STAND COMPLETE WITH FIRM CONVICTION - Continue Pray for Firm Conviction

Continue: Pray for Firm Conviction

When Jehovah's Witnesses first shared the Bible's message with you, a certain truth may have caught your attention, such as the condition of the dead or the resurrection.  For many, the primary new realization was the Bible-based possibility of life in an earthly paradise.  Recall when you first heard that teaching.  What a marvelous hope-sickness and old age will be no more, you can live on to enjoy the fruits of your labor, and there will be peace with the animals! (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Isaiah 65:17-25; John 5:28, 29; Revelation 21:3, 4) You acquired a wonderful hope!

In time, you likely faced some opposition or persecution.  (Matthew 10:34-39; 24:9) Even in recent times, Witnesses in various lands have had their homes plundered or have been forced to become refugees.  Some have been physically assaulted, have had their Bible literature confiscated, or have been the object of lying reports on the media.  Whatever form of persecution you may have faced, as Romans 5:3 says, you could exult in the tribulation, and it brought a fine result.  Even as Paul wrote, the tribulation produced in your endurance.   Then endurance  led to an approved condition.  You knew that you were doing what was right, doing the will of God, so you felt sure that you had his approval.  In Paul's words, you sensed being in "an approved condition."  Continuing,  Paul wrote that "the approved condition, in turn , [produces] hope."  That may seem a bit strange.  Why did Paul list "hope" so far along  in the series?  Did you no have hope long before, when you first heard the good news?

Clearly, Paul is not here referring to our initial feeling of hope of perfect life.  What he refer to goes beyond that;  it is deeper, more motivating.  When we endure faithfully and thus realize that we have God's approval, this has the profound effect of adding to and strengthening our initial hope.  The hope we had now becomes much more real, more solid, more personal. This deepened hope shines more brightly.  It pervades our being, our every fiber.  "And the hope does not lead to disappointment; because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy spirit.

It was Epaphras' earnest prayer that his brothers and sister in Colossae remain touched by and convince of what lay before them, having "firm conviction in all the will of God." Let each of us similarly approach God regularly about our hope. In your private prayers, include your hope regarding the new world.  Express to Jehovah how much you long for it, with full conviction that it will come.  Supplicate him for help to deepen and broaden your conviction.  As Epaphras prayed that the Colossians have "firm conviction in all the will of God," do the same.  Do it often. 

Next time:   Stand Complete With Firm Conviction - Conclusion of Pray for Firm Conviction

The Watchtower, 2000