There are times in each of our lives, as believers, when it is only by faith in Christ Jesus that we are able to continue on. It is during these times that our gifts of joy, peace and hope must be stirred. Why? “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The gift of peace is ours because, “He Himself is our peace, and therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:14, 19). Our hope is made real by the promise of Colossians 1:23 & 27, “If indeed, you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Do not lose the joy of believing. Psalm 27:13-14 declares, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.” Keep your joy, wait on the Lord and your faith will be rewarded.
