Believing

 

    

 

    

Rom 15:13

 

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

NKJV

 

The month of December is filled with movies and TV shows based on the power of believing.  Believing in Santa.  Believing in the power of Christmas magic.  It is sad to me that we have so commercialized and distorted the message of Christmas.  I do not have a problem with playing the whole Santa thing with your kids.  But if we are going to talk about believing, let it be in Jesus!

When people suffer with depression and despair it is often a result of losing their hope and faith.  People commit suicide because they no longer believe or have hope that it will get any better. We cannot afford to lose our hope and belief in Christ, and in His ability to work out any and every situation for our good.

I love this passage of Scripture because it makes it obvious that we can be filled with  all joy and peace in believing.  There is no way to experience these blessings apart from believing.  In truth, it is hard to receive any blessing without believe. We receive salvation because we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. We receive wisdom, direction, and life-changing power as we believe.

Life can be rough.  It can knock us off our feet and put an enormous hole in our belief.  But as believers, we cannot afford to stay there.  We have to get up and go back to being what we are:  believers.

As we wait on the Lord  for a breakthrough, let us believe it is coming.  As we pray for finances, hold  fast to the belief that your need will be met.  If you are searching for a life mate, believe he/she is out  there and God will send them to you at the right time.  

When we give up on believing we forfeit our joy and peace. Fight the good fight.  Do whatever you must to stand.  Do not be moved from a place of believing.

Dear Lord, increase my faith.  Help me to believe all that Your Word says without wavering.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

The Balance of Love

 

    

 

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;   bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

NKJV

    

 

This  portion of the passage is  getting down to the nitty-gritty.  Love is strong and able to withstand a load. It makes me think of one of those paper towel commercials where they wet the towel and then put a piece of fruit on it, to show it is strong enough to withstand damage and a load and not break.   That is the case with true love.  When we love  someone we can bear up a whole lot, without breaking.  

 

True love also believes the best in the other person and for the other person.  Love is not suspicious or paranoid.  It is  not stingy  or selfish.  When we love someone, we believe that they have the best intentions and a good heart.  In addition, we can believe in prayer for their needs to be met.  The believing component is based in God's love- but that does not mean we are foolish and cannot see what is  obvious.  Love does not negate wisdom and discernment, it just filters out pettiness and paranoia!

 

Love also has hope contained within it.  We can hope for the best for someone we have the God-kind of love for. We are able to stretch our faith to cover their need.  We have an eager expectation of good for someone we love, rather than dashing their hopes and nay-saying over their lives.  Ultimately, when we walk in true love, we are able to share in God's feelings toward that person, selflessly wanting what is best for them.  There is no competition in that.  Instead, we  are their number-one fan and advocate.

 

Love endures all things.  Even when we believe the best, and they act the worst, love enables us to stay faithfully by their side.  Love is not wimpy, weak, or short lived.  True love is strong, stout and bold.  When they hurt our feelings, we choose to let it go.  When their weaknesses are exposed, we choose not to see.   When forgiveness is needed, we extend it freely.  When they are following our advice, or ignoring all of it,  love enables us to steadfastly support them.

Love is a beautiful, strong, and divine act.  The different facets outlined in these passages are beautiful and poetic.   They are ideals that we should strive for. To keep this message in balance, though, we have to apply it alongside the totality of the Word of God.  So we can be loving and yet discerning.  We can be loving and still confront sin.  We can walk in love and protect ourselves and the weaker ones involved in a situation.  Love does  not mean being a door mat or presenting ourselves to be used.  Jesus walked in absolute love and absolute wisdom.  He knew when to trust himself to someone and when not to.   Ask the Lord to reveal what love, in practice, would look like in your life and current situations.

Dear God, help me to walk in love and in wisdom.  Jesus, show me how you lived out love on this earth.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Anchored in Hope

    

    

Ps 119:114

 

114 You are my hiding place and my shield;

I hope in Your word.

NKJV

 

Panic rooms- a safety precaution for the rich and privileged.  I am told that they are reinforced and provide safety during a home invasion.  Since I have never been rich nor privileged, I have often thought about what I would do if someone broke in.  Usually my plan involved a locked door, furniture in front of it, a telephone and a gun.  But never have I envisioned any of that truly working.

I am so grateful that I do have a fail-safe hiding place!  I can trust the Lord to hide and protect me.  I can take comfort in knowing that nothing will come my way unless He allows it, and He always cares for me and my best interest.  He is my defense; He is my safety!

As times become increasingly frightening, even a Christian can find their mind taken up with worries about what will become of us before Christ returns. There are so many frightening contingencies that can occur.  And yet, we cannot stay in peace and dwell on those things.  Rather, we have to hope in the Lord and see Him as our hiding place, and a shield against the onslaught of the enemy. 

Believers must hope in the Word of God.  That is our sure foundation, our rock, and our fortress.   No matter how opinions, laws or trends in religion vacillate, his Word remains constant.  We can anchor ourselves into the Bedrock of Truth, and we will not be moved. 

 

Dear Lord, only You know what tomorrow holds.  You know every event yet to occur.  I put my trust in you.  Hide me, O Lord,  and defend me  as I anchor myself to the truth of Your Word.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

Why Are You Down in the Dumps

    

 

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?  And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.   Ps 42:5 (NKJV)

 

What a beautiful and poetic passage of Scripture!  It almost makes me feel uplifted in my situation just by the sheer beauty of the words. And then is the profound truth, that God is my hope and help.  Recalling these truths definitely put me on the path to feeling encouraged.

 

There are many things in life that make us feel downcast, disquieted and hopeless.  Sickness,  hormones, life situations, chemical imbalance, fear- the reasons for feeling down can be endless.  I am so grateful that when my  emotions can swing up and down within the circumstances of a single day, that God is always stable.  He is a firm and unshakeable foundation on which to stand. When we remind ourselves of spiritual truth, our spirit man (or woman) becomes strengthened and the grace to feel like "I can handle this," rises up within us. 

