2 Corinthians 1:20

am meditating upon this passage at the moment:

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes [answer] in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.

Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.

Stake in the Ground

tonight we’re going to put some sakes in the ground… we’re going to declare who God is and who we are in response to Him and His call and His Kingdom and His purposes.

We’re called to know God and make Him known – not just ABOUT Him but we’re called to walk in relationship and intimacy with Him – this is our call and our position as children of God, to be connected to their Father. we are called to be friends of God.  This is our supernatural relatity.

The stake in the ground is that we’re called to be throne room people – not strangers, or infrequent visitors.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  Hebrews 4:16

Our lives are ment to be supernatural – its ment to be our reality not an oddity.  God is real – and we can know Him.  Thats real.  Thats the promise.  We walk through our lives with Him.

We’re called to know His love and to let that radically change who we are and how we respond to God and how we respond to temptation and the world and how we then demonstrate the love and grace of God to others around us.  Love motivates us.  it sets us free.  it transforms us.  it strengthens us.  it compells us.  it ignites us. The stake in the ground is that He loved us first and we respond to His love!

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!  1 john 3:1

we’re called to be different – to not be like the world but to be like the Kingdom we belong to – the Kingdom of God.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:1-2

let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:1-2

The stake in the ground is that we will be a holy clean generation – we will change and be transformed and renewed and we will deny our flesh and repent for sin and face temptation and resist the flesh and the devil and submit to God.  We will throw off everything that entangles us, we will not flirt with sin or hang out on the fence or the endges of the narrow road.  We will be holy and righteous and clean and all the things God has made a reality on the inside we will make it a reality in how we live our lives.  the good thing is that we dont even do that on our own, we make a choice, many choices, and we stand up on the inside – but it is God that empowers holiness, and that gives us discernment and everything we need – everything we need to follow Him and fulfill the call!

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3

We are called to ascend and dwell – to know God, to be face to face friends.  To know His will and His voice and His ways and His promises (remember Romans 12:2 – as we have our mind renewed we will grow in knowledge and understanding and discernment of His ways and will).  We are called to be a generation that seek Him.

Psalm 24

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.

⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
Selah

Psalm 15

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

² He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart

³ and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,

⁴ who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,

⁵ who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.

It begins by knowing His love for us.  Knowing how great He is.  in the throne room encountering Him.  at the foot of the cross encountering Him.  in His prseence encountering Him.  in His Word encountering Him.

Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart… Psalm 24

“There is a cost, but when you are in love with God, it seems like no cost at all.” -Damon Thompson

And for our own lives – our own future and blessing – psalm 24:5 says He will recieve blessing from the Lord and vindication from God our Saviour.  Isnt that what we all really want – a life approved and blest by God, a life that gets His gold star and well done.  A life lived to the will of God is blest and a blest life is a happy at peace in the inside life.    And we will see Him, dwell in His holy place!  what more can we want!

There is a broken world out there and the plan isnt for God to click His fingers and make it better but to use us – HIS BODY HERE ON EARTH – His followers, His disciples, His amabassadors, His witnesses, His children, His believers.

This is the anthem of our generation! Here we are God – Shake our nation! All we need is your love, You captivate me (The Anthem, Jake Hamilton)

The plan is this, the stake is this:  That God has for such a time as this designed and appointed you.  He has saved you and called you.  For such a time as this.

So – some prac’s – some how to – some life apps:

1.  pray and ask for fresh love from God and to God – stay close to Him – first love

2.  TIME – spend time in prayer and in the Word.  read the Bible regular, every day if possible.

3.  man up and repent and live intentionally thinking about what you do/think/say etc cleanness wise – find someone to talk to and be accountable.  deal to the habbitual sin that needs to be dealt to.

4. Never gaze at something that does not belong in your future. bill johnson – ask for sense of destiny and God given purpose that ignites your heart and fix your eyes upon Jesus and the prize – get a vision

5.  obey.  be radical.  step out in faith.  nike it.

