I John 4:18 ESV
Romans 5:1-5 ESV
From the Jar
Not only can we be confident that God hears us when we pray, as we wait we are promised peace.
I John 5:14 tells us, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”
When I was very young growing up in Kansas City, Missouri I had a hero.
My dad’s parents owned a corner grocery store in K.C. and at least once a week we would go to grandpa’s store. Understand that my Grandpa and Grandma Ireland owned the store, but I always thought of it as being grandpa’s store.
That’s because when the girls (me and my 2 girl cousins) were left with grandpa, he was in charge. We knew he was in charge because he had special powers over “the Mothers”.
When my Mom and my Aunt would leave they would specifically tell grandpa what we could and could not do.
Then once they were out the door he would tell us to do whatever we wanted. Even when we asked him if we were allowed to do what “the Mothers” told us not to do, he said yes.
Whoa. THAT’S power!
Even when I was very young, I learned what confidence meant. We were confident (sure) that grandpa was in charge. Because of that, I was also sure he was my hero.
That may seem a little strange to kids today, but in the 1950’s anybody who could overrule the Mothers just HAD to be Superman.
Our Superman would give us anything we asked for.
We were not limited to how many pieces of candy we ate. We could have as many bottles of soda pop as we could drink. We could also have a whole BIG Hershey’s chocolate bar that was all ours (mine).
Grandpa only had one condition for what we were allowed to have or to do. If we asked for something or asked to do something that would harm us, he would say no.
Whenever he did say no, we knew it was because he really really loved us and he didn’t want us to get hurt.
I John 5:14 says we can be sure that God will hear us and respond if we ask for anything that will not harm us.
Whenever I think of that scripture, deep in my core I understand that’s because God loves us too much to give us anything that would bring us harm.
God protects us, just like my grandpa protected us.
I’m glad that God says no when I ask for something that will hurt me.
Romans 5:1-5 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
We can believe because of Jesus we have unlimited peace. We have great joy from the hope that we will see God’s glory.
I’ve always been able to get that part.
The next part was more difficult to understand when I was a young adult.
The Apostle Paul told the members of the church in Rome that we should also rejoice in our suffering.
We have to understand the suffering I’ve endured is nothing next to what 1st Century believers endured.
Their really good and loving leader Jesus was arrested and crucified. They were very afraid. Then they heard he came back from the grave. Then he ascended to heaven.
The Roman Government was not happy that Jesus came back from the grave. That caused a lot of problems for them. So, they set out to silence His followers.
The Hebrew leaders were as unhappy (if not more) that Jesus came back to life. That made them look really bad because they had participated in his arrest and crucifixion. They had trouble explaining how He came back. After Jesus left to go to heaven the ruling Jewish leaders also set out to discredit the followers of Jesus.
Jesus’ 1st Century followers suffered constant persecution because they believed in Jesus. So when Paul wrote to them and told them to rejoice in their suffering because it would give them endurance, they understood that meant God was with them no matter what happened.
Paul went on to tell them that endurance would give them good character like being strong and courageous when they were persecuted, and that good character would give them hope. He told them that hope would never disappoint them because God’s Spirit lives in them. Jesus made all of that possible through this death and resurrection.
The promise that God hears us today is for all believers. We are also promised peace with God daily. God provides peace when we turn to Him.
We are promised hope. When we feel hopeless, God gives hope.
When we suffer, we can ask God to help us endure. When we endure we can ask God to build strong character in us.
Because God’s Spirit is IN us, we have access to all the tools we need when we turn to God.
We only need to ask.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Ask
Are you feeling hopeless? Do you need peace? Are you suffering? Ask God to provide what you need.
In God, Deborah
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