I am an early riser but this was early even for me. The words came to mind bringing a sweet comfort and peace:
“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35, NASB)
Nothing in this life will ever separate us from the love of God.
“The tide of spiritual excitement rises sharply as the apostle marveled at the amazing love of Christ. Who or what could ever separate us from the love of Christ? Then follows a litany of disasters, none of which can effect a separation between Christ and the believer. Far from weakening the bonds of love, trouble and hardship strengthen them.”
(from The New American Commentary, Volume 27, Robert H. Mounce, page 191)
Those words in Romans 8 were precious to me as I prayed for someone miles away from me. The verse reminded me of Psalm 139 and the questions the psalmist asked:
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your Presence?”
(verse 7, NASB)
The psalmist remained confident that God would go before and behind him, hemming him in. These verses give us the same assurance even today, hundreds of years after they were written.
These Scriptures give strength to “Prevail”, my One Word 2021. They remind me of my focus verse for the year as well:
“rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer …”
(Romans 12:12, (NASB)
And so today, we can pray …
Father, we ask for Your grace and mercy to be upon those facing hardships and heartbreaks. Wrap them in Your peace and may they know You are with them even in whatever this day may hold. Help us to trust You in all things, knowing, no matter what we experience in this life, You bring us through it all. Teach us to trust You more, for You are always faithful. Show us how to prevail in all things. In Your Name we pray, Amen.
Photo by Emilia Wronowska on Unsplash
Today I am joining …
I appreciate your beautiful words of encouragement, reminder to prevail and prayer to trust Him throughout every situation because He is Faithful.
What thoughtful encouragement this morning! There is nothing so reassuring as knowing we cannot hide from the love of God.
Amen! Such encouragement to remember that we and those we are praying for will never be apart from His love! Thank you for these Scriptures and thoughts.
I’m so grateful that absolutely nothing will separate us from His loving, protective presence. The past year and a half only emphasized the joy and relief of that truth …
Amen, Linda, it surely did.
I have really benefited by following your journey with prevail, Joanne! Prevailing in prayer is a wonderful thing for each of us to do.
Along these same lines but from a different perspective, I was reading a book an hour ago about how God’s love is so wide and so vast that his goodness and grace fall on people all over the world that don’t even know him. It brought me comfort to think about all the people who are NOT prayed for, yet God still knows who they are and loves them.
So glad you’re linking up with our One Word group. It’s a blessing to get your updates each month!
I so appreciate your added thoughts, Lisa. I have enjoyed the linkup each month as well and am glad you created it!