Share God's Love

If you have been reading here you know that my church is exploring an OASIS theme together as a way to think about our vision and purpose.

O Offer Hope
A Advance God’s Kingdom
S Share God’s Love
I Invest in People
S Seek God’s Purpose

I've posted sermons the last few weeks, but this week I am just posting scriptures. We are reading these passages from Psalms as part of Sunday's worship service. They focus on God's love.

Psalm 63:1-8

O God, you are my God; I earnestly seek You
My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory.
Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
how I praise you!
I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
I will praise you with songs of joy.
I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.
Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
your strong right hand holds me securely.

Psalm 103:8-14

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.

Psalm 89:1-2

I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever!
Young and old will hear of your faithfulness.
Your unfailing love will last forever.
Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.

Those who begin to understand the kind of love God gives to us should begin to explore how that love can be shared! Below are some that will help you begin to think about how God’s love is shown through us to those around us.

Consider reading one passage each day this week, and spending some time thinking and praying about what God may want to speak to your heart. Who is around you who needs to know His love, and what can you do about it?

Monday John 13:35,

Tuesday I John 3:16-181

Wednesday John 4:16b-20

Thursday Romans 13:8

Friday 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

Saturday Ephesians 3 17b-19

I'm off to pack for the Festival of Homiletics. Back in a week!

Shoe Blogging

I am about to do something I have never done before. I'm about to show you pictures of my new purse and my new shoes. Cheesehead does it all the time and she gets terrific shoes! There are several reasons I have never posted pictures of shoes before, but I guess the main one is that this is my usual footwear. Well, I also have a black pair and a white pair.

The sensible me says that I should, considering my difficult beginning in life, rejoice that I can walk. I do, oh I truly do. I am also very glad to have this footwear. It is important that I not end up with terrible arthritis in my feet and that I walk with more stability and less pain than is possible otherwise. I love my braces and shoes, and I thank God for them. Of course.

Ahem.

The woman-who-loves shoes me says I hate these ugly monstrosities. The braces are hard plastic, which is not so bad in winter when I can put them on over a pair of thick socks, but is quite another thing is warm weather. (It is the one and only thing I dislike about warmer weather.) That woman also whines that it is impossible not to spoil the look of even the cutest or classiest outfit with those clumpy shoes. It's true. Shoes can change the entire look.

Once in a while, I rebel. I know I will pay for it later (especially if I do it more than once), but I do sometimes don still-sensible-and-flat-but-less-ugly footwear. Sigh. "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," saith the Preacher. So at the Festival of Hommies next week I will usually be sensible and wear the shoes I should wear. But I will occasionally wear these. Had to show you.




And here is my new kinda red spring purse. The Rev Gals and Pals who will be attending also will be able to pick me out of the crowd, don't you think? :-D Or you suppose red purses will be the order of the day for clergywomen? Uh oh.

Updates on SIngingOwl's Life

This is my husband, Ken (in blue), and his younger brother, Kevin. I took the picture two years ago at a picnic spot by California's Lake Isabella. Some of you who read this blog have known me for a long time, so you may remember the story of when Kevin, who we had not heard from in over 25 years, suddenly called us one night about ten years ago, I think. After a long conversation with Kevin, Ken and I cried, and we rejoiced, and we wondered, and we prayed, expressing surprise and gratitude to God that this brother who was lost had now been 'found."

Kevin was a handsome and sweet little boy who became a rebellious, drug-abusing teen. He lived with an older sister after Mom and Dad couldn't handle him anymore. And when his sister kicked him out of her house, he came to ours. There were good moments, but mostly it was not a pleasant time, and Kevin left with much anger and bitterness. Ken saw him once, several years later, at their sister's funeral, and then not again. Attempts to reconcile or even talk were fruitless. We eventually gave up--though we heard bits and pieces about him now and again. His life has been a rather tragic one, and eventually he ended up homeless for many years. He should never have survived, but (I think solely by God's grace) he did. We would have taken him in if he had been willing, but we never managed to contact him.

He is a diabetic, and after losing a leg, and suffering greatly, he gave his life to the keeping of God and he forgave us, and others. Thus, the phone call. We have been in touch, off and on, for several years now, and about four years ago he was able to come visit us. Two years ago we were finally able to visit him for a short time in California. Seeing him after all those years broke our hearts. What a change--he is frail and in almost constant pain, but he has once again become quite like the little boy we knew years ago. It is very strange. For quite some time he has been living in a situation I will not describe, and a few days ago he called to tell us he was at the end of his ability to survive without help. He will be coming here very soon to live with us. My mother's little "suite" will be Kevin's now, and we will see what comes. This will be challenging for all of us, but we never hesitated in asking him to come. I know this is a bit personal, but Kevin is not shy about sharing the story.

My mother is continuing to slowly deteriorate. I spent Mother's Day afternoon at the nursing home with her. It was very sad.

My brother in law is getting married! I wish I could meet his wife to be. I am happy for him, and he has been without his beloved Darlaine for a long time, considering the Alzheimer's. Somehow though, this sent me into a very sad place of missing my sister more than I have for a long time. It seems, perhaps, truly final now.

Since my "unresignation" things have been both very good and very bad at church. I am still waiting and praying to see what will come.

Ken is facing a physical problem which is potentially very serious, and it may require surgery. We will know more later this week.

I'm okay, and I'm looking forward to attending the Festival of Homiletics next week in Minneapolis. I will stay with the family, and I'll meet many of the Rev Gals and Pals, and I will hopefully return feeling like I will be a preaching dynamo. I'm still singing, which is always a good sign for me, but I'm feeling a bit topsy turvey, doncha know? ;-)

Life is so strange, sometimes.

