Romans 12:11-12Romans 12:11-12
English: World English Bible - WEB
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“Never be lacking in zeal , but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
As followers of Christ we best represent our Savior when our life is lived out with zeal and spiritual fervor as Paul shares here in Romans 12:11-12Romans 12:11-12
English: World English Bible - WEB
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WP-Bible plugin. In these verses he suggests zealous living is evident in those who serve the Lord. Our zeal shines through as evidence of living joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithfulness in prayer.
How many of us can honestly say we are living a life characterized by zeal and spiritual fervor? Life is full of so many distractions and disappointments that can cause us to lose our focus. Everyday seems like it is more of a challenge to stay focused than the last. Personally, I do better staying focused when I am apart of a group effort. I believe most of us are
wired by God to do life together. By design Christ established a personal relationship with all of us for the purpose of us working together in unity as the body of Christ. Paul believers they have a unique purpose within the body of Christ just before describing what it looks like to live love in action.
Where does our zeal and joy come from on days that we just aren’t feeling energized? If our hope truly is in Christ He will be our source of faith and patience needed to strengthen us to live love in action as we love Him. Hope anchors and points us to God’s love while energizing and strengthening us in God. What does that look like?
Think back to when you were at the beginning of a friendship, with either a now best friend or possibly the person you married. Did your joyful hope for a lasting relationship help you to choose to be patient? Were you in pursuit to spend time with the person and learn how to best express your enjoyment of spending time with them?
If you were anything like me you might have given them preference when planning your activities. Maybe you even became adventurous and did a few new things that were out of your comfort zone. Our zealous pursuit of relationship can have an unexpected effect on us as we are energized by hope and desire. In high school my pursuit led me to numerous dead end and one sided relationships. I wasted many long nights of zealous hope waiting and pacing by a phone that never rang. In college a zealous chase led me to a career shift that had me spending my college summers learning how to be an Army soldier and 
jumping out of airplanes. My pursuit in the name of love had many moments to test my patience in affliction and pointing me to faithful prayer. In the end zealous hope prevailed and we have been together for over thirty years. The point is belief and hope create a tenacity that propels us in hope and belief whether or not we are on target. The trouble is when we our focus is not on God, we are spinning our wheels and heading toward disappointment.
How do we know if we are on target? We can take time to reflect on our motivations and actions. These are some questions I encourage us to reflect on this week are related to our relationship with the Lord.
Are we living lives that are characterized by zeal and spiritual fervor for the Lord?
Do those that are closest to us recognize we are eagerly living in pursuit of Christ?
During the time I was pursing, my now husband, it was nearly impossible to hide the motivations behind my choices. The same should be true in our relationship with Jesus, people will see the evidence and the evidence will propel us on with spiritual fervor as we serve the Lord.
Take a moment to reflect-
Self reflection is always good. Let’s do a zeal heart check.
Heart Check Questions:
Are we serving the Lord?
Are we joyful in our hope in the Lord?
Are we patient in affliction?
Are we faithful in prayer?
Our heart check helps us to refocus and help us be more intentional about staying plugged into our power source for zeal and spiritual fervor.
Click here to dig deep with a look at staying connected with our power source
Be Alert~ Stay Strong~ Pray Always
Warrior~Princess Sherry
Welcome if you are joining me for the first time. This post is part of my weekly series “Wisdom Wellspring”. Take a moment to visit the page to learn about the heart behind the series and view previous posts.
Proverbs 4:23Proverbs 4:23
English: World English Bible - WEB
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WP-Bible plugin “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
