Friday, January 3, 2014

HOPE -RJD January 2014


“Christ in you, the hope of Glory” Colossians 1:27 (NIV)

From May 24, 2010:

Definition: Hope- reliance on God’s blessings and provisions; the expectation of future good.
When we rely on God’s blessings and provisions, we possess hope. People who live their lives for Christ walk through their days following His leading. The verse, Colossians 1:27, speaks of {the presence of} Christ being an expectation of future good.

When we have Christ in our hearts, we become His instruments. We become the hands, the feet, the voice He needs to reach those who need to find Him. God uses us, His children, to demonstrate His love and care to those who need Him—the hurting, the displaced, the impoverished. We become His hope when we yield to Him. As we mature in Christ, we learn from Him the exact nature of His will for our lives.

UPDATE:

My word for 2014 is Hope. We, who rely on God, demonstrate hope for those around us. We become Christ’s hope when he presents us with a ministry, a task to do for the kingdom. As I wrote this in mid-December, I had a decision to make. Had I had to give an answer on this issue two weeks ago, I believe I would have said I couldn’t do the job. But, what I saw told me that I may be able to do this task.

I made my decision on December 30, 2011. I am not able to do what someone asked me to do. Praise the Lord, she understood. While I wanted to do what the person asked me to do, I had to listen to God in light of some health issues.

Then, I re-read what I wrote back in 2010.

I am humbled by the thought, “We become His
hope when we yield to Him.” I want to be used by Christ this year. How do you feel about this thought?


Linking to: beneaththesurface-dawn.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

In God’s Presence

  


"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, 
who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.”
 Psalm 89:15

The act of praising God is a learned response. As we learn of his goodness to us, we feel the need to give back to God. We don’t say “praise the Lord” to impress those around us. We say it because we feel thankful to Him for what He has done for us in our time of stress- emotional, as well as financial- a need, or physical illness.

As we go through life, we walk paths assigned to us. We are not alone as we are on our path, God is with us. Even when our ‘path’ diverts to trying circumstance, God’s presence makes those circumstances easier for us to get through them. However, we don’t have a pass that allows us a life with no problems.

As an experiment, we should mentally ask God if any person we pass in our daily activities- grocery shopping, going into the pharmacy to pick up something, getting gasoline, people we deal with in our jobs- needs to be in His presence.We might find that those people we see are dealing with deep hurts or an illness of a close family member. Then, we should add that person or persons to our prayer list. By doing this, we take those people into the presence of God.



Graphic: youtube.com

God Alone

  Jesus and the children at our church's prayer walk.          I will both lie down in peace and sleep;  For You alone, O LORD make ...