Countdown to Hope ~ Day 7

Countdown to Hope ~ Day 7

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12 (NIV)

 

Well, I must say that this scripture from Romans is a tall order! I mean, God expects us to have joy in hope (Translation: Be happy while you’re waiting, no matter how long it takes!), patient in affliction (Even though it hurts like heck, don’t try to rush through the suffering. In a sense, savor it), and be faithful in prayer (In other words, remember to communicate regularly with God despite the pain and seemingly endless waiting game). Yup, that about covers it! And so now you’re saying, how is that possible? How can I have joy while I’m waiting around for things to get better or for the promises of God to come to pass? Or, how can be patient when it hurts so bad that I can’t even focus on anything else? And, of course I’m supposed to pray regularly, but it’s almost impossible to remember that when I’ve got all of these things going on! How can I do this? (Enter God.)

Too often, we forget that life is not easy because we live in a fallen world. Jesus came that we might have live and have it more abundantly, but we are still experiencing the effects of Adam’s sin. God gave us freewill, and that dates all of the way back to Adam. When Adam exercised his freewill, he put a cycle of sin into place that we are still fighting to overcome today. Jesus came to set things in order and give us access to the Kingdom of God and all of the power and benefits that go along with Kingdom membership. But, in order to tap into that power, we must choose to follow the example that Jesus set before us using the Word of God to teach us how to represent the Kingdom in excellence.

So, in order to live Romans 12:12, we must first, submit our will to God’s will for our lives. It is His will that we have joy, patience and be faithful in all that we do. Second, as we submit our will to God, ask the Holy Spirit to be like Christ and help us to tap into the joy and peace that only God can give to us. Finally, consciously choose to be joyful. When you are presented with a situation that could very well sap your joy well, choose to see the joy in your life. Remember that patience is simply the presence of peace within your life. And in order to be faithful, you must purpose in your hurt to do something, and then do that thing in excellence!

So, in order to live Romans 12:12, like a popular slogan, “Just do it!”

Countdown to Hope ~ Day Six

Countdown to Hope ~ Day Six

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.”

Jeremiah 17:7(NIV)

I have a question for you. Mind you, it is somewhat rhetorical in nature, but I’ll ask it nonetheless. Do you want to be blessed? Now, you’re either thinking or saying to yourself, “Duh, Liane, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to be blessed?” And, I would have to agree with you. But then again, I have to wonder if people really want to be blessed, or do they just want to have a lot of money, stuff and favor wherever they go.

I’ve learned that in order to truly be blessed, you must be in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, our Savior and sacrificial Lamb. Too many people, especially those in church, are confused and misguided when it comes to understanding what it means to be “blessed”. Having a lot of money and stuff does not make you blessed. It simply means you have a lot of money and stuff.

The actual definitions for blessed are defined by www.dictionary.com as “consecrated; sacred; holy; sanctified and divinely or supremely favored; fortunate”. Now, how can one be consecrated, sacred, holy or sanctified if they are not in relationship with the only one who can save you, cleanse you, sanctify you and subsequently show you divine and supreme favor? Jesus Christ, the Holy Lamb of God, is the only one that can cause us to be all of those things through the shedding of His blood. We can only access the blessings that are connected with Him when we enter into relationship with Him. And it is through commitment to this relationship, spending time with Him in prayer and getting to know Him as we study and meditate on His Word, that we cultivate the connection that creates trust. It is only when we learn to trust Him that we are truly blessed! Once we put our confidence in the God of our salvation and not in money, stuff, the economy, politicians, jobs, friends, family or any other entity, we become blessed! We become consecrated because we are subject only to Jesus and His Word and will for our lives! We become sacred, holy and sanctified vessels because we are washed by His blood! And we walk and live in divine and supreme favor that only God can provide!

So, what are you waiting for? Stop wasting time and submit to the one, true God and become blessed and highly favored!

Countdown to Hope ~ Day 5

Fishing for Hope

“Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalms 55:22

Casting your cares is a wonderful concept, when you can grasp that concept. Unfortunately, I struggled with how to apply this wisdom to my life and my walk. As a new Christian, I spent countless hours reading books, listening to tapes and surrounding myself with people who were strong in the faith because I, too, wanted to be strong and grounded in my faith walk. I spent time in church services, attended bible study classes, prayed and put forth my best effort to be the best Christian I could be. I read the scriptures and memorized as much as I could. I felt good about my growth and the direction in which I was headed. But despite all of this success, I still struggled to grasp the deeper meaning of “cast your cares”.

