Overflow

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13 NKJ)

Peace. It is a wispy, hard-to-hold, emotional element. It seems to escape as easily as -- or more so than --  it comes or remains. There are so many hindrances to maintaining peace. There are many instances, circumstances, situations, words, feelings and emotions that disturb it or drive it away. What is a disciple of Christ to do?

All around us children, young people and adults are living in "hopeless" circumstances or have despaired of a future. And as human beings in the throes of life on the edge, they resort to "solutions" that do not solve, but rather complicate life further. Their joy and peace are stolen or destroyed by actions that are sometimes irrevocable.

The Scripture teaches us that joy and peace are genetic elements of hope. Without hope, there is no peace. And where peace is missing, joy does not exist. So I conclude that emotionally, psychologically and spiritually these three are genetically intertwined and essential to holistic health.

Personally, I am confident in the encouragement of Scripture. For it is the God of hope who fills us with "all joy and peace." And believing in him ignites the power of the Holy Spirit to overflow us with hope. Our joy and peace have nothing to do with circumstances, but everything to do with where we place our hope. And our hope is not in a time, place, or situation. Rather, our hope is in the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. He is the God of hope.

Certainly this is all well and good, but . . . life is still here and we are still affected by surrounding concerns and issues,  by what is occurring now in real time. Hear the Apostle Paul speak, "whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4 NKJ). In the midst of circumstances, the Scriptures are our greatest spiritual and emotional support. We can rely on them.

And again Paul reminds us, "whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-- meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:8-9 NKJ). Many times we simply need to change our focus in order to maintain our joyful attitude and peaceful spirit. It works in the worst of life's storms.

Dear Father, thank you for the storms of life. They teach us to rely on you and your Word. Empower us to believe in and trust you that we may overflow in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I pray this in the name of Jesus. AMEN

Overflow in hope today,