Keys to Successful Living

       The apostle Paul wrote, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).  To be joyful in hope is absolutely crucial in a dark and broken world.  Hope is simply confident expectation in God.  One doctrine that helps us live in confident expectation is God’s sovereignty.  Christians believe that God does not cause everything, but controls everything.  He has complete foreknowledge of everything that will happen. Paul tells us that “. . .we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).  I don’t have to understand all the horrific stories I have heard over the years.  My wife grew up in a home of violence and abuse.  I had a great family but was molested by a female babysitter as a little boy.  God gives us free will which leads to these painful moments where people choose to do what is wrong and evil.  But we can have a confidence that God will bring good out of even the horrible moments.  My wife is a therapist who has helped many with similarly painful childhoods.  I have seen God use my trauma to create more compassion in me and more effectiveness with those who have had similar experiences. 
        The next line of Romans 12:12 “patient in affliction,” builds on the hope I mentioned. We can be patient because we know God is always working for our good.  It’s not a perfect image but I view life like a ship where we have free will on the ship, we can do what we want.  But the ship is directed by God.  He will take the ship where he desires. I think of the story in the Hebrew Scriptures of Queen Esther.  Instead of choosing to marry someone that she preferred, it looks like she was forced into a beauty contest where “the prize” is getting to be the new queen.  I doubt this union met all her desires for a good marriage, but it put her in a place where she was able to stop a genocide against her Jewish people.  God’s sovereign hand put her where her life would have the most impact.  Remember this, God wants you for you to flourish, thrive and make a positive impact. He will work with your free will and sometimes even around it to put you where you need to be. Our pain has purpose woven into it.  We do not always see it but God does. Author Nick Vujicic was born with no arms and legs.  His life has been particularly hard because of that disability.  But not only in spite of that disability but also through that disability God has used him powerfully to share the gospel with thousands around the world.       
      The final line of Romans 12:12 is “faithful in prayer.” I think this is the practical key in this verse on how to be joyful in hope and patient in affliction.  It is through prayer that we find the strength to be hopeful and patient during the challenges of life.  Jesus once shared a metaphor that he is the vine and we are the branches.  We are healthy and effective when we are connected to the vine which is primarily done through prayer.  I admire a 6-year-old girl named Ruby Bridges. She was the first African American child to desegregate a white elementary school in the southern city of New Orleans.  She had to be escorted to school by U.S. Marshalls who had to protect her from a vicious crowd that screamed threats at her.  For a time she didn’t want to eat any food that was not sealed because one woman in the crowd would often scream that she was going to poison her.  That little girl went to an empty classroom all year and learned one-on-one from the only white teacher who would work with her.  How does a six-year-old have the strength to endure something like this?  She prayed.  Her parents prayed and others prayed for her.  She says that she would stop most days and pray silently for the angry racist crowd. Remarkable! She clearly walked out the truth of this verse. 
       Life is hard.  But if we will “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer,” we will have a positive impact.   
Pastor Derek Dickinson
Journey Christian Church