The Devotional - R019

The Devotional

Comment:

If you have ever been hungry, that is beyond the normal experience of missing a meal or fasting. If you have ever been deprived of eating when abundance is all around you, then you may understand that hungry and angry are partners. Physical hunger is beyond most of us in the United States of America so we do not understand the emotional trauma that develops before the body’s vital organs begin fighting and stealing from the other in order to survive. Well I am not doing a study on the physical remnant of a starving person, only to say that spiritually, in a very similar way our soul (and you and I do have one) suffers these same starvation symptoms when the Living Word of God is restricted from the souls desire to feed on it. This brings us to the fourth beatitude listed in Matthew 5; Blessed (joyful) are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS, For they SHALL be filled.

Challenge: Romans 5:1-5

Faith in God is the victory that every soul hungers for. In times of trouble it is very good to know that faith in God overcomes the world, like a blanket on a cold night, the comfort of faith in God overcomes the disobedience of people around you, overcomes the torment of political and corporate wrong doing and lastly, faith overcomes death. Faith is the victory that every soul seeks. 1 John 5:4 – For who so ever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.

Here is a couple of thoughts to compare your faith to the biblical faith that the apostle is speaking of here in Romans 5. If someone has faith in God the Bible says that they have peace with God through the LORD Jesus Christ. What does this mean? Romans 13:11-14 would explain to us that if we do not agree with the gospel of God in Christ, then we are still bound in our grave clothes and still in our unrighteous rags of no peace.

Faith allows us access to the Throne Room of God, we are allowed to “stand in the grace given to us by God. As children we are able to rejoice (be blessed) in the hope (confidence) we have of being “IN CHRIST” as His Child and no longer in the world, also this rejoicing in God’s glory is the standing we have in His Righteousness and just let me add, if you do not have Jesus Christ as your Savior then He is not the LORD of your Righteousness, and you are not His child.

Having faith in God is not believing in some church doctrine or ism. Biblical faith is PERSONAL TRUST in God, BELIEVING in Christ and standing in His Righteousness, the glory that equips us to stand against all tribulation that will in time produce in each of us, endurance. We must see that God has a perfect plan for the things that cause us to suffer, mainly that suffering for righteousness sake produces a good character, one that is approved of God. If your character is not changing, then you are not properly trusting or believing in God.

So our hope (confidence) in God is “most precious” to us and to God in that first of all, hope is the nourishment that our soul needs; and secondly a healthy and confident soul is one that is filled with the love of God. This is how we understand that the Holy Spirit of God who is freely given to us by God Himself is at work. Colossians 1:13 - He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in us who is molding and shaping us into the Son of God’s love, Jesus Christ.