 

Sometimes we know exactly what is taxing our peace.  Other times, it seems to be a free-floating feeling of disrest, for which there is no explanation.  At times like this, we have to do as King David did and "encourage ourselves in the Lord."

 

I love the way the Message Bible translates this passage:

    

 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues?

Fix my eyes on God — soon I'll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face.

He's my God.

 

 

Dear Lord, thank you for being the "quieter" of my anxiety, my hope of help and deliverance.  Help me to always  keep you at the center of my thoughts.  In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

Sherri

Filled with all Joy and Peace

 

    

 

 "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Rom 15:13 (NKJV)

 

"If I don't expect anything good to happen to me, I won't be disappointed when it doesn't."  Have you ever had that said to you before?  Are you the person who said it?

 

Many of us have allowed the negative voices and experiences in our lives to leave us jaded and negative.  If we are not careful, it can turn into a full-blown case of pessimism.  What difference does it make anyway? What is lost when we quit believing for the best?

 

Joy and peace are sacrificed at the juncture when we quit believing.  So much of the Christian walk is all about faith, all about belief.  For pity sake, we are called believers!  This passage says that He is the "God of hope."  It is therefore impossible to be truly without hope, when we are in God.  Jesus is our hope.  We have so much to look forward to- spiritual blessings, physical blessings, material blessings, eternal rewards, God's favor, peace, joy... it is too expensive NOT to believe!

 

Don't get me wrong.  There have been times in my life that hope has waned and belief has failed.  But true to its Word; the verse was reinforced in my life's experiences.  I was made to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!  Nothing I could conjure up within myself could suffice.  But God, through His Spirit, caused hope to spring up within me.  Most often this type of attitudinal manifestation has occurred as I worshiped or praised the Lord. Praising Him, raises levels of faith, hope and joy.

 

It is my prayer today, that if you are lacking in joy and peace, that God will manifest this verse into your life.  Let's pray this verse together.

 

Dear  Lord, "Now may the God of hope fill (me) with all joy and peace in believing, that (I )may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Thank you that you are my peace, joy, and my reason to abound in hope.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri

Get the Body You Have Always Dreamed Of...

 

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." I John 3:1-2

What an awesome hope this verse gives! Having not seen Jesus' resurrected form, I cannot envision what my "eternal" body  will look like.   We know  he could just appear out of nowhere, he could still cook and eat.  But yet he did not seem bound by time or space.  What a supernatural wonder it will all be.  Whatever form he took, we shall be like him!

We will see him just as he is.  There is no greater hope in all of Scripture.  He walked on this earth, he was brutally murdered for our sins, and God supernaturally resurrected him and bought him back to life.  The he ascended up into heaven while the disciples looked on.  We were not alive to see all this transpire, but we can know it occurred because our infallible Word of God tells us this.  But I am looking forward to the day that I can see him just like Peter did.  I can see what "Doubting Thomas" saw and I can rest in his presence knowing he will always be there and available to me for time immemorial. 

This world really is not our home.  Our home is in heaven with Christ. Until then we are completing the work he left us to do.  Take some time today and reflect on the hope we have of seeing our blessed Redeemer face to face.

Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the opportunity to walk with you in faith in this life and in reality in the life to come.  Help me to hold on to my hope.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri

The Anchor of Hope

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.  He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 6:19-20

Lately it seems like there is an epidemic of people taking their own lives. People are overwhelmed, confused, desperate and hopeless.  Times are very trying with our economy floundering, people losing jobs and sky-rocketing costs.  Consequently, people’s relationship and health are under increasing stress.  All of these things mushroom and make people feel hopeless about their life situation.

Our hope is to be an anchor for our soul.  It is what is supposed to help us keep grounded and established where we need to be.  Hope is supposed to cause us to not be moved by the waves and tides of life.  This passage states that this hope is “firm and secure.”  What a glorious picture!  When we have our hope in Christ, who He is, is big enough to keep us firm, secure, safe and protected.

We recently took our boat out on a trip.  We found the perfect spot and anchored off to do some fishing, swimming and snorkeling.  The waves were especially choppy that day and before long my husband found the boat to have drifted over on top of him.  The anchor was not strong enough for the pull of the waves and wind that day.  No matter what we tried, we could not keep our boat stationary.  That day it seemed we needed two anchors and needed both of them to be bigger!

Life can be like that boat at times.  We can have adverse circumstances come our way that can easily move us from where we need to be.  The vacuum of life can draw us off of our hope and faith in Christ.  But it is encouraging for us to know that just like the rope that is tied to the anchor on a boat, our hope is anchored in the person of Jesus Christ, and that rope is a lifeline between us and him.

He has entered the inner sanctuary on our behalf.  Just like the priests of old would enter the “holy of holies” to make sacrifices and intercede on behalf of the people, Jesus has entered the inner sanctuary for us.  The major difference being, he is preeminently qualified to do so.  He is utterly without sin. He is pure; therefore, he can always remain in the innermost place with God.  And there He remains day after day, interceding on your behalf.

No matter what you face in life today, please know that it is not beyond the seeing eye of God. He loves us and has a loving and watchful eye upon us at all times.  If we put our hope in Him, we will not be put to shame.  We can trust in Him.  He is our source and will never fail.  When we know that no matter what life throws our way, we have hope in Christ,  that allows us to rest securely, come what may.

Dear Lord, increase my faith and hope today.  Help me to perceive all that you are and how immeasurably capable you are of taking care of everything that concerns me.  Help me to be firm and secure in my hope that is in you.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri