Sunday, October 21, 2007

Friday, October 19, 2007

Hope for others

Love is just as quick to say, “I have hope for you.”
You can say those words. You are a flood survivor. By God’s grace you have found your way to dry land.
You know what it’s like to see the waters subside. And since you do, since you passed through a flood and lived to tell about it, you are qualified to give hope to someone else.
What a wonderful God we have—he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does he do this?
So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us. (2 Cor. 1:3–4 TLB)
From A Love Worth Giving: Living in the Overflow of God’s Love
Copyright (W Publishing Group, 2002) Max Lucado

*I hope the "flood" I've passed through qualifies me to give hope to others.

Monday, October 1, 2007

So Like God

In the last week I'm learning more about God's covenant relationship with us. It has been coming up here and there. For instance:
"...and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." Jeremiah 32:39-40 NASB (italics mine)God's promise to put the fear of Himself into my heart...not a fear of being afraid of Him but in reverence that He is sovereign. He is in control AND He will keep His promises.


Having faith in God's Word:
"But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:6-8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
To be in covenant relationship with God I am to live in confidence and assurance that God will be faithful to keep His promises. This covenant relationship is to be based on trust, faith, and obedience. God wants me to literally trust Him at His Word, put my faith in Him and those very words, and obey by believing Him, His word to me.
I don't want to be a doubter that is not able to receive what the Lord very much wants to give me. I don't want to be unstable in all my ways but firmly grounded in my trust and faith in, believing, Him. He is so gracious to continuously work with me to make me what I want to truly be...and most important, what He wants me to truly be.