Hope is 'the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best'.
I've been thinking a lot about hope over the last few weeks. I've especially been looking at it in light of the Gospel and faith.
What is the Gospel without the hope that Jesus brings through his death and resurrection and what is faith without the hope that comes from knowing a loving Father who can do anything.
Indeed, the opposite of hope is hopelessness and this has to be one of the worst places to be. A place where you have resigned yourself to a position that cannot and will not change. This position is often known as a stronghold;
“Any idea or thought impregnated or full of hopelessness, that causes us to think that something is true, contrary to the word and will of God.’
To combat this we need to have a revelation of the truth found in the character of God, the example of Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit. We need others to encourage and to speak this truth to us and live it with us.
If we, as the Church, are not sharing and modelling a message of hope to this world, then what are we?
Paul's letter to the Romans talks a lot of this hope, so check that out! Here is a snippet;
Romans 5
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
I will also put up some quotes from people on this subject of hope.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Thomas A Kempis quote...
"The more humble a man is in himself, the more obedient toward God, the wiser will he be in all things, and the more shall his soul be at peace."
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Humility in Daily Life
For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20.
"It is a solemn thought that our love for God is measured by our everyday relationships with others. Except as its validity is proven in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen, our love for God may be found to be a delusion. It is easy to think that we humble ourselves before God, but our humility toward others is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. To be genuine, humility must abide in us and become our very nature.
True humility is to be made of no reputation - as did Christ. In God's presence, humility is not a posture we assume for a time - when we think of Him or pray to Him -but the very spirit of our life.
It will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others. A lesson of deepest importance is that the only humility that is really ours is not the kind we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The seemingly insignificant acts of daily life are the tests of eternity, because they prove what spirit possesses us.
It is in our most unguarded moments that we truly show who we are and what we are made of.
To know a truly humble person, you must follow that one in the common course of daily life."
Taken from Humility by Andrew Murray.
"It is a solemn thought that our love for God is measured by our everyday relationships with others. Except as its validity is proven in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen, our love for God may be found to be a delusion. It is easy to think that we humble ourselves before God, but our humility toward others is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. To be genuine, humility must abide in us and become our very nature.
True humility is to be made of no reputation - as did Christ. In God's presence, humility is not a posture we assume for a time - when we think of Him or pray to Him -but the very spirit of our life.
It will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others. A lesson of deepest importance is that the only humility that is really ours is not the kind we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The seemingly insignificant acts of daily life are the tests of eternity, because they prove what spirit possesses us.
It is in our most unguarded moments that we truly show who we are and what we are made of.
To know a truly humble person, you must follow that one in the common course of daily life."
Taken from Humility by Andrew Murray.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Romance
What do you think of when you hear the word romance?
My guess is that it sounds different to different people depending on their cultural background, romantic experience and/or gender.
As a Western hetrosexual male, romance has become a way of expressing love that involves taking that special woman for long walks, or having a candle lit dinner or buying them flowers. It is something that films and books have used to create an ideal scenario of the expression of love.
This in itself is not bad, but it does then leave me feeling a little uneasy when I find that God wants to romance me!
Can God love me romantically!?!
As always, I turned to the dictionary to find out the meaning of the word romance to see if that could help me in any way;
"a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love."
As I read this definition, I began to see how God can romance me. There are times when I don't feel excited about living for God and I have lost that sense of wonder that captures my mind and leads me to a place of worship. I can just sense that something is missing.
The important part of this sentence is that it is associated with love, and maybe this is where our western culture has created the distortion in my mind.
Love has become just a feeling. It seems to be something that changes overnight and is used for expressing our affection both for our football team as well as our loved ones. I suppose that's the problem when you only have one word that expresses many different emotions and actions.
What does the bible say about love?
1 John 3:16 says 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.'
The bible says a lot about love and most of it comes in the context of sacrifice. We love when we lay ourselves down for others. It's not about what we get, but about what we give.
When God romances us, he wants to give us a pleasureable feeling of excitement and wonder through the ultimate expression of love, which is the cross.
John 3:16 says 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.'
God's motivation for the death of His son on the cross was love. He gave himself, so that you might live. He now asks us to go and love in the same way. Giving our lives for others.
Surely, this is the greatest romance story ever told!
Allow God to romance you today as He reminds you of His love for you in the life, death and ressurrection of His son Jesus Christ.
Allow your hearts to be filled with excitement and wonder as He reveals His love for you!
My guess is that it sounds different to different people depending on their cultural background, romantic experience and/or gender.
As a Western hetrosexual male, romance has become a way of expressing love that involves taking that special woman for long walks, or having a candle lit dinner or buying them flowers. It is something that films and books have used to create an ideal scenario of the expression of love.
This in itself is not bad, but it does then leave me feeling a little uneasy when I find that God wants to romance me!
Can God love me romantically!?!
As always, I turned to the dictionary to find out the meaning of the word romance to see if that could help me in any way;
"a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love."
As I read this definition, I began to see how God can romance me. There are times when I don't feel excited about living for God and I have lost that sense of wonder that captures my mind and leads me to a place of worship. I can just sense that something is missing.
The important part of this sentence is that it is associated with love, and maybe this is where our western culture has created the distortion in my mind.
Love has become just a feeling. It seems to be something that changes overnight and is used for expressing our affection both for our football team as well as our loved ones. I suppose that's the problem when you only have one word that expresses many different emotions and actions.
What does the bible say about love?
