Remember that Christ came as a servant
to the Jews to
show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. 9
He
also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.
That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote: “For this, I will praise you
among the Gentiles; I will sing praises to your name.” 10
And
in another place it is written, “Rejoice with his people, you Gentiles.” 11
And
yet again, “Praise the lord, all you Gentiles.
Praise him, all you people of the earth.” 12
And
in another place Isaiah said, “The heir to David’s throne will
come, and he will rule over the Gentiles. They will place their hope on him.” 13
I
pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace
because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through
the power of the Holy Spirit.
Have
you ever discounted the work of God because you didn’t like or understand what
God was doing? That is a hard question
to answer. If we are honest, there are
many times in the past that we realized we were awful foolish and even missed
what God was doing,
At
the point where war with words and battles of the heart begin there is hatred
between people because of racism or the lines we humans draw. It might be the lines between economic
differences of the rich and poor. On the
other side of town it might be the problem of skin color or origin of
birth. No matter the problem we have to
admit that God changes the definitions of accepting people and showing love.
I
believe with all my heart that the grace of God is intended for every person,
and every person who accepts the gift of God is fully loved by God. As the verses above responded to humanity,
Christ came for the Jew and Gentile. Yet
we know that the Jew and the Gentile didn’t like each other. The fought each other, talked about each
other and did much to see that the other couldn’t excel.
Christ
gives life to all. Salvation is for
anyone. It is time for the church and
for each of us to seek to share that truth as much as we can. I am grateful for the grace of God that
embraced my life, and I love to hear stories from people of how God gave them
His incredible grace.
In
the last verse above there is truth that might change us even more. I ask you to take another look at last verse
from above:
Romans
8:13 NLT
I
pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace
because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through
the power of the Holy Spirit.
We
must pray that people around us completely experience the joy and peace of
God. Joy and peace is firmly planted in
and a gift from our God who is the source.
He is source of hope and of everything else.
When
we show that we have experienced God and extend that grace to others, we help
others live with confidence and hope.
Because you stand strong, speak about God and live by faith, others will
live by faith.
Thank
God for the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who gives us real and
lasting hope. Pray that our source of
hope, God Himself, will allow our confidence to influence and impact the people
we come in contact with on a regular basis.
May we and others be forever changed because we choose to life with
confident hope!
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