Three postures for one day

Eleven words, three postures — and among them they cover almost any day you will ever have. Rejoicing in hope for what is promised. Patience in tribulation for what is pressing. Prayer, continuing and instant, for everything in between.

Notice where the rejoicing is anchored: in hope, not in circumstances. You can be short on good circumstances and still rich in hope, because hope draws on the future God has committed to, not the morning’s conditions. Likewise patience is “in” tribulation — not after it lifts. These are postures for the middle of things.

The third clause holds the other two up. “Continuing instant” is the old way of saying persistent and prompt — prayer as a steady line kept open, not an emergency flare. Keep that line open through today and the other two postures stop being willpower and start being supply.