Spiritually, your prayer language is your native tongue, and you should pray in it as often as possible. You will be blessed, refreshed and edified each time you do. Read Romans 12:4, 5, 9, 10 . Paul compares anointed Christians to members of a body serving unitedly under their Head, Christ. ( Col. 1:18) He reminds spirit-begotten Christians that a body has many members with different functions and that they, “although many, are one body in union with Christ.” In a similar vein, Paul exhorted anointed Christians in Ephesus: “Let us by love grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. From him all the body, by being harmoniously joined together and being made to cooperate through every joint that gives what is needed, according to the functioning of each respective member in due measure, makes for the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”​— Eph. 4:15, 16.

This passage encourages us to _____________________________ our salvation, at the same time knowing that God _____________________ in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. Now we will pose one more question and, Lord willing, spend the four Sundays of July answering it. The question is: What is the fruit of our Christian hope? What comes from hope? Does hope produce anything in daily life? Hope as a TreeWhy does this joy vanish so easily? Why is it superficial and flimsy? Evidently because it was not a joy in God but merely in some of the comforts that God might give. When the afflictions and the persecutions and the hard times come, and the comforts disappear, so does the joy. Because it was not the fruit of the Spirit; it was not the joy of Christ that delights in God no matter what the external circumstances are.

Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Let’s use a picture to try to see what we have been doing over these weeks. Picture hope as a tree. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”Not everyone has the privilege of growing up with a dad like that. I did. I didn’t deserve him. But God gave him to me. I feel honored and humbled. I saw up close what it looked like to lead a church not by punishing them with the law but by attracting them with the magnetism of Jesus. It was New Covenant pastoral ministry. It was powerful. Therefore: Paul apparently uses this expression to link what he discussed in the preceding part of his letter with what he is about to say. In effect, he is saying: “In view of what I just explained to you, I appeal to you to do what I will tell you next.” Paul had discussed the opportunity open to both Jews and Gentiles to be declared righteous before God by faith, not by works, and to be corulers with Christ. ( Ro 1:16; 3:20-24; 11:13-36) Beginning in chapter 12, Paul urges Christians to be thankful and to demonstrate their faith and gratitude by obeying God and by living a life of self-sacrifice. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 When Peter speaks in 1 Peter 1:8 of rejoicing with “unutterable and exalted joy” in anticipation of our final salvation, he is not describing a decision; he is describing an explosion. You can decide to brush your teeth, or get an allergy shot; but you cannot, in the same way, decide to rejoice. You can decide to do things that may bring you joy — drive to the country, visit a friend, read a psalm — but whether joy actually happens is not in your own power, the way many other acts are. It may or it may not be there. Pray for passion to fulfill Jesus’ apostolic commission to establish the Kingdom of God in each nation.

I will whistle for them and gather them, for I will redeem them. And they shall increase as they once increased. – Zechariah 10:8 NKJV Verse 5 says that underneath our hope, giving it an unshakable foundation, is the love of God. And the work of the Holy Spirit is to pour this love into our hearts, to make us see it and grasp it and cherish it. Strong's 4710: (a) speed, haste, (b) diligence, earnestness, enthusiasm. From speudo; 'speed', i.e. despatch, eagerness, earnestness.a) To what extent was a witness given to the honor of Jehovah’s name in 1953 by means of distribution of books and booklets, subscriptions obtained and individual copies of magazines placed? (b) What admonition of the apostle Paul regarding their business was heeded by Jehovah’s witnesses during the past year, and to what extent? (c) What lands saw an increase of 100 per cent or more during 1953? (d) How many full-time ministers, pioneers, were active throughout the world during 1953? (e) In what lands were more than 10,000 public meetings held, and what was the world-wide total? (f) In spite of certain restrictions, what progress was made in Argentina? Dominican Republic? Spain? (g) What results did underground activity bring in “4 Other Countries”? (h) What other remarkable information does the above chart contain?