The Joy in 'Thy Will'
"Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.."
-Romans 12:12
Hillary Scott and The Scott Family sings a song titled, "Thy Will", a very emotional song once you know the 'why' behind its creation. "Thy Will" translates into 'do what's best'. When we have given our life to Christ, we are giving him the verbal consent to carry out his plan for our life despite what we may like or feel uncomfortable doing. We say we want his plans for our life, but what if it's not what we expected?
Romans 12:12 says, "Rejoice in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer...". When we choose to rejoice, we have chosen to take joy in God's promises for our life. We are excited about his plan for us, even if our situation is not the best at the time. But, it says to rejoice in hope.
Hope: expecting; to look forward to what is to come.
See, God has told us to take joy in what is coming in our lives. All of the prayers we prayed are being answered. The spiritual revelations about your life are coming to pass. The promises that you heard he speak to you will be manifested. There is nothing God does that is done for a 'just because' reason. God is intentional. He knew what he was doing when he removed those people from your life. He knew what he was doing when you had to take a detour to work. He knew what he was doing when he placed you in the job position for which you thought you wouldn't qualify. God says to rejoice in our expectancy, but he also says to be patient in tribulation (great suffering).
Patient: ability to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious (experiencing worry, unease, or nervousness about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome).
When you applied for that job and did not receive a callback, it was not a 'no', but a 'not yet'. When you thought you were going to marry that person and you didn't, God said 'I have someone better'. We can not worry about any situation, we do not have any control over. If we can not physically change the outcome, we simply have to release it to God. Anytime God calls his children to elevate to a new level in life, he makes sure every thing at that time is aligned according to his plan; thy will not ours. We will begin accepting delays in our life when we come to the understanding that God does nothing prematurely. Every thing God puts his hands on has been created to fit perfectly in our life at the right time. God is an 11:59 God. He will come exactly when we need him to come and not a minute later or sooner. Our delays and suffering are simply to prepare us for our prayers. As a new level in Christ approaches (yes, it's level to Christ!), we must evolve our spirit man. Don't expect to remain the same when we have called for God to bring change. There's beauty in the wait!
We are rejoicing in our expectancy and being patient in our suffering, but have we continued instantly in prayer?
Continue/ Continuing: to persist in activity or process-- recommence or resume after interruption
Instant: to happen or coming immediately
Delays will appear and detours will form but we must remember to continue to pray through our circumstance. In the definition of continue, it says to persist, to push through, to keep going.Our prayer is our greatest weapon besides our praise. As we all know, prayer changes things. We can not stop being followers and doers of God when things seem hard. If this journey was easy everyone would be doing it. God never promised an easy life, but he did say he would lighten our burden (Matthew 11:30). He did say he will never leave nor forsake his children (Deuteronomy 31:6). We told him we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthian 5:7) and we will trust him for everything and he will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Everything will come together in due time but we must wait for God to give the O.K! I pray this post encourage and bless you as it did me during my time in his presence. I'll write to you soon. God Bless.
-KhidrAlexandria
