DAILY ENCOURAGEMENT TUESDAY - THREE QUALITIES FOR VICTORIOUS CHRISTIANS.

The most urgent necessity in human life is to be able to face life victoriously. For many are living mentally, physically, morally and spiritually defeated. - F. A. Wickett

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. - Rom 12:12.

When we look around us in Christendom, there are so many defeated Christians. Here on the Gold Coast of Australia where I live, there is reputed to be over 100,000 backsliders, and that is in a City of 450,000 people. Why is this so? Why do so many Christians ‘bite the dust’ so easily? Why do we look around us in Church, and see people missing, who used to be on fire for Jesus? I can’t answer all these questions, but, I can share with you three things, that will make us victorious in our walk with Jesus...

REJOICE IN HOPE
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. - Rom 5:2. When Jesus said ‘I am the way,’ He gave us, who received Him as Lord and Saviour, access to His mighty grace, that we would rejoice constantly in the hope of the glory of God! The divine favour of reconciliation to the father! That is a hope worth rejoicing! We also have the hope of still privileged and richer blessings, in the fullness of His glory, when we join Him in heaven. Hallelujah! Rejoice and again I say rejoice!

From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.

Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school. - Parade Magazine.

BE PATIENT IN TRIBULATION
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. - Rom 8:18. To diminish suffering would be silly, but we must realise that suffering has only a limit, it cannot go on forever, there is light at the end of the tunnel! We have to remembering that what we suffer as Christians, we suffer for Christ’s sake; and it is to His honour, and the honour of our Christian walk, that we suffer it with patience. Patience is the key to all of this, in the end it all works out! Be encouraged that it is only for a season!

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "run with endurance" the race set before us. George Matheson wrote, "We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be harder -- the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength;

But I know of something that implies a strength greater still: it is the power to work under stress; to have a great weight at your heart and still run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily tasks. It is a Christ-like thing! The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in the sickbed but in the street." To wait is hard, to do it with "good courage" is harder! - Our Daily Bread.

BE CONSTANT IN PRAYER
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. - Col 4:2. Nothing can be accomplished for God, unless there is passionate prayer. We must constantly be in communication with the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit. On a personal note, I have discovered that unless we bathe our difficulties in prayer, they will only get more difficult. But it should never become a strenuous chore as some would make out, but it should be done with a thankful heart, prayer is a privilege and a passion!

A tale is told about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground.

The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not." - J.K. Johnston.

REJOICE IN HOPE, BE PATIENT IN TRIBULATION, AND BE CONSTANT IN PRAYER, THESE ARE THREE QUALITIES OF VICTORIOUS CHRISTIANS! HALLELUJAH!

Loving Father, help me through the power of the Holy Spirit, to rejoice in hope, to be patient in tribulation, and to be constant in prayer. I ask this in the wonderful name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus, in whose name I pray, amen.

GBYAY