April 28, 2020
My Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, I greet and bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed word that the Lord has given for you today is from the book of Romans 12:12. “ Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” God expects us to rejoice with hope that good things will happen after the dry season or after you go through a time of trial. Whether it is rejoicing in hope or enduring tribulation or persevering through prayer- Each of these exercises helps the other.
Paul directs us to be joyful, patient and faithful, in the midst of daily struggles, though it seems like a hard pill, to swallow. However we are expected to serve the Lord continually out of spiritual fervour and passion, for him. Each one of these is the fruit of spirit. These fruits of spirit are characteristics and traits of Jesus Christ. We need to apply and apply these characteristics in our lives in order to enrich our relationship with Christ. As we become more and more like Him we start resembling His character.
We are to be joyful in hope. When our hope is placed in Jesus then it becomes easy to be joyful in all things because we know that we hope to which we were called. Blessed be the God and Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As children of God we know the hope that we have through Christ. Our future in heaven is secure in Him by evidence of His resurrection. James in his epistle says, Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. May God help you to endure sufferings patiently and joyfully especially during this period of time when all are forced to face such crisis. God bless you.
Prayer: Our loving heavenly Father, we thank You for this blessed day. Lord we thank You for showing us the way as to how we ought to be during trial period of our life. Give us the needed strength to endure the testing of our life patiently. Enable us to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
