like a soldier going to war without his armour or sword. We must be prepared and filled with spiritual food everyday, if we are to fight the GOOD fight of faith victoriously.
God bless you, and EAT UP!
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