His Unfailing Love, Our Hope

We saw this one in the sky east of our home.

“May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,

even as we put our hope in you.”

Psalm 33:22 (NIV)

This past Sunday was World Communion Sunday/Unity Sunday. The churches of my denomination in our town held a Unity Service at the High School auditorium.

This service came at the end of a weekend of being a part of a retreat experience with women from another church. As a result, I spent time reflecting on who I am, what I need to do to grow closer to the LORD, and how I can let the light of Jesus shine through to others.

Our bishop spoke at the Unity Service and told of visiting the place where a lot of his ancestors were buried. The caretaker of the cemetery took him and his wife into a shed and showed them a wall that showed the family tree of his people. The bishop asked a question of the caretaker. The response he received was, “Since your name is ******, we’re cousins, it will be all right.” Because they bore the same name, they had a bond. Because we bear the name of Jesus, we are all related through the blood of Christ. We sometimes forget that when the enemy throws his nasty darts at us.

Two of my close friends and I talked as we walked out the door. We all felt the need to get more serious about prayer. As my one friend and I drove from the parking lot, we agreed God will do some wonderful things when He sees we are ready.

How do we get ready for God to act in our behalf? We spend time with Jesus in prayer, study His Word, and ask Him to guide us through each of our days.

That prayer part—we need to be serious about it, no praying on the run. Spend a quantity of time at least each morning or evening in prayer.

That Bible study part—we need to either get up earlier or forgo some television time to be in His Word.

 

That part about letting Him guide—we have to let Him be ‘in the driver’s seat’. God has the best of intentions for us, if we let Him be in control.

Please don’t think I have reached perfection in these things because I haven’t. I get frustrated about things; even say things that I shouldn’t. This last week, I felt I had to apologize to two different women. One for something I said and did to one and something I should have said to the other. All I could do was pray about my inattention to what was happening. Both were gracious to tell me they understood my actions.

My prayer group is praying for revival. One thing we took away from that that Unity Service was we have a lot more things to pray about.  

We have to have hope in God that He will guide us through issues that vex us and help us as we go through our days.