Who I Am In Christ List

you may have seen this list…  it is a list of bible refernces and statments about who we are as christians – the benefits and blessings we have as christians…  and i think it is really important that we “get it” – that we know who we are as chrsitians, so we can live in that freedom and grace and relationship with God.  so many of us have hang ups about whether God loves us or things like that…  if we get who we are, and how we are related to God, and his work in our life, then that is all good!  here are a few of my favs….  and then the rest of the list…

I am God’s child (John 1:12)

I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:20)

I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15)

I am a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20)

I am chosen before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4, 11)

I am holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4)

I am adopted as his child (Ephesians 1:5)

I am victorious (1 Corinthians 15:57)

I am born again (I Peter 1:23)

I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I am delivered (Colossians 1:13)

I am set free (Romans 8:2; John 8:32)

I have been brought near to God through Christ’s blood (Ephesians 2:13)

I have peace (Ephesians 2:14)

I have access to the Father (Ephesians 2:18)

I am a member of God’s household (Ephesians 2:19)

I am secure (Ephesians 2:20)

I can approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)

One of the most important things we can do in our recovery is to embrace our new identity and see ourselves through Jesus’ eyes . . . i.e., who you and I are “in Christ.” Below are listed (with supporting Scripture) just a few of the many TRUTHS contained in the Bible concerning our secure position in Christ Jesus. The facts are there . . . all we need to do is believe them!!

The Word of My Testimony

Revelation 12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

I’ve been listening to Suzy Wills – Shinning…. Great cd… great worship! “we overcome, we overcome, with our testimony, we overcome we overcome, this is who we are…”

What is my testimony. Who am I? I am a child of God. First foremost. I am brought with a price, the life and death of Jesus, his death upon the cross means I am a christian. I am a woman, made so by God, designed by God. I am a mother, a lifetime holy calling, with such precious gifts loaned to me by their Heavenly Father. I am a wife, partnering with my husband in the purposes of God, set together by God. I am a daughter born into a family who had influence into the formation of my nature and character. I am a preacher, called by God, shaped by God, communicating for God. I am an evangelist, with a desire to see lost people found. I am a kiwi, born into this radical pioneering mission sending wonderful nation. I am loved by God. I am saved by God. I am called by God. I am cleaned by God. In God and by God I can stand against all that comes against me. He is my strength and peace. He is my healer, for my body and my heart. He is my dream giver… giving me purpose and vision. I am radical and fiesty, its who I am made to be by God, for His glory.  I’m quirky.  I’m firey. My testimony is that God has never failed me, or abandoned me. He has always been my comfort and when I have sought Him, He was found. My testimony is that when I turn to Him, He is there, with all the answers and ideas I need. My testimony is that though I have bad hair days, stormy seasons and dry times Jesus is Lord of my life The One who sustains me and satisfies me. There is nothing that can squash me for long if I’m holding onto Jesus. My testimony is that God’s words are truth and true, real and reality. When I believe and listen to them I am a conquerer not conquered. I am beloved. I am cherished. I am designed. I am created. I am purposed. I am loved. I am liked. I am me.

Faith vs Fear

The heart is capable of responding to things the mind can’t yet perceive. Bill Johnson

Faith isnt passive – and sometimes it contends against the mind and flesh and lies – it  smacks up against the lie of the enemy, the lie of the world that doesn’t even believe that God is real, and the lie of our flesh.  It contends for the promises of God.

faith sometimes inst understood in our mind – our mind trys to ratinoalize it away (Martha – but, he stinkith – in regards to Lazeras been buried in the tomb for 4 days and Jesus command to roll the stone away!) but faith is RIGHT.

We need to renew our mind and align it with the truth of God in the Word, and then hold to it.  as we renew our mind it gets easier in some manner to discern the direction and leading of God because we know His heart and His ways and His promises.  faith refuses the lie and believes the truth and promise of God.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.  2 Corithians 1:20

faith overcomes fear.  fear looks but faith jumps!  faith overrides the mind and its fears and what ifs and buts!  it acts and just does.  it believes that God is bigger than the circumstances and that His promises are sure.  it believes that nothing is impossible for God.  with God all things are possible.  with God all the promises are YES in christ jesus!

which voice are we going to listen to?

the doubting voice of fear?

the old nature that died?

or are we going to believe God who has proven Himself sure and true and right and all powerful – Creator of the universe, who breathed out the stars and has all the power and is the first and the last and who was and is and is to come?

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Faith Acts

Isnt God just so amazing and awesome.

You know, what This Book says about God is 100% absolutely true unexaggerated pure fact.  The real deal reality.

