Our Hope

Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Luke 6:21

There is a hunger in our hearts for the things of God. For righteousness and holiness to be closer to God. We fill empty because our longing is for a better place, a heavenly place (Hebrews 11:16).

Someone said the other day, “even a silk-lined sewer still smells” – this describes our present world, a world seething in continual dismay and moral decay…

Sometimes we weep because of the wretchedness… because our soul thirsts to be at the banquet table with our Lord and Savior. We long to hear him laugh, to gaze into his eyes, and to hear him speak our names.
Our desire is to laugh without boundaries, to love without measure, and to heal from this world’s afflictions on our souls.

Our hope is in heaven. That’s why we are consumed with the hearing of His Word and of hearing about Him. That’s why our hearts burn within us and we count our loss in this world as no loss.

We hunger to be filled with the righteousness and goodness only found in Christ Jesus! Each day we travel is another day we are closer to the Lords coming and to a day when weeping will be no more… but laughter will be our reward.

Great Peace and God's Word

Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. Psalm 119:165

There seems to be a correlation between having peace and a love for the Word of God. A love so strong that stumbling does not occur. At least for me this stings… because I stumble from time to time… It is often that I fail the grace of God and that troubles me, as it should…

Is that because my love for God’s Word is not strong enough? I believe so.

What about you?

It is with such introspection that God’s Word moves us. We are at first moved, our hearts are stirred, and our temporary peace comes face to face with God’s holiness. A holiness that shines so bright and burns our hearts so that we find our hearts troubled. And that is a good thing.

For hopefully the troubling of our hearts will lead us to seek comfort and comfort often begins with an honest acceptance of ourselves. This review then leads us to repentence and repentence clears our hearts and minds and souls.

Many will not take this journey. It is painful. Our sin is exposed and we have to come to grips with our selves and our relation with Almighty God. It is a fearful thing to view yourself in the mirrow of God’s Word and it is humbling.

And in humility… at the foot of the cross… there is grace, comfort, and peace.

‘Thank you Father for your Word that brings peace of mind and heart. Thank you for it’s brightness that exposes my darkness and leads my heart to the cross of Christ.’

Be Encouragers!

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13

From this passage it sounds as if we are encouraged… to daily encourage one another in the things of God. That our encouraging one another can help to resist our hearts from being hardened. For if we look around us today we see this occuring. There seems to be an evilness that would have people discourage one another instead of encourage. There seems to be an increase in fightings and petty wars that should not be.

Why do brothers in Christ fight with brothers in Christ? I do not know, yet this occurs. How much unlike Christ we, the Christian community, are! How much rather Christ would have us forgive one another and come to one another with encouragement!

Yet the days are evil… evil through the hardened of hearts… the hearts of Christian men and women. For if our hearts were soft and tender to one another… if forgiveness from mistakes were to occur… then would not the world cheer us? Would not the love of Christ ever be more evident?

We are the children of God and as children we have an obligation one to another. We are our brothers keeper! For when one of us is weak then we all are weak, when one mourns then should not we all mourn?

It is up to us then to encourage one another’s hearts. To step-down with those who are discouraged and then to raise them up. Not to do… as the world does… to step on another while they are down! We are all encouragers… we are all helpers of one another… for together we are made strong… alone we are made weak.

Therefore encourage one another. Cheer one another up and through this show the heart of Christ who encourages and lifts our hearts up today and everyday, in Him!

God's Faithfulness

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25

The Lord is ever faithful to care for us. I can remember when there was a time when Belinda and I and our daughters had a decision to make. Would we pay tithes or buy groceries.

It was a time when we had just moved from Montana to Colorado. Our house in Montana refused to sale and so finances were tight. It was a time when a lot of things were not going smoothly.

Yet, our hearts insisted on obeying and trusting in the Lord and so we followed.

A couple of days later one of our daughters brought home a friend from school. This friend’s father wanted to visit with us and so we agreed. He brought with him two grocery bags of fresh fruit. The next day a refund check was in the mail for the exact amount of the previous tithe.

A few years later this loving father and good friend presided over one of our daughters marriage ceremony…

Our God is ever faithful and ever watching over our lives. Each day is our opportunity to love and trust in a Heavenly Father who never fails and never quits on his children.

Our Lord will never forsake you nor I when our hearts are right with him!

Chosen in Love

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love
Ephesians 1:4

Just think of it for a moment… God chose you before the world came into being. That is hard for the mind to grasp…

That is that God’s love for you goes to such depth and length… his thoughts of you then are numerous and his ponderings of you beyond the counting of time.

His plans for you are good and not evil. His desire is for you to be holy… just as he is holy. Why? So that he can sit down with you and have fellowship. See, God wants to be your friend. He wants to fill all the empty and longing places of your heart. God wants to be that close to you.

