Romans 5:4 follows after the progressive fruit of our trials. Paul wrote that our trials produce perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope. It says, “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

1 Peter 1:21 says, “Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” In 1 Corinthians 13:13 we read that our hope is one of the virtues that will abide while we are on this earth.

It says, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” We need faith and hope to persevere throughout trials. However God’s love is eternal. It will be with us forever.

Hope anchors our soul, as our trials are conforming us to His image. Romans 8:24 says, “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?”

Our progressive sanctification is a charted path that will bring us into continual circumstances that He will use to conform us to His image. Verse 29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…”

Conformed. The word always makes me think of a wheel potter. The hard clay has to be mixed with water to soften it. Then the potter has to center the piece on the wheel before it can be shaped. Our trials are divinely orchestrated to center us on the Lord.

He is our Potter. Jeremiah 18:2 says, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house…” Verse 4 says, “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter…” Jesus understands marring. 

Isaiah 52:14 says, “…so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Jesus bore our sins so that we could live with Him forever. Our trials that stop us in our tracks may mar us, but they will never destroy us. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

Hebrews 10:12 says, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Verse 14 says, “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

Verse 23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” I love 2 Timothy 2:13. It says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

Romans 8:1 says that there is no condemnation to those who walk according to the Spirit. Verse 2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The law could not fulfill the requirement for eternal salvation. That is why the priests had to continually offer up sacrifices. Romans 8:3-4 says, “…He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16 is a command.

Thank you to the Veteran’s today who fought for our country’s freedom.

Titus 1:2 says, “In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” I want to go back to Hebrews 6:19, picking up the words, “…Presence behind the veil.” When Jesus was forsaken by His Father, Luke 23:44 says, “…there was darkness over all the earth…” for three hours.

Verse 45 says, “Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.” Exodus 26:33 says, “…The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy.”

Leviticus 16:2 says that Aaron was not, “…to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat…” Hebrews 9:7 says that the high priest went in once a year alone, “…not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins…”

Verse 13 says, “The Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.” Ephesians 1:20 recorded Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Hebrews 6:13 says that when God made His promise to Abraham, He had to swear by Himself because there is no one greater. Verse 17 uses the words, “…the immutability of His counsel…”

Verse 18 says, “That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”

Verse 19 says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” I read this account and will share part of it with you.

In 1832 the Hojun-maru, a cargo ship laden with rice and porcelain, left the port of Onuora Japan headed to present day Tokyo. Fourteen months later the ship washed ashore on the coast of Washington state. The Hojun-maru had lost its rudder in a storm. It helplessly drifted 5,000 miles off course.

Hope can’t drift. It anchors us to eternity through the irrefutable resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our anchor is secured in steadfast, unchangeable, and unalterable truth.

True rest comes from walking daily in the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 3:7 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.” Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”

I want to go back to David. He was tempted. Yet through his thoughts he entered into sin. He tried desperately to cover it all. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” 2 Peter 1:3 says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him…”

Intimate communion with Him is the pathway. We come to Him instead of leaning on our own understanding. He will impart what we truly need. He knows our heart yet He wants us to pour out all that is troubling us ~ pouring out so we can be filled.

Here is an acrostic to remind us what true rest is.

Releasing

Everything

Simply

Trusting

Burying things that trouble us will come back like a boomerang. Have you ever said things that you wish you hadn’t? Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” 

Unresolved issues continually seep into our thought processes. They escape unexpectedly through our words and actions. Burying emotional pain is man’s way of coping with our past. God’s way is perfect. Psalm 18:30. 

Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” Pour out. Picture a glass of stagnant water. Would you drink it? No, you would pour it out and clean the glass.

Psalm 51 was written by David after his sin with Bathsheba. What did he try to do? Bury his sin through deceit. Verse 10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Confession is God’s way for cleansing. 1 John 1:9.

Remember from Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted just as we are. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…” 

Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

Isaiah 53:11 says of God the Father, “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” Iniquity is doing anything independent of the Lord. John 15:5.

Yielding to a temptation means we have to do it all alone. We will knowingly act apart from the Lord. That alone is a truth that will empower us to repel ourselves away from the lure.

Are you laboring under oppressive thoughts? Matthew 11:28 is Jesus’ invitation. It says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” 

My grandpa C was a fly fisherman. In his little shop were all types of fascinating lures. The enemy of our soul has myriad lures to capture our attention. 1 Peter 5:8 says that he roams around, “…seeking whom he may devour.”

Peter is a chilling example of warning for us. In pride he boldly claimed that he would never deny Jesus. Matthew 26:35. Luke 22:31 says, “…Simon, Simon! Indeed, satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”

Every lure that the devil dangles in front of us will be coated with pride. We will fall if we think that we can handle it on our own. “O Lord, I ask You to give each one of us keen discernment to recognize each and every deceptive pull towards sin. Remind us that You endured every temptation ~ yet without sin.”

Temptations are designed to oppress. I like the definition in Luke 4:18 from the Amplified. It says that He came, “…to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed (who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity).”

Hebrews 4:15 says of Jesus, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” When we are tempted, we have the privilege to instantly access the Lord’s help and empowerment.

Verse 16 says that because Jesus endured temptations and resisted them, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” God gives grace to the humble. James 4:6.

When tempted we can cry out to the Lord to deliver us. His model prayer to His disciples says, “…deliver us from the evil one, for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” We get our power to resist from the One who is All Powerful!

Temptations are strategically designed to ensnare and bring us into the devil’s captivity. 2 Timothy 2:26 says, “And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”