God Preserves

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:1-5 NASB

Whoa! In verse 5, it says, God’s love pours over us - into our hearts by Holy Spirit whom He has given us!  Each of us!  

It is talking about the personal experience of God working in our lives because of the justification we have received with God through His Son Jesus Christ (back to verse 1, faith in Jesus).

Without first receiving this justification through Jesus Christ (salvation) it would be impossible for us to understand this challenging concept of having joy in our sufferings. Faith in the outcome even though we have no idea what that outcome is - we can only experience and begin to understand because of Holy Spirit, who dwells within us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Another lesson that jumped out at me in Romans 5 is that we must persevere through difficult things in life not just the easy and immediately rewarding. 

It seems like an obvious point, but it’s important to chat with God about that for a minute. 

Perseverance is a character quality that most of us would like to have in our lives. But the road to getting there is not easy. Therefore, we must joyfully welcome the suffering and the challenges that come into our lives with the fore-sight of the persevering Faith that those journeys will produce. 

Then, once we’ve continued through the hardships we will see that we have character. (By the very grace of God) the only reflection we can see at the end of our suffering is one of genuine faith. A faith that is proved more valuable than any measurable thing. 

And then, as we see that our faith is real, that brings us great hope. Hope that we will need the next time we are stumbling into despair when suffering enters our lives. 

I’m so thankful that the Bible is God’s living word, teaching us, encouraging us, reminding us, because, honestly, when the suffering re-enters our life and the hope we had felt becomes a distant memory, it can be tempting to doubt how genuine our faith really is. 

Trials cause us to despair of ourselves and we realize afresh that we are not in control. We have a choice to make. Do we cleave to God and His promises or do we become doubters, grumblers, anxious, and angry?

Do we despair of life, or do we, with trepidation and through tears, run to  Jesus, meditate on the promise of God…. because He is with us through every thing good and bad-  before bad news you believed in God, before your job became obsolete and the lay off came you believed God was providing - but after He takes us through a testing we can point back to genuine faith expressed in the very fact that we chose to cling to God in difficult circumstance. What an opportunity for joy!

Furthermore, not only is the testing of the faith we profess a fresh opportunity to glorify God and trust in His unfailing commitment to us in Christ Jesus, this is also when God gives us His perfectly timed gifts of pouring out His love through our hearts and into the communities we live.  It’s an experience that cannot be produced with a formula. It is personal, real, and life changing. And it will produce in us persevering Faith and enduring hope.

I read once that ‘If we aren’t in a storm, we have either just come out of one or we are about to go into one.’ 

Not the most encouraging of statements I know but Jesus never said that following Him would be easy, but it would be worth every moment.

I do believe that we are in a spiritual battle and that we need to fight the good fight of the faith (1 Tim 6:12). We are called to run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1), so whatever lies ahead take hold of Jesus’ outstretched hand and press on…. keep going. We are encouraged to soak ourselves in scriptures is so that we can lean on the word of God when the lies of the enemy come our way and the storms of life feel overwhelming. 

Let us keep a firm grip on the promises of God that keep us going. We have listed a few great scriptures and recommend reading them, rereading them, declaring them aloud, putting them on your fridge, or finding ways to learn them so that when you feel weak, distant or where there is no way forward, you will be reminded that God is greater than our situations and is faithful through it all.

…..but thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Cor 15:57 

…..the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. – Deuteronomy 31:6

…..do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. – Isaiah 41:10

…..With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God. – Mark 10:27

These verses teach us that a person who genuinely believes in Jesus Christ is united to Him and kept forever.

We can have assurance because God is faithful. He’s taken upon Himself the project of bringing His sons and daughters to completion. We continue in faith because we are kept by grace. We persevere because God is preserving us.