1 John 3:16 says 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.'
The bible says a lot about love and most of it comes in the context of sacrifice. We love when we lay ourselves down for others. It's not about what we get, but about what we give.
When God romances us, he wants to give us a pleasureable feeling of excitement and wonder through the ultimate expression of love, which is the cross.
John 3:16 says 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.'
God's motivation for the death of His son on the cross was love. He gave himself, so that you might live. He now asks us to go and love in the same way. Giving our lives for others.
Surely, this is the greatest romance story ever told!
Allow God to romance you today as He reminds you of His love for you in the life, death and ressurrection of His son Jesus Christ.
Allow your hearts to be filled with excitement and wonder as He reveals His love for you!
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Blog recommendation
I don't often do this, but I would really like to point you in the direction of a blog that my friend Charl keeps. She has recently moved to Reading and runs a coffee shop on a housing estate there. She is an everyday person like you or me, but she has said to God that she wants to make a difference and she is beginning to see the answer to that prayer.
http://adventuresofaspartan.tumblr.com/
http://adventuresofaspartan.tumblr.com/
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Sabbath
As part of the discipleship course I help to run, we spend 9 months going through the bible, following it's narrative.
We call it 'God's Story' because that's what the bible is!
It's the story of who God is, how He interacts with His creation and what His plan is for the world. It's proved to be a really powerful way to read the bible as it helps prevent the bible from being that intimidating book on the shelf and uncovers the really exciting and interesting story that we now find ourselves in!
Anyway, this week we have started in Genesis (in the beginning and all that) and once again I've been struck by the importance of 'Sabbath', which is translated to mean 'Stop'.
How often do I stop?
How often do I take the time to just ask those tough questions of life?
How often do I stop and just realise I am alive?
How often do I stop and look at the stars in the sky and allow myself to get lost?
How often do I stop and just ask God how He is doing?
To Sabbath was a commandment to the Jewish people. Why? Two reasons;
1) God did (Genesis 2:1-3), which is good enough for me.
2) To remind them that they weren't slaves anymore (Deut 5:15). When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they worked long hours, seven days a week. By Sabbathing, they were being reminded that they were free from oppression and their identity was not in what they did or produced, but in God.
They were saved from something, for something.
I think many of us understand that we should Sabbath because God did and it's good to rest, but how many of us realise that Sabbathing is vital in understanding who we are in God.
In our Western consumeristic culture, it's so easy to fill our days with stuff (tv, shopping etc), or to work longer hours so we can have more free time in the future (which never seems to happen) or to just want to climb that corporate ladder, but is there are a danger that we are creeping back into slavery?
When we 'Shabbat' or stop from the day-to-day activities of life, we begin to realise that the world in not in our control. We again realise that we are not the centre of the universe and that there is so much more going on around us that is beyond us. We find enjoyment again in creation both in nature and in the people around us who are made in God's image.
Euguene Petersen put's it like this;
“Sabbath is a deliberate act of interference, an interruption of our week each week, a decree of no-work so that we are able to notice, to attend, to listen, to assimilate this comprehensive and majestic work of God, to orient our work in the work of God.”
To Sabbath is a deliberate act. It doesn't just happen!
My prayer for you is that you would rediscover the joy of Sabbathing and that you would find your true identity in it's midst.
We call it 'God's Story' because that's what the bible is!
It's the story of who God is, how He interacts with His creation and what His plan is for the world. It's proved to be a really powerful way to read the bible as it helps prevent the bible from being that intimidating book on the shelf and uncovers the really exciting and interesting story that we now find ourselves in!
Anyway, this week we have started in Genesis (in the beginning and all that) and once again I've been struck by the importance of 'Sabbath', which is translated to mean 'Stop'.
How often do I stop?
How often do I take the time to just ask those tough questions of life?
How often do I stop and just realise I am alive?
How often do I stop and look at the stars in the sky and allow myself to get lost?
How often do I stop and just ask God how He is doing?
To Sabbath was a commandment to the Jewish people. Why? Two reasons;
1) God did (Genesis 2:1-3), which is good enough for me.
2) To remind them that they weren't slaves anymore (Deut 5:15). When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they worked long hours, seven days a week. By Sabbathing, they were being reminded that they were free from oppression and their identity was not in what they did or produced, but in God.
They were saved from something, for something.
I think many of us understand that we should Sabbath because God did and it's good to rest, but how many of us realise that Sabbathing is vital in understanding who we are in God.
In our Western consumeristic culture, it's so easy to fill our days with stuff (tv, shopping etc), or to work longer hours so we can have more free time in the future (which never seems to happen) or to just want to climb that corporate ladder, but is there are a danger that we are creeping back into slavery?
When we 'Shabbat' or stop from the day-to-day activities of life, we begin to realise that the world in not in our control. We again realise that we are not the centre of the universe and that there is so much more going on around us that is beyond us. We find enjoyment again in creation both in nature and in the people around us who are made in God's image.
Euguene Petersen put's it like this;
“Sabbath is a deliberate act of interference, an interruption of our week each week, a decree of no-work so that we are able to notice, to attend, to listen, to assimilate this comprehensive and majestic work of God, to orient our work in the work of God.”
To Sabbath is a deliberate act. It doesn't just happen!
My prayer for you is that you would rediscover the joy of Sabbathing and that you would find your true identity in it's midst.
Monday, 7 September 2009
What is your response to your Chrisitan fellowship?
"If we do not give thanks daily for the Chrisitan fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ." Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
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