Hi.
Welcome to the fe2 Women’s Mentoring Network.
Welcome to the fe2 Women’s Mentoring Network.
Read Romans 5:1-4. In verse 1, it starts out with “therefore”. In Scripture, that should be a clue that you press pause and wonder what “therefore is there for”. Look back at Chapter 4:18-21 for the context.
Read Genesis 12:1-4. How old was Abraham when he trusted the Lord and left his country and family behind to start a new nation? Read Genesis 15:2-6. Was Abraham struggling to wait for his promises to be revealed? He was honest with God - but did his faith waver?
Read Romans 4:18-21 again. How old was he when the promise of Isaac was revealed? And yet, what does it say about his faith? So after reading the background context, how long did Abraham wait for Isaac? How long did he wait for his own homeland and to see the promise of being the father of many nations fulfilled? (See Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16)
Think about something you have longed for - How long did you have to wait for an answer? Are you still waiting? How have you handled the waiting?
If what you are waiting on never happened, how would you respond?
What do you think caused Abraham to endure and wait and trust in an unseen promise? Do you have that kind of faith?
Read Romans 5:1-4 again. Because of our faith in grace and the cross of Christ, we can have hope. But, hope in what or whom? Read Coloossians 1:23. What is the hope that helps us endure?
This passage explains a progression of how our faith (vs 1) matures into the kind of hope that does not disappoint us (vs 5). What is it? (see vs 3-4).
So if we are going to have to endure sufferings to build character that leads to hope we are going to have to shift our focus. To what? What is the key verb before sufferings in verse 3? Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. What actions verbs are in these verses? Waiting and enduring is not passive. What are you being asked to do as you endure? How could you implement those three actions into your life now?
Also see James 1:2-4. What are we to consider? Why, what good will it do? Can you imagine having the kind of faith that endures to the point of trusting Him so much that we lack nothing because we are content and complete in Him and not our own agenda?
The Greek word for endure throughout scripture is hupomeno. Hupo is under, as in under the rule of someone, and meno is to abide or remain without resignation but with a vibrant hope. Who’s rule arewe under? (Psalm 24:1). How do we abide and endure with grateful hope? Read John 15:1-17.
Let’s “hupomeno” together as we join Abraham in a faith that chooses to rejoice “ in the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen”(Hebrews 11:1) because we rejoice in the One weremain under - the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).