He is all powerful, all knowing,  wise, just, creative, The Creator capital T and capital C, He breathed out all the stars of every universe, every planet and atom is by His design and His will.  He is compassionate, mighty, just, holy, righteous, glorious, victorious, reigning….  His love is everlasting.

He hears our every thought and knows what we’ll say, before we say it.

He knows how many hairs we have on our head, and how many hairs we have on our toes.

And not just us, not just me, not just you, but every single person alive and breathing right now on the planet and ever was and will be.

I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:27

For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37

Zip. Nada.  Zero.  Nil.  Zilch.  Nothing.

There are no impossibilities for God.

With God ALL THINGS are POSSIBLE.

He has the power.

In the beginning God spoke and said “Let there be light,” and there was light.  Out of absolute nothing God made everything.   All things were created by God, for Him, by Him.  God doesn’t ever say “oooooh where did that come from?”

On day 6 He created people – designed, formed, shaped, made – every intricate detail He knows about, none of it is a mystery.

Psalm 139 says: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,   I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book  before one of them came to be.

Jeremiah 29:11 says: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God is very real.  Realer than the air you breathe and the chair you are sitting on.  He is personal – not far away on some planet somewhere observing humanity for amuzements sake.  He is personal, near, interactive and we are designed to know Him and make Him known.

When we become Christians we become not only part of His family, experiencing His love and grace and forgiveness for ourselves, not only made new and acceptable and holy and given life after earth for all eternity with Him, but we become part of a new supernatural kingdom that is called to take over the world and make Him known – we’re born again, we’re a new breed of people…

Leonard Ravenhill says “I want to see the glory of God invade this generation.” – we want the reality of the Kingdom of God to be evident here on earth – because that’s where the captives are set free, the brokenhearted mended, the sick healed, the blind see, the lost saved.  Its where people find hope, grace, forgiveness, eternity… It’s where broken people experience the love and grace of God – just like we have.

Its not about life on earth as we know it but about demonstrating supernatural reality.

This life isn’t what its all about.  Its important YES – but its just a blink in eternity.  Life is more than breathing.  This is not the only realm there is.  Life is more than what we can touch and feel with our 5 senses.  Its more than rush hour, mochachinos with a double shot of caramal, ipads and oil spills, more than Lost, more than keeping up with the jones or anything else like that.

So how do we make real the supernaturalness of our lives and God’s Kingdom?  How then should we live?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

This life I live I live by FAITH.

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

You see God is like amazing awesome glorious magnificent holy wow – indescribably wonderful.  And He can do and does do and will amazing awesome glorious magnificent holy wow – indescribably wonderful things in our lives and through our lives.

We’re just not saved but we’re called.  We’re just not rescued but we’re recruited.

Nothing is impossible for God.  Yes He could click His fingers and boom the world would be saved and the lame would walk and the blind would see and every sick person will be healed…  but I think He is saving that for a coming day… and in the meantime He calls us to go and make it happen and make it real by faith.

Matthew 17:20 says, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Mark 9:23 says everything is possible for him who believes.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

The power isn’t mine.  The power isn’t yours.  The power is God.  The healing is God.  The freedom comes from God.  The restoration comes from God.  The truth comes from God.  The salvation comes from God.  The miracles come from God.  BUT HE USES US here on earth.  The power isn’t mine but it comes THROUGH ME by faith.

I often picture it as a conduit – I reach up and touch God and HIS power and I connect with the person in need, often myself, or the situation.

I reach up and touch God and His power and then I push at that mountain, I lay hands on the sick, I speak to the lost, I pray and I ask for change.

I believe and God does.

Faith is not passive.

Sometimes its not even nice.

It smacks up against the lie of the enemy, the lie of the world that doesn’t even believe that God is real, and the lie of our flesh.  It contends for the promises of God.

The things in this book are REAL.  TRUTH.  REALITIES.

Faith acts.

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17

You know, what James is saying is if you’re not acting and if you’re not doing then you’re not really believing.  If you were really believing it would be evident in all of your actions.  What you do speaks louder than words.

Have you noticed that there are lots of verbs in the bible? Come.  Go.  Pray.  Lay hands.  Command.  Preach.  Enter in.  Seek.  Speak.  Praise.  Believe.  Trust.  Do.   We seem to be a generation that says YES we have faith but is inactive about it…. Christianity isnt some wossified pansy thing, it’s not just a belief system but a radical transformation of lifestyle.