If we are honest with ourselves this is what we want also. We want the emptiness within us to go away once and for all time. We want the ache in our soul to be filled with love… We want the nagging fear of this life and the one to come to be obsolved. We desire a clear conscience, a good heart, righteousness…

That righteousness and that love is Christ Jesus, our Lord!

Open Before God

Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done: He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. Psalm 37:5-6 (Message)

In all of our hearts there is a need for a connection. A need for friendship that sits so close to our hearts that we can hear each others heartbeats. Otherwise there is this lonliness feeling that drags at us and that in a crowd keeps us alone.

It is that empty place of our lives that we were created with. A place reserved for the love and communion with God. Without opening our hearts to Him we miss the best that God has in mind for us.

God’s heart is open to us; he is set at the ready to come into our hearts and fill us with friendship and fellowship. This is God’s longing; to so indwell our hearts and lives that even when poor… we are very rich.

That even in sorrow… there is his peace. That even when terror and fear cross our paths that we can confidently say, The Lord will “do whatever needs to be done.” And, ‘my God has never failed me, no never.’

When our hearts are open and trust in the Lord then we worry less on the outcome. For our concern is loving and praising Him who gives us cloudy days as well as days of blissful sunshine all to create in us a trust and hope firmly planted in Him!

Wait on the Lord

Wait on the LORD;Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! Psalm 27:14

The Lord works in funny ways sometimes. Just when you think that you have him figured out he approaches you from a different angle; just to let you know who’s really in charge.

That is what waiting on the Lord is all about. It’s about figuring on what he wants you to do next. The waiting can cause anxiety yet during the same time the Lord says, ‘just wait.’ He knows we need to learn patience.

Patience that waits on the timing of the Lord and not our own timing. A time to learn how to strengthen your own heart… to encourage yourself in the Lord. A time to learn how to overcome fear with courage.

For God’s given each of us a certain amount of courage. Yet like everything else in our heart it takes time for it to mature.

Some have courage but they use it unwisely. Their courage runs over others. Others have courage but fear keeps them back. Time and love temper both until the right time… the Lord’s time.

Faith in Christ

Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

This passage of scripture that Martin Luther first read in 1509 is the hallmark scripture for his ‘justification by faith’ stanch that he declared at the castle church of Wittenberg in 1517.

We cannot forget that it is faith in Christ alone that is our salvation. It is not a list of ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do that’ but rather a belief in the atonement found in Jesus Christ.

His payment on the cross for our sins and our belief in him as Lord and Savior is what makes us o.k. with him. In Christ we are justified… in Christ we are made righteous.

Through faith we believe the scriptures. We believe that God created the heavens and the earth. We believe that this same God cares for and watches over the affairs of mankind.

Leaders do not take an office through an election or through the popularity they have with the people. Leaders are appointed an office through the will and purpose of God.

It is God who is in control. It is God who has blessed us with health, with family, and with friends. The house you and I stay in—God provided this. The food on our table, the means to pay a bill… all these come from a loving and caring creator.

It is God who lets the rain fall, who brings snowflakes, and who feeds the animals in the forest. A gracious God provides, shares, gives, and cares for this world.

This world that we live in; a world he created… not for our purposes but for his praise.

It takes faith to see God in this world. It takes faith to see God working in your life and believe in Christ Jesus as Lord.

Faith will give you hope and hope will set you free from the bondage of religion. Faith in Christ is our hope for today!

In The Face of Hatred

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:19-23.

Today and since the beginning of human existance there have been many religions. Mankind is religious; we feel the need to worship something.

Some religions that presently make the news espouse hatred and variance. These ascribe to the working of the flesh—to the base nature of mankind. Their ways are violence and in violence they debase the meek, the gentle, the peaceful, and the longsuffering.

Yet the Good News of Jesus Christ is just the opposite. It is based on love that gives; that suffers long and that is gentle. Its fruit is unattainable through human means. This means that we simply will not love if we are walking in the flesh.

Yet, we have hope. We have hope for Christ has redeemed us from this world. That is, Christ’s Spirit resides within us; it speaks to us; it condemns our unjust deeds and it teaches us to love.
And in love and gentleness we teach and preach the ways of Christ. A way of love in an unloveable world; a way of peace in the face of hatred and variance.

Consider the Goodness of the Lord

Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your loving-kindness, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you. Psalm 33:20-22

Consider all the goodness of the Lord in your life! How many times he has intervened and helped you in peaceful times and in times of trouble.

So often with just a prayer of the heart the Lord has delivered you and turned a bad situation into one that works out for your good. How good is the Lord in your life!

The Lord’s mercy watches over and keeps you. He moves you away from the paths of unrighteousness into his path of peace because of his love for you. The Lord loves you with an eternal love!

The Lord protects you against the evils of this present age. He has charged his angels to watch and protect you. God limits the troubles that come your way because he knows your fragility, he knows your limits.

In the Lords’ love he tests your heart. The Lord tests your heart to prove what is there; to uncover any wickedness; to shine his light and reprove what is not like him.

