Believing Is The Key

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13

It could literally take us all day to unpack this one verse, for it is jam-packed with good stuff! But let’s see what we can find in just a couple of minutes.

The key word in this verse is ‘believing,’ and our belief in God first comes from trusting that His Word is true. When our trust is steadfast and our belief is sure, then through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, we can experience the reality of inner joy, inner peace, and the fullness of hope. This is what we want, isn’t it? Yet, more often than we’d like, we don’t always ‘feel’ it – but why not?

We can become so familiar with our surroundings that we become unaware of the things around us. We can walk pass something every day and not even notice that it’s there, or drive a familiar route and yet not see the things along the way. This can also happen in our spiritual life as well, in that, we can become so familiar with God that we can become unaware of Him. It’s called complacency, and if we let it set in, it can affect our joy and our hope.

From the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

The joy of the Lord, the peace of God, and the hope of glory (Christ in you), are not ‘feelings’ in the human sense – they are a state-of-being, and we can abound in all three by the power of the Holy Spirit. All that is require of us is to simply believe.

Believe in the Rock of your salvation; trust that His Word is truth, and let Him fill you with an inner joy, peace and hope that never runs out.