Because I am a “need to know how” kind of individual, I question things. I am the search engine queen! My smartphone gets smarter each day simply because of the endless stream of information that I search for each day. So, when I needed clarification regarding this scripture, too many explanations came up flat!  I am a visual learner. I need pictures, graphics or a really thorough description of something in order to comprehend the concept.  I needed to be able to visualize this idea of “casting my cares”. Well, after over twenty years trying to live a committed Christian life (with shortcomings I might add), I finally got it the other day while playing a video game! LOL!

                Let me put out that I am not the outdoorsy type. I like nature, in its place, which means outside of my house. I’ve never hunted, nor trapped my food. I like my food good and dead before I ever come in contact with it. Hence, this explains my inability to make the correlation between casting and fishing. Last year, I bought a game about fishing for our game console because it seemed interesting to me (just not enough to actually go and do it). I grew up in a city and fishing was something done in the country. But, again, this game intrigued me. The tutorial took you through all of the necessary motions to successfully catch fish.  It taught you how to cast the line in different ways, how to hook the fish, and how to reel it in. The other morning, I was up early and decided to spend a few moments fishing in my living room. As I quietly cast the line over and over again, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit point out the obvious image that I’d been searching to find for so long! He said, “Think of casting your cares the way that you cast the line. The way that you cast the line will determine how far away your cares will travel. And as the line, with the bait, sinks into the water so shall your cares sink into the sea. And as you thumb the line, you’ll hook hope just like a fisherman hooks a fish. From there, all you have to do is reel it in.” Well, wow! What an amazing image! God knew what I needed and I got it just in the nick of time!

                Now, when I am burdened down, I know that I just need to go fishing! I’m prepared with my rod, my hook and the bait of praise. I’ll make sure that I cast my cares as I throw out the line, then hook my catch, and reel in some much needed hope! So, I’ll see you later because I’m going fishing!

Countdown to Hope – Day 4

The Renewing Power of Hope

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

 

Today is simply dreary and dismal. We’ve gone from beautiful, sunny days to an overabundance of clouds, dampness and a vicious chill in the air. It is not a day that easily inspires hope, not even a little spark. It’s on days like this that the burdens and challenges we face seem to wrap around our necks and choke out any small trace of hope that exists deep within us. Defeat looms on the horizon and our faith becomes shaky at best. But, if we get to a quiet place, shut out the world and listen intently for that still, small voice, we can grab hold of the remedy for these valley days.

This scripture is an oft quoted reference that has become somewhat of a cliché in church circles. In my experience, it’s thrown around and responded to so much that for many, it has sadly lost its meaning. But if we take a step back, remove the “churchiness” and really concentrate on the message, we find the answer to this level of despair and any other debilitating experience. It states that “those who HOPE in the LORD” will receive some pretty amazing benefits from that hope. But once again, there’s a catch. We’re back to this whole choice thing. It points out that those who will, not that all will or even that all must. Trusting in God is a conscious, active choice. Hope, like faith and trust, are verbs! They are actions! This faith-journey is an active choice, not happenstance. Those who are at peace and walk in the fullness of God’s love, joy, peace, prosperity and abundance of spirit all make an active choice to do so. God honors the choosers because He chose to uniquely design and create each and every one of us. So, it’s only logical that if we want the fullness of who our Father is and what He wants us to have, we must choose Him each and every day, all day. We must actively hope in Him and His Word because that should be our litmus test, our standard and our goal.

While valley days (and sometimes valley seasons) make this daily choice a challenge, it is a must do in order to not only live the life He has ordained and secured for us, but to honor Him and glorify Him in all that we do. So, note to self: I will hope in the Lord because He is my strength each and every day. And because I choose to hope in my God, I will soar like an eagle, I will not get weary or faint on this journey because the power I receive from hoping in Him, sustains me.

Countdown to Hope ~ Day 3

Activating Your Shield

“But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” Psalm 3:3

 

What an enlightening scripture this is! After reading this particular scripture this morning, I had the most amazing “Aha!” moment. Now, you would think that I’d already know these things, but I must remind myself that we all have a different learning curve at different times in our lives. Right now, my faith learning curve is a little delayed! LOL!