So wonderful are the ways of the Lord in our lives. His care and attention towards us is more than our attention towards him. His thoughts for us are only good and his plans more wonderful that we can imagine!

How we should praise the Lord! How we should seek his face and trust in his loving-kindness. His praise should always be on our lips!

For the Lord is our warrior, He is our protector; it is him who keeps us in his ways, it is him who imparts faith into our hardened hearts, it is the Lord who first loved us, it is the Lord who is good and merciful and kind!

Consider… and praise the Lord!

To You I Lift Up My Soul

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. Psalm 25:1-2

The psalms are beautiful. In reading them we are comforted by the mind and heart of the Lord who gave them to us through his servants.

The Lord understands everything about us. He understands the highs and lows that we experience even on a daily basis. He realizes and gives the dreams and aspirations of the heart that we have and he tests our hearts.

He knows the enemies that we fight—that is the sinful nature that we are at warfare with. The struggles that we have with fear, with anger, with doubt, and with self centeredness.

At times we seem to come to a breaking point. A point in our lives when the choice is before us to either be righteous or to be unrighteous. To do our will or the Lord’s will; to escape from the true prison of self inducement or to be free in the confines of our Heavenly Father’s commandments and statues.

When taken to task we can give in or give up. We can say to our hearts that the race is too hard and that His words are too taxing. Our momentary relenting we find only drowns us in even more sorrow of the heart and spirit.

Yet, God is faithful and He will not relent; God will never give up on you or I. His Spirit will prompt us to read a psalm and in the reading we are encouraged. We ask forgiveness and we comment ourselves to obeying instead of striving. To a relationship instead of a list of do’s and don’ts and in harmony with God we find our peace.

God knows your heart better than you know it yourself and what He sees working and growing in your heart—He loves.

Judgment

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2

From time to time I hear folks quote Matthew 7:1. That scripture reads, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” These folks use this scripture to state that we should never judge anyone… but is that really the case? For following that scripture is the above scripture Matthew 7:2.

From my understanding, what is meant here is that we should not be quick to pick on people in a critical and hard attitude. Else people will turn around and do the same towards us.

That’s far different from considering the attitudes and actions of those around us. For we must ‘judge’ a persons character to figure out if that person is some one we want to be influenced by or that we can trust.

Most of us do this on an everyday basis anyway. We judge or consider that person who is driving in front of us. If a person is swerving all over the road or switching lanes violently then it would be good judgment to stay clear of that person—less a fender-bender occur.

Judging or considering the actions of someone else is a logical process but it’s also a process of the heart. For if our heart is mean, ill-tempered, and overly critical then our consideration of others will be the same. No one likes a critical attitude… they in turn will be critical…

Being a Christian means a change of heart… a change of attitude. Before we can righteously judge or consider the actions of others we must first judge our own hearts… and once this is done we will consider others through the lens of mercy, compassion, and with righteous judgment.

Living with Hope

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13

Yesterday, 11 September 2006, many of us witnessed the sorrow of a nation. Five years after terrorist attacked America--America mourned the loss of innocent and brave lives. Seemingly at the end of the day many were left in anger, in worry, and in sadness. These are the fruit of worldly sorrow.

A sorrow that should prick our hearts with compassion for their loss and not judgment. For compassion overcomes judgment.

Yet loss and heartbreak occurred and will yet occur if our hearts are set on this world. Yet we’ve been gifted with hope, a hope not of this time nor of this world; a hope found in Christ our Lord.

For we may have sorrow for those who are lost but not a worldly sorrow. For hope triumphs over sorrow, over anguish, and over lingering sadness.

It is then to us to encourage the down hearted and to show the hope living and abiding in our hearts through the Spirit of Christ that lives and resides within our being.

The world will have sorrow upon sorrow and since we live in the world sorrow will also touch our hearts… but it will not linger… for the hope found in Christ in greater than the world and since we are thus blessed we can look to tomorrow; live in Christ with eternal hope.

God is with you

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Even in our worst of times God is available for comfort and for courage. Sometimes though, we simply do not ask. We plod along stubbornly--falsely believing that we are strong enough, smart enough, and wise enough to tackle what besets us.

And somehow we often manage… but the cost in sleepless nights and anxiety often leaves us weak and so very tired. How often relationships around us suffer as well…

There is a better way of living life. A way that is hedged in between the discipline of God (his rod) and his salvaging us out of another hard scrap (his staff). There is a way that is not glamorous yet is peaceful, is not boastful and yet is confident, and that is the awesome undercurrent in our lives.

That is the acknowledgement of God is your life. The belief in what God’s Word has stated for your life that is that he loves you and he is with you. There is rest and comfort and courage in this belief and hope that will keep you sailing even under the most troubling circumstances.

God is with you today and everyday. Have you yet accepted this promise of his?