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

This verse is probably the best spiritual advice a believer could have for themselves or give out to non-believers.

We all need hope, patience, and to know how to pray. As believers we should have all three in abundance. We all know when our hope buckets are filled and when they’re empty. We rarely know if we have enough patience, especially as it relates to our trials. It’s easy to tell others to be patient in their trials, but us?

But we never know if our prayers are on target and being heard by God. Yes, He hears them all and answers them according to His will, but we say things like, “My prayers don’t seem to be going higher than the ceiling.”

That, of course, is where faith comes into play. The Bible tells us to pray and we do. It also tells us to even bug God about our most dire situations – as we saw yesterday – and we sometimes do. What about those “dry” times? You just have to press on, through the muck and the mire and the quietness of heaven. I don’t pretend to know the intricacies of faith or prayer or hope, but the God of the Bible tells me to pray, and to have faith and hope.

If the Eternal God tells me to do those things, I have to do them. Oh, I’ll fail and fall short, but He is always there to pick me up.