Advancing God’s Kingdom

This is the second sermon in the OASIS series.

The letter A in OASIS reminds us that we will be people who seek to "advance God's kingdom."

Sounds good, and a bit churchy, doesn't it?

But what exactly is the “Kingdom of God?”Jesus speaks of it again and again in his parables and in the famous "Sermon on the Mount."

We must understand what Jesus means when he speaks of “the Kingdom” -- not merely because we look to it as a future reward (Heaven), but also because it affects how we live and think right now.

We prepare for the future kingdom by living in it today, obeying what our King teaches. As we live in faith, we recognize God’s rule in our own experiences in this world, and we continue to confidently hope for a future time when the kingdom will be filled to the full and "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.”

From Acts, Chapter 2:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues [languages] as the Spirit enabled them.

Staying in Jerusalem were God-fearing Jews from many nations… When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?...We all hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Then Peter stood up…and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem…listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: " 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy…. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

The Gospels speak of the Kingdom 120 times, and it is mentioned almost 200 times in the New Testament. What is this “Kingdom?” Jesus speaks of so often?

The Kingdom is:

The sovereign, righteous rule of God. This Kingdom is unlike any other. Power and goodness, judgment and mercy are combined. Though the term arose when the nations were monarchies and the symbolism was more familiar, this was a kingdom very unlike the Romans. God is supreme over all creation, but God’s concern for every person is that of a loving Abba -- a father or even a dad.

Must be accepted in faithful, grateful obedience. There is no kingdom without subjects. The kingdom is not destroyed by human disobedience, for God still rules in judgment. But Jesus’ call to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” certainly calls for human obedience and hearts that will put the kingdom ahead of their own agendas.

A redeemed (rescued and bought back) people and a redeemed kind of society. I do not mean simply a reconstructed social order, though this certainly might be one of the results of a people who take a command to love God and each other seriously! The redeemed are those in whom salvation is sought and found. It is not a community of one, but it is an ever-growing community of individuals. This is basic to the relation of the kingdom to the church, but the Kingdom extends far beyond the boundaries of the visible church.

Opposed at many points! Kingdom citizens do not deny or minimize the power of evil. We can think of the opposition as coming from the devil, or from the demonic powers of history, or from humankind’s ever-present sin, ignorance, apathy, and error. The "principalities and powers" of Eph. 5 confront God’s power. These forces never conquer God, but what we believe to be his purposes may be delayed or frustrated by these things. Kingdom life is not necessarily going to be an easy life!

Present now, but pointing forward. When we pray the Lord's Prayer together we say, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done. Though we seek evidences of its presence now, the fulfillment of the kingdom lies in the future. We may think of this future as eternal life, or a new heaven and a new earth for humanity, or as the conquest of evil in and beyond human history. A view of the kingdom of God is always looking ahead in hope.

But this is Pentecost Sunday. Why do we call ourselves " Pentecostal?" And what does all this Kingdom of God talk have to do with that anyway?

Yes, today is Pentecost Sunday, a day when the Church of Jesus Christ celebrates her birthday. According to scripture, Jesus told his followers to wait in Jerusalem. What were they waiting for? They weren't quite sure, but they did know it was some sort of promise that Jesus said would be sent from God. So, in obedience to Jesus' a band of believers gathered and prayed, and waited for the promised blessing to come. The established order was already changing. After all, women were present in the group, praying and waiting with the others.

Acts 1:8 tells us that one of the last things Jesus said before he left this earth was that his followers would receive power when the promised Holy Spirit came.

Power for what? Power to be witnesses! A witness is simply one who tells what he has seen, heard and experienced. They would, Jesus said, be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Power to be the people of God, the citizens of a new kind of Kingdom.

The Spirit, ruach in Hebrew and pneuma in Greek is the wind, or the breath. The sound of a violent wind filled the house as the Holy Spirit descended and the Church was born.

There are so many wonderful and descriptive metaphors and symbols to help us understand something of the nature of the Holy Spirit. Fire, oil, a dove, water (which we have been talking about a great deal) and wind.

The Wind of God!

The Kingdom of God is for faithful, grateful and obedient people--the redeemed people of God! It is for the warriors, not in any earthly sense but in a battle of cosmic proportions where God's will and reign is triumphant.

Without the promise of power which the Wind of God--the Holy Spirit--brings, these task are impossible. "Wait" Jesus said, "until you are filled with power from above."

The presence of God brings the power to advance God's Kingdom! Young and old, men and women, all kinds of people are called to join us. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

The Kingdom of God is at the center of all Jesus taught and lived. Now it is for us, the subjects, to discover the Kingdom, to declare the Kingdom and to live as empowered, Spirit-filled, citizens of this Kingdom.

Will you join me?

It's a Pentecost Friday Five

"Pentecost Quilt" by Linda Schmidt

Presbyterian Gal from Rev Gals is hosting her first Friday Five, and she included scripture for us..

FOR PENTECOST THIS WEEKEND:FROM ACTS CHAPTER 2: 14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:17 " 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

She says, "My personal favorite in this passage is how Peter insists the men cannot be drunk because it's only 9:00 a.m. Anyway, it's Pentecost and my very first Friday Five! Thinking about all the gifts of the spirit and what Peter said of the "last days"

Have you or anyone you know

1. ...ever experienced a prophesy (vision or dream) that came true?

Yes. Actually several. I was visiting in another state. I was a stranger everyone there except my sister, Paulette. She was new to the church and had not spoken to anyone about me. At the close of the Sunday evening service, which was small and informal in nature, the pastor pointed to me and said something like, "Will you please come up so I can pray with you? You have been sitting in a kind of ray of light this whole service." (Huh? I don't see anything.) Surprised, but not dismayed, since this is not all that unