HOLY SPIRIT HOPE
Romans
5:5
“And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He
has given us.”
What does it mean to be justified by
faith? Christians often hear that, but
do they know what it means? Does “justified
by faith” make you smile? The Father
accepts everyone as His child who believes in Jesus as Savior. Justified by faith (in Jesus) confirms that Believers
are God’s kids. Just like in any family,
kids have “benefits.” Benefits are good
things.
You
chose your heavenly family when you agreed to accept Jesus as your Savior. God’s kids may claim a string of benefits. Right now, for example, you’re standing in
the unearned favor of God’s grace. Grace
is also something not fully understood.
Grace can be described as: beauty, poise, kindness, favor, mercy,
blessing, honor, dignity—stuff everyone needs.
Another
benefit Believers receive as God’s kids is His Holy Spirit. And God’s Spirit offers many things. He lives inside Believers as counselor. One
of His jobs is to show you God’s love.
Another job is to transform Believers into the people the Father created
us individually to be. The Spirit’s end
goal is to transform people into Christlikeness. But that isn’t always fun.
Romans
5:3-4 teaches benefits that people don’t usually consider good. No one likes suffering. People flee from suffering! But suffering teaches Believers God’s love. Suffering also teaches Believers God’s
faithfulness. Suffering can teach us to
not give up, because we know that God’s assured our victory.
Suffering
also teaches God’s kids to not give in. When
people learn to stand firm during hard times, they’re changed in the
inside. That’s called perseverance
[per-se-VER-anse]. When people endure
suffering, their personalities develop character. Character describes specific qualities of
one’s personality, like: charming, odd, weird, strong, kind, honorable or
spirited.
It’s
character that produces hope. And like
the opening Scripture says, hope does not disappoint us. Why? Because
God has “poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”
Knowing
that we’re so loved by God is our foundation for positive outlooks and being
confident all the time. His love pours
into our hearts. Hope springs out.
Take Home Nugget
When
things don’t turn out well, we can actually expect good to come out of disappointment. We remain positively confident! Holy Spirit hope assures us of God’s
favor.
After all,
Colossians 1:27 says, “To them God has chosen to make known…the glorious riches
of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” You
can expect the glory of God to shine into every aspect of your life!
Jesus
lives in me. Praise God that I am His
kid living in His favor!
Adapted from a
devotion from “Daily Grace Ministries” by Joseph Prince. www.josephprinceministries@josephprince.org.
July 1, 2015.
J.D. Griffith
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