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Therefore, having been justified by faith, 

we have peace with God 

through our Lord Jesus Christ,

through whom also we have access by faith 

into this grace in which we stand, 

and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

~Romans 5:1-2

 

Good morning dear sister!

God’s grace woke you up this morning! Thank you, Lord! 

Even though I greet you in the morning, I’m not expecting that you eagerly open your email, please greet the Lord first! 

The Apostle Paul packs a lot of important concepts into a couple of sentences so, today, please allow yourself time and grace to consider his words. Perhaps even fortify yourself with breakfast before we break the Apostle Paul’s proclamation into digestible bites!

Justified by faith….. Did you know that the word justified has a legal definition and a biblical one? Legally, to be justified means that the action committed was reasonable, warranted, valid or defensible. But, in God’s eyes, our actions are often not reasonable, warranted, valid or defensible. This is why we are justified by faith in God’s Son, who has borne our legal punishment in our stead!

God does not overlook our sin, but officially declares us clean and forgiven! Made fully-righteous because of Jesus’ atonement work of the cross! The righteousness of God is given to all who believe, therefore being justified by faith! Now, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Many times, we may be tempted to stay in that blissful state of justification and peace, but God has so much more for us! We not only have peace with Him, but because of our belief, we have a standing of grace with Him as well! Grace, God’s unmerited favor, is given through Jesus and gained by faith. We stand in this grace, we live in this grace! His grace is always present! God’s grace is not just a visitor that comes to us, we have access to His grace wherever we are!

Given all that, how can we help but rejoice in the hope God gives us, and His magnificent glory as well! Hallelujah! We rejoice in hope, the happy certainty of living in the glory of God!

Wow! Living in the glory of God sounds like a great idea! It sounds like heaven! But Paul continues on with his thoughts in his second sentence:

.And not only that,

but we also glory in tribulations, 

knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 

and perseverance, character; 

and character, hope.

~Romans 5:3-4

Wait, what? ….. Glory in our tribulations? We’re going to have tribulations? We were just celebrating; entrusting ourselves to peace, faith, grace and rejoicing! What’s going on? That sounds hard.

Speaking of tribulation, memories flooded as we spent time visiting with our son, Peter, who came home to be baptised! Praise God! He is a veteran who has valiantly served his country as a US Army Ranger. Back when he was in training, we didn’t talk about his experiences too much, it was too hard on my mother-heart. In fact, I used to get mad and want to go beat up his commanding officers! (imagine that) 

This time, as we were sitting around talking, we asked him a lot of questions about his military experience. In the grace of God, now that he can look back on it all with a more mature perspective, he understood that there was more to the training than just plain tribulation. 

His superiors were preparing him for tough times; increasing his endurance, perseverance, strength and confidence. Making the boys into men; making them into one body, one team, honing their decision making abilities and proper responses in critical situations. 

As he was speaking, I realized that he was describing a spiritual truth that he experienced in his natural training. God uses the tribulations we suffer to work the characteristics that are pleasing to Him in us! (It’s really amazing when a child, 2 years old in the Lord, teaches their parents!)

I often refer to us as children of God, but we also must remember that, along with Peter, we are also part of the Lord’s army! When the Apostle Paul adds to that glorious list above that we not only glory in justification, peace with God and grace, but also are to glory in that which God sends to make us grow in the virtues of endurance, character and hope.

Before we came to know the Lord, many of our battles were of our own making as we fought against doing His will. We are soldiers in God’s army now, no longer at odds with Him. We do not fight against flesh and blood either, but the invisible battles of powers, principalities and spiritual wickedness that we come against in the name of Jesus! 

Remember, in our training that it is God working in us, not against us, to produce persevering saints, full of His good character and confident hope!

We won’t quit when we’re weary (endurance)! We will act with the fruits of the Spirit (character)! We will hold on to a happy certainty of God’s care in our lives because of our faith in His Son (hope)!

So, dear sister, the next time tribulation comes upon us, before we respond in any way, let us set our minds upon God! Yielding to His Holy Spirit rather than our flesh, and witnessing the wonders of the works He will do in us and through us! He is our all in all indeed!

We keep loving Jesus and moving forward!

With love, your sister, Celeste