Three Easy Steps

It seems that in today's world, many things can be done in "Three Easy Steps." People are looking for a great result with relatively few and easy steps. In order to try to appeal to people, a certain three steps can help you write a legal will, get a six-pack, or even learn to blog. If you're looking for a shortcut in your Christian life, you aren't going to find it; but Romans provides us with three steps to staying encouraged in the renewing and transformation of the mind.

When reading this morning, this verse jumped off the page: "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer" (Romans 12:12). These three steps help breed great things for the Christian in their life.

What greater thing is there to rejoice in than our hope, which is in Christ? When we rejoice, the joy within our soul is overflowing in worship unto God. People see this and see a difference in us since our joy is not based on circumstance, but in hope. This hope is by no means an uncertainty, but rather something that you have confidence in. We can have confidence that the Lord will return to redeem us from this world, as He has given us the Holy Spirit of promise as a down payment (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Eph 1:13-14).

Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:8 tells us that, "the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." Patience is given to us as a qualification of an elder (1 Timothy 3:3) and the servant of the Lord (2 Timothy 2:24). James and Paul tells us to be patient and wait for the coming of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 3:5, James 5:7-8). We need to also be patient to others around us (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Patience is something that each one of us could have more of. If we had more patience with the people around us, we would be able to display more of the love of Christ and be a better testimony for God. It has been said that if you pray for patience you are praying dangerously. How are we to develop patience? "Tribulation worketh patience," Paul tells us (Romans 5:3). Learn to glory in tribulation rather than avoiding it, would do each of us well in order to develop more patience. Christ was the most patient of all for He went through the most severe tribulation in relation to what He deserved by continually taking the lowest position (Philippians 2:5).

Continuing instant in prayer a the best way to defeat temptation. Instant in prayer means to be constant in prayer. The Lord tells His disciples, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). If prayer keeps us from temptation, then how can we enter into temptation if we are continually praying? Quite simply, we can't. We would continually pray not only for our benefit, but for others. Paul would let churches know that he was always praying for them (Colossians 1:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:11). Imagine if we all were continually committed to prayer. We know that we can do nothing without blessing from the Spirit, and imagine the revivals if we were committed to continual and constant prayer and intercession for saints and sinners (1 Corinthians 2:4).

The Christian life was never guarenteed to be easy. These three steps are far from the "Three Easy Steps" that are meant to appeal to the world. Through these things we can make considerable inroads in the battle against the Devil for condemned souls. In this spiritual warfare, we need to access our greatest spiritual weapons against the most powerful of spiritual adversaries. Rejoicing, Patience, and Prayer.