Romans 12:12 English Standard Version (ESV) Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Do you find it difficult to pray in the midst of turmoil?

Paul ties three very different things together as if there is a binding agent that allows us to experience them all at the same time. Call it what you may, but for me it is faith.

I can rejoice when I have not seen the promises of God come into being because of what I have seen God do already in my life. Nothing makes us rest assured in promises to come as much as having some of them been real in this relationship. Faith is an active agent of hope.

Tribulations come in many forms and we all experience it in some form. The first usage of the word is the Hebrew word sar. Its first usage means narrow or tight. That is the direct opposite of having options. Hopelessness often accompanies tribulations. While the situation tries to steal our hope, faith reminds us that our hope is in God, not our situation. This too shall pass.

Have we ever tried to be constant in prayer? If we think of prayer as words uttered then we will discover ourselves without words sooner than later. Luke reminds us in Acts 16:13 that prayer can be seen as a place not unlike Jesus advising us to enter our prayer closet. Faith allows us to be mindful of His abiding presence and that He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter what the circumstances.

The God of peace has already settled every issue to His satisfaction. Faith allows us to accept His will, knowing that everything works together by faith towards our good.

Romans 8:26-28 English Standard Version

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

1 John 5:14-15 English Standard Version

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Knowing His will is the trick. We can have anything if it is His will and we ask for it.

Have you ever wondered why we have to ask if it is His will? If it is His will, aren’t we going to get it anyway?

Father God is our Father. How else are we going to demonstrate we are in this relationship with Him if we don’t talk to Him?

We obey by faith, we obey commands, we do what is right. We can do all that without Him. In any relationship communication is a key element or else we are living this life without involving Him.

James 4:1-5 English Standard Version

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

God yearns for us in this relationship. He yearns jealously. He allowed His Son to die a horrible death in order to have this relationship with us and to ignore Him is disrespectful.

James uses the term “You adulterous people.” That is harsh but it does express just how much God loves us. It is like we cheat on God when we seek things for ourselves in our relationship with the world.

We don’t like to be taken for granted. Why do we take God for granted?

V 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

We allow pride to get in the way.