Hope this is the correct email address.
10/21/11
Brian,
This morning while reading this section of A DEVOTIONAL COMMENTARY ON ROMANS AND GALATIANS as part of my meditation, I thought about you and your journey. I have been praying for you every day and would like to share this with you.
“Paul’s sure knowledge that he had been reconciled to God and his personal experience of God’s love were the foundation stones on which he built his entire Christian life. Filled with this love which the Spirit had poured like, refreshing water into his heart (Romans 5:5), he was able to face difficulties---both everyday struggles and major challenges---joyfully.
Moreover, Paul realized that it was through such difficulties that God was strengthening and bringing him to maturity. Consequently, as Paul encountered the demands and hardships of living in this world and preaching the gospel, he could meet them with patience and hope (5:3-4). He knew that sin, evil, and suffering would never get the final word. Instead, firmly grounded in the love of his Father in heaven, he almost looked forward to what God could accomplish in him through them.
We can know the love of God with the same certainty that Paul did for we, too, have been reconciled to God. We too have the exact same access to God’s grace that Paul had (Romans 5:1-2). Every day, God invites us to take our stand in him. He longs to see us place our trust in his passionate, personal love for us. The more we open ourselves to God’s love in this way, the more we will be equipped to face the challenges of life with peace, patience, and even hope.
As you go through your day, look for ways you can yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in you. Let God have his way in renewing your mind and forming your character. This is the promise of the gospel: The more we are immersed in God’s love, the deeper and stronger our hope will be. And this hope will never be disappointed.
‘Holy Spirit, pour more of God’s love into my heart. I want to yield to your work in me today as I live in the hope of sharing the glory of God.’”
Brian, you have truly brought this gospel to life!!!! You took your “stand in Him” and “trusted in his passionate, personal love” for you which “equipped (you) to face the challenges of life with peace, patience, and even hope.” “Filled with this love which the Spirit had poured like, refreshing water (The Mighty Mississippi) into (your) heart, (you have been) able to face difficulties---both everyday struggles and major challenges (this journey)—JOYFULLY!!!!”
God is “strengthening and bringing (you) to maturity” as you meet “the demands and hardships of living in this world and preaching the gospel… with patience and hope.” As you have yielded “to the work of the Holy Spirit in you,” God is “renewing your mind and forming your character.”
You are “firmly grounded in the love of your Father in heaven,” I look forward to what God will accomplish through you!
With love and continued prayers,
Aunt Lynn
