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The Comforter
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Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the radio broadcast of The Comforter
Download audio fileThere are times in our lives, where it just all gets too much. Circumstances, relationships, trials, temptations, they conspire together to overwhelm us.
Sometimes, it even seems that the more you go on with God, the more you step out in faith to serve Him, the harder things get. There’s a reason for that. The devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. And when you make that decision that your life are going to count for Jesus, yes the devil will be on your case.
Now I’ve tried lots of things to overcome, to have victory, in those difficult times. But so far, I’ve only found one solution that works. It’s not “phone a friend”. It’s not “ask the audience”. It’s not grabbing onto some human lifeline. The only thing that seems to work – and it works 100% of the time – is taking some unhurried time, even when you don’t think you have the time, to spend with God. Door closed. Bible open. Heart and soul and mind focussed on Jesus.
Because here’s the thing: even when things aren’t going all that well for you, in fact especially when things aren’t going all that well for you, God’s starting position is to bless you. Have a listen to this – it’s the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:13)
Who is God? He’s the God of hope. And He wants to fill you with all joy and peace as you put your trust in Him. Not just a bit of joy and a bit of peace, now and then. But ALL joy and peace now. And He wants to do that with a very specific purpose.
So that you (yes, you!) may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Bible talks about “hope”, the original word means “certain hope”. So, let’s just make sure that we get the full meaning of what God is saying here:
God wants to fill you with all joy and all peace as you trust in Him, so that you may abound in certain hope, not in your own strength, but as the God of hope, as God the Holy Spirit imparts His certain hope into your heart.
That’s why prayer works. Because this is what God wants to do. Let me ask you, in your most difficult trial, in your most difficult circumstance, how much different would it all be if you were filled with all joy and all peace and rock solid, certain hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit?
Because my friend, that’s precisely what God wants to do for you. Here and now.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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