Any who…as I read this scripture for the third or fourth time, I realized that my faith is my shield to deflect any and all attacks, adversity, or challenges that come my way. God said that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Now, to those who are tactile learners (or kinesthetic learners), we need hands on demonstrations in order to really grasp a concept. We need physical interaction in order for that concept to become concrete even though it may be abstract in nature. (Hence, the whole shield/faith thing for me.)

 I recently watched the film about Captain America. While watching the film, the theme song from the cartoon that I watched kept replaying in my head. I kept hearing, “When Captain America throws his mighty shield…!” Now, I recall a brief conversation with my sons maybe a year prior to this when the consensus amongst them was that Captain America wasn’t very impressive because all he had was a shield. I also remember fervently defending him because it wasn’t the fact that he had a shield, but how he used that shield against his enemies that mattered! And so it is with our faith walk! It is impossible to maintain or even embrace hope when we are constantly being attacked, wounded and weakened throughout each day; however, maybe we’re not using the shield of faith that has been granted to every believer. Today, I plan on using my shield of faith rather than letting it sit in a corner somewhere useless.

How about you?

Countdown to Hope ~ Day 2

“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Psalm 22:22

 

After reading this very short and succinct scripture, I came to the conclusion that hope is a choice. We can choose to have hope and rest in the knowledge that God is in control and has our best interests at heart. Or, we can choose to be downcast, depressed and embrace every dark and desolate thought, feeling or fear that surrounds us. Hope is sometimes so far away from us and our current state of mind that we need to file a missing persons report on it and “hope” that the proper authorities will track it down. However, our challenge in this life journey is to seek hope will unending fervor and diligence despite what we see, feel and touch.

God compels us to put our hope in Him. It is through His love for us that we are given the gift of hope and the constant opportunity to revisit and re-embrace hope every day. But again, hope is a conscience choice just like joy is a choice. Choose to hope in God and his unfailing love and hope will be yours always.

The Countdown to Hope

The Countdown to Hope

"Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my [sad] countenance, and my God." Psalm 43: 5

The holiday season is upon us again and I've fallen into my usual process of getting into the "holiday" spirit. I often sit and watch countless hours of Hallmark movies beginning right after my Halloween movie marathons, and allowing myself to get that overwhelming rush of sappy emotion that is a guarantee when watching any of their films. Now, some would say that this is a silly process merely conjuring up fabricated feelings of "home and holiday" when the reality is...times suck royally! Unemployment is high, people with jobs (including me) are living paycheck to paycheck, the over-commercialization of Christmas has practically taken every modicum of spirituality out of the day/season, and people are generally just hanging on emotionally, spiritually, financially, and mentally and can't get past the haze of gloom and doom that seems to hover like a threatening storm cloud over every area of their lives. So, where do they go from here? Where do we go from here?

At this time of year, countdowns to Christmas begin everywhere you look. There are countdown clocks, displays in stores, endless advertisements on television, radio and now the Internet and cellphones! The greed-infused spirit of capitalism and consumerism wants us all to spend, spend, and spend some more in order to feel better. At least, that's what they want us to believe. They want us to embrace things and stuff and look to it for something, anything to make us FEEL better. Well, I don't want this cycle of misery anymore! I want, I need something better!

So, in this midst of the world's Countdown to Greed, I choose to begin my Countdown to Hope! You see, as a woman of faith, I am compelled to walk by faith and not by sight. So, despite the horrific things I witness each and everyday, I must HOPE! Despite getting disappointed repeatedly by people, I must HOPE! Despite being overlooked and misrepresented, I must HOPE! Even when I am so overwhelmed by everything I do see and I just want to crawl into a hole somewhere and die hoping the pain will go away, I must HOPE! I must hope because I look to the hills where my help comes from, and my help comes from the Lord! I must hope because no matter how bad it may seem, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I must hope because I am more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus! I must HOPE! I am commanded to HOPE! My hope comes from my Heavenly Father who created me, my Savior, Jesus Christ, for loving me enough to sacrifice Himself for my benefit, and the Holy Spirit who leads and guides me through every valley and even through the messes that I've created. I must HOPE in God because that's where hope comes from!

So, I challenge you today...no matter how bad it is, begin your Countdown to Hope today! It may take you five days before you feel it kick in, or even twenty, but God is faithful and will restore the hope of your salvation and remind you that He has never left you nor forsaken you, and He never will!

God bless you!

Lili