This is awesome good news!

God is holy. God is perfect.

God cannot get more holy or more perfect. (And, of course, God does not get worse.) God does not change.

There are a lot of implications of this, but right now I am thinking about God’s unchangeable love for His redeemed.

We have all experienced moodiness in ourselves or others. Not fun.

God is never moody.

God does not change.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

For I, the Lord, do not change.  (Malachi 3:6)

For Christians, what that means is that God loved us before the foundation of the world, loves us right now, and will love us for eternity.

Since He loves us, He will love us forever. Since He saved us, we are saved forever. Since He forgave us, He forgave us forever. Since He made us promises, those promises are forever.

All this relies on God’s perfect, holy, unchanging character.

Rejoice, Christian! God’s love is permanent, steadfast, faithful, merciful, compassionate, longsuffering, and more!

Hallelujah! Praise God!

Just past those sand dunes is the Pacific Ocean! Endure with hope.

For the joy set before Him, Christ endured the cross.

Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus was on the cross by obedience to His Father. Jesus could have rejected it, calling on legions of angels. (Matthew 26:53)

Sometimes we are called to improve the situation, or flee the situation. But not always. We need to pray and listen. There are God-ordained trials we must endure.

We are called to endure what God sets before us. We are to run the race God gives us. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1)

Since we are to endure, we are to endure with hope.

What is our hope?

What is our hope? Hope may NOT be a resolution to the situation. Hope, like for Jesus, is what is on the other side. Remember, Biblical hope is a guaranteed promise of God.

What is on the other side of enduring a God-given trial? Of persevering?

The crown of life (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10)

Proven character, made perfect, confirmed, complete, established, lacking in nothing (Romans 5:2-5; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 5:10)

Favor with God (1 Peter 2:19-20)

Rejoicing with exultation (1 Peter 4:12-13)

An eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

What are we to do?

We are to fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the model for enduring with hope. (Hebrews 12:2)

We are to wait on the triune God. (Isaiah 40:31)

We are to meditate on the guaranteed promises of God.

We are to walk in the newness of life, honoring God with our lives, obeying what He has called us to do.

We must remember we have been given everything pertaining to life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3)

We must remember that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)

Press on!

God’s Passionate Love has been poured out in us, His redeemed, believers in Christ!

The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

Amazing grace!

We are to walk in love

Be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1–2)

We are learning to walk in His love

God promised to make us more like Christ, whose nature is love. We are becoming more loving. (Romans 8:29)

God promised fruit, including love, through the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22–23)

Those are facts as well as our responsibility.

We are to abide in His love

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4)

We are commanded to love

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:39)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35)

Let us pour out God’s love to others.

Blessed!

My life-long friend, now with Jesus, is an example of living in love. See her story: Blessed! From Rape to Redemption to Rewards. (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local book store)

You may be in tremendous emotional or physical pain. The possible causes are too many to list, but, if you have been redeemed, if you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then God has a loving purpose for what you are going through.

Remember: God loves you with an infinite, eternal, steadfast, all-knowing love. (See God’s Passionate Love)

Remember: God is in control of everything and everybody all the time. But also remember, we are responsible for our own thoughts, words, and deeds. (See When Storms Come; This Day Has Purpose)

Remember: God is making you into the image of His beloved Son. (Romans 8:29-30)

Remember: God will glorify you. (Romans 8:29-30)

Worship: Worship the Almighty God who loves you, knows what is best for you, and has the power to bring about what is best.

This isn’t easy, especially in the midst of your pain, but it is true. God is true. God is truth.

~~

Father, thank You that You know everything about me, and everybody and everything else. Thank You that You have a loving purpose for what I am going through. Thank You that You are with me, and helping me turn to You in the midst of this trial.

God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—loves us* immensely more than we can fathom.

If only we* knew how much, everything would be different. We would have joy abounding, NO anxiety, confident expectation that God was working everything for our glorification, and much much more.

Because God loves us*, we have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Because God loves us*, we have everything here and now.

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3)

Because God loves us*, Christ died for us and lives in us.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9–10)

Because God loves us*, we have been made heirs with Christ

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4–7)

 ~~

Father, help us know the vast, perfect, steadfast love You have for us*. Let us feel Your love and live accordingly. Thank You!

*Yes, God loves the world. But the love He has for His redeemed is different.

Have you heard the song: Somebody’s Praying for Me? Several artists have recorded it, and it is easy to find on YouTube (original and shorter versions). My favorite is Ricky Skaggs Somebody’s Prayin. I find the song comforting, inspiring, and encouraging.  

Many or most of us (but probably not all of us) have somebody praying for us. Thank God! (And thank them, if you know who they are!)

Jesus Christ is praying for you! The Holy Spirit is praying for you!