The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent people take it by force. Matthew 11:12  The Kingdom of heaven is active, and activated by those with intention, intensity, passion – those who will act and move and do and not back down or give up, those who will look a lie in the eye and spit at it declaring that the truth is that all things are possible for those who believe and that nothing is impossible for God!

Faith acts.  It doesn’t sit back nice and pretty twiddling its thumbs having a nana nap waiting for something to happen.  Faith MAKES it happen.  Not in a wrong way, hear me, but in the right way.   It believes in the promise of God and then connects the problem to the solution.  Faith believes, acts and God does.

So many times in the bible, both in the NT and the OT people act in faith to receive the promise of their faith.

They had to do something first to get the change.  They did something with their faith and God did something.

In John 9:7 Jesus tells a blind man to go and wash in the pool of silaom.  The man went and washed and was healed.

In Luke 10 ten lepers were told to go and show themselves to the priests, and as they went they were healed.

In Matthew 9 Jesus told a man who was paralysed to take up his mat and go home.  This man could not stand or walk let alone pick up his mat.

What came first the chicken or the egg?

What if the blind man didn’t go and wash, or the lepers just sat back down, or the paralysed man just lay there?

In John 11 Jesus commands Mary and Martha and their friends to roll away the stone from the tomb of Lazarus.  Faith acts.  Faith moves.  Faith has verbs.  Faith responds to the leading and command of God.  Faith believes.  Faith trusts.  Faith does.  Faith moves the stone away so the resurrected alive healed man can walk out of his tomb.

Faith goes and washes in the pool.

Faith goes and sees the priest.

In Joshua 3 the Israelites cross the river Jordan.  You know what had to happen first?  Lets turn there and see how faith acted and how the power of God was poured out!

Joshua 3:5-17 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

⁶ Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

⁷ And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. ⁸ Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ “

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, ¹⁶ the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Faith stepped out into the flooded water – faith risked their lives and risked their most precious possession – the gold covered ark of the covenant containing the 10 commandments and other amazing stuff.  Faith looked at the flood and dared.  Faith believed in the power of almighty God and walked.

What river is God asking you to step into?

What stone has he told you roll away?

What is your faith action?  Your first step… because as we take our first step, putting action into our faith then God comes and magnificently fulfils His Word and pours out His power…

If God has told you to do something or start something or go somewhere – do, start, go!

If you feel led to speak to someone or to pray for someone or to send someone a message – do it.

If your friend says they are sick – step out and make a move – the bible says if you lay hands on the sick and pray with faith they will be healed because Jesus is our healer – its by His stripes we are healed – The Word says.  Not by osmosis or by sniffing your BO but by us laying hands and praying.

Don’t sit back and wait for it to happen.  Don’t sit back and wait for God to make the first move (cos you know He so has done that).

One word from Him can change a nation.  Faith takes the Word of God as it is – truth. Reality.  God’s Word is dominant.  It is the overcoming ruling supreme truth – it smashes any lie and it will come out on top.

You know what Smith Wigglesworth says: this is a man who saw cancers healed, dead people raised – heres a good one for ya:

Smith Wigglesworth was staying at the home of a minister in whose church he was preaching.  The man with whom he was staying had no legs. Smith Wigglesworth suddenly said to the man, ” Go and buy a new pair of shoes in the morning.” a most astounding thing to say to someone with no legs. So the man got up the next morning and went to the shoe shop. Upon entering the store he was approached by the assistant who asked if he could help him. The minister replied he would like a pair of shoes. The assistant realising the condition of the man hesitated, before replying that they could not help him, obviously referring to his condition.. The minister seeing his dilemma said: ” I would like a pair of black shoes, size eight please.” The assistant returned with the shoes and as he put his one stump into the shoe a foot and leg instantly formed. The same thing happened with his other leg.  Is anything too difficult for God?

“Fear looks; faith jumps. Faith never fails to obtain its object. I am not here to entertain you, but to get you to the place where you can laugh at the impossible.”

Perhaps we need to expand our faith and our imaginations - God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us Ephesians 3:20

It is time to rise up by faith.  It is time to contend on the inside for the promises of God.  It is time to step up and man up and just do it.  It is time to take God at His Word.

This is what we are called for.   This is what we are made for.  This is our day, our time to encounter God and see Him do awesome remarkable things.

Don’t live a wossified Christian life, content with ordinary living but contend for supernatural encounters and for all that God is, for His Kingdom.

