Nature's Bypass

UV 1300/10,000 Nature’s Bypass
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost
Romans 15 v 13

Last evening in a time of prayer, while we were greatly perplexed and troubled in our hearts at the tragic mishap that killed three people including one senior civil servant who was a dear friend of ours, the Lord gave this rhema promise. In the fifth verse of the same chapter, the prayed for manifestation is the God who gives endurance, comfort, consolation and the spirit of unity. In the 13th verse, the manifestation of grace is as the God of hope who fills us with all joy and peace of belief. Peace of belief implies the quiet assurance that what we believe is true despite the circumstances and people who say it is not or doubt if it is true. When we are filled with all joy and peace, then we abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. This uni-verse is a wonderful benediction or pronouncement of blessing.

We need to endure all our troubles with a sense of trust, confidence and joy knowing that the Lord will never fail or disappoint us. The Holy Spirit will give us the hope and the power to overcome our doubts and fears. Our hearts instead of being overcome by sorrow should be overflowing with joy, peace and hope. The metaphor the Lord gives for this spiritual phenomenon is that He will cause springs and rivers to rise in the desert landscape of our lives. The beautiful miraculous life-sustaining and enhancing quality of water is best appreciated only in the desert. The beautiful hope-sustaining and joy-enhancing quality of the Word of God is best experienced in the desert times of our lives. These are not the times when we should be questioning God or blaming Him or doubting Him but move towards an even closer, dependent, trusting and intimate relationship.

Another metaphor the Lord gave was the ostrich that lays its egg on the desert sand. Its own great weight could crush. Other predators could also destroy it. Its egg is very large and its shell is very hard. Unlike other birds, the ostrich does not sit for a period of time on the egg in order to hatch it. Yet lying on the heat of the desert sand, the ostrich egg incubates and eventually hatches. The Creator in His wisdom knew that hatching the egg in the normal way would not be feasible. Hence, He created a bypass in nature to create an extraordinary way to hatch the egg using the desert ecology. Similarly, in our barren seasons and desert times, the Lord will give us hope and joy in inexplicable ways. When we fulfill the requirements of the fifth and 13th verses of the 15 th chapter of Romans, the promise in the last verse or verse 33 of the chapter will be fulfilled, “ The God of peace be with you all.”
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Prateep V Philip