He [Jesus Christ]is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25; see also Romans 8:34)

The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26–27)

Be grateful. Be encouraged.

Be motivated to pray for others

We are called to intercede for others. Resolve to be someone who prays.

God created us for His glory.

Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made. (Isaiah 43:7)

Christians’ Role

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Worship Him. (John 4:23-24 and many other verses)

God saved us to be holy and blameless before Him

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (Ephesians 1:4)

His purpose is to make us in the image of Christ, to bring us to eternal glory. (Romans 8:29-30)

Christians’ Role

We are to walk in a manner worthy of Him. We are responsible to obey Him. (1 Corinthians 7:17; Ephesians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:12)

He is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13); and He won’t stop until His good work is complete (Philippians 1:6).

Our sanctification is God’s will.  (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

God gave us work to do.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Christians’ Role

This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. (John 6:29)

Each Christian has the role to build up the church.

He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–12)

Each Christian has been given a specific gift (or gifts) from the Holy Spirit to use in building up the church, for the common good. (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; 1 Peter 4:10)

And we have been chosen to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

~~~

Thank You God – Father, Son, Holy Spirit – that You have purpose for each of us, eternally and here and now. Thank You that You are working in us, and that You have equipped us to fulfill Your purpose.

For a Christian, it is possible to be content, even in difficult circumstances. Look at Paul, writing from prison:

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11–13)

From Paul we learn:

Contentment is possible.

Contentment is learned.

Contentment comes from Christ.

Here are some keys to learning contentment:

KNOW, with a settled confidence, that Almighty God is sovereign over everything and everybody all the time. (Proofs of God’s sovereignty is throughout scripture. See When Storms Come.)

KNOW, with a settled confidence, that Almighty God loves His redeemed with an infinite, faithful love. (Again, proofs of God’s love for you is all over His Word.)

KNOW that God is at work in you to make you more righteous, more like Christ. He is sanctifying you. (Romans 8:29; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13)

KNOW that what you see and what you experience is part of God’s holy plan. He has a purpose and is working all things after the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11)

KNOW there are God ordained results, not only in you, but in others and the world. (for example see, Philippians 1:12-14)

TRUST God, with His sovereignty and His love, is working ALL things for good for His redeemed, for those who have received Christ as Lord and Savior. KNOW and TRUST that He has a loving purpose for you. KNOW and TRUST that He is working His holy plan in others and the world.

Practice!

Contentment is learned.

Remember, over and over and over, His loving sovereignty.

Remember, over and over and over, His loving purpose for you, His redeemed.

Repeat, over and over and over, that He promised you to bring good out of what you are experiencing.

Determine!

Determine to rejoice in Him in all things.

Determine to thank Him in everything.

Contentment is possible!

This post is ONLY for Christians, those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you haven’t, you are missing out. Please see Becoming a Child of God.

The enormous, stunning, unfathomable good news is that Christians can and should have a confident expectation of righteousness. Biblical hope is a sure thing.

For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. (Galatians 5:5)

Whoa!

God promises. And His promises always are fulfilled, always come true.

God tells us we will stand before him holy and blameless.

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.  (Ephesians 1:4)

God tell us He will glorify us.

These whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

You were saved to be glorified!

Growing righteousness here and now

And that trial you are in right now? That trial is making you more like Christ. God is making you more righteous.

We are to be:

rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer. (Romans 12:12)

The best is yet to come

In heaven we will be totally freed from sin. We will have NO sin nature. Nor will anyone else in heaven. I cannot imagine it. Me, with absolutely no tendency to sin. Me! I can’t wait.

Jesus Christ was lifted up from earth and entered heaven (See Jesus Christ the Exalted Lord). He was given back the glory He had from eternity, enthroned, given eternal dominion over all, and seated at the right hand of the Father.

What is Jesus Christ doing now?

He upholds all things by the word of His power. (Hebrews 1:3) All things came into being through Him (John 1:3), and now He upholds what He created.

He is Sovereign Ruler. The Father gave Him the name that is above every name: Lord, that is, sovereign ruler. (Philippians 2:9). “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.” (Ephesians 1:22) The Father gave Jesus Christ the title deed to the earth (Revelation 5:7)

He is Judge. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)

He sends the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him. (John 16:7; Acts 2:33)

He intercedes for those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (Hebrews 7:25)

He is giving us gifts. (Ephesians 4:7-8)

He is preparing a place for us, and will come get us so we can be with Him. (John 14:2-3)

He is our all-powerful assurance. He is our hope. (Colossians 1:27; 1 Timothy 1:1)

And more—of course.

Worship Jesus Christ! Praise Him!

Let’s meditate on the enormity of what Jesus Christ is doing. Let’s worship Him. Let’s praise Him. Let’s trust Him.