If you want MORE – RESPOND to God.  Not just now here, but every day seek to know Him and grow in faith and be transformed.

If you need to activate your faith – resurrect your faith – if you’re like the father who cried out to jesus – help me have more faith, help my unbelief, then we’re going to pray.  We’re going to ask – because the bible says that those who ASK receive, those who SEEK find and those who knock on the door have that door opened.  We’re going to ask for faith, we’re going to seek God and we’re going to encounter Him.  We’re going to make the first move, we’re going to act.

If you want more faith, stand now.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.  Ephesians 1:19-23

notes from preaching message to young adults sunday 25th july

Real War

Mario Murrillo: “We have been deluded into believing that there are two kinds of war, physical and spiritual, but there is only war . . . . Lucifer has bewitched Christians into accepting a subtle lie that has huge consequences. We say the Christian life is “like” a war. It sounds innocent, but it casts a disastrous symbolism to something that is desperately real. If we are in something like a war, then the bible becomes something like the word of God, and we face something like an attack, and we put on something like the armor of God. . . . Our methods and traditions have helped the devil create an entire generation that is informed but not transformed.”

come on christians.  man up.  this is real life.

Choose Hope

again and continued to be stirred about HOPE. after doing a bit of a biblegateway.com search i was so filled and inspired and FILLED with hope – the promises of God and the rewards of HOPE are so good and tangible and real. people of faith have hope and hope rests wholeheartedly upon and in God and His wonderful faithfulness.

When i think of HOPE i am reminded of a verse in Romans 15 that says "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." I want to point out the first phrase – the God of HOPE – God is a God of HOPE, he gives hope, he inspires hope, he fills us with hope, he IS hope.   one of his very characteristics – his very essence – is HOPE.  hope is found in who God i … Read More

via One Passion One Devotion

Given To His Presence

“Jesus gave us a mandate to preach and demonstrate the Kingdom of God. In doing so, we re-present Jesus for who He is. Our heart’s cry is to become a people so given to His presence that we are able to live with the power and character that transforms cities and nations.” – Bill Johnson

For His glory

He must increase

I must decrease

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

Hope

Hope and faith are in my heart intertwined.  a bit like a plait. i’ve just learned how to french plait, and when completed you cannot tell what part of the plait started where and on what side and what strand.  its intertwined and a complete picture.

you have faith, you have hope.  you grow in faith, you grow in hope.  you have hope, you have faith.  you have hope, you trust God.  hope and faith together.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Hope isnt wishing.  i dont wish for a better year and circumstances.  i trust God with my life and belive He is good and that He works out all my life for His plan and purpose and THAT that plan is good, because He promises it.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

My hope is based on the reality of who God is.  i have hope because i know who God is, that He is faithful, just, compassionate, able, loving, kind.

Hope, like faith, comes from reading the Word and fixing our eyes upon Jesus.  it comes from not being worried about our circumstances but continues to trust God.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP

Any hope worth talking about must refer to something within the realm of possibility – back to that its not wishing thing.  Our hope is a reality for us – not just a desirable possibility, not a dream or fantasy, but something guaranteed by promises centered in Christ and revealed in the Word.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Christian hope is the confident expectation of the future event based on the promise of God. It removes the element of doubt; it dismisses as mere superstition the suggestion of luck; it clings by faith to the divine decree when circumstances seem to give lie to it. “That by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both steadfast and sure and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order Melshizedek. Hebrews 6:18, 19.

Hope is rooted in the trust and faith that God cares for me and is providing for me and that my today and my tomorrow is His.  It is built upon the Rock that Jesus is – unshakable, able, strong, unmovable, unchanging.   It stands upon the promises of God’s love, provision, healing, help, comfort, guidance.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  Psalm 62:1-2, 5

Hope isnt discouraged by the circumstances of today, knowing that God is at work and that we are being transformed and that even in the darkness God is light and the darkness has never had any victory over light.  God wins every time, all the time and He reigns and is King of Kings and God Almighty.

Hope stills the voice that worries and compains.  it speaks to our soul and says have faith in God, trust in Him, praise Him and honour Him.  it tells us to be still and know that God is God.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Hope sustains. Hope brings life and lightness to our souls and hearts.

Have hope.

Have hope because God is worth hoping in and upon.

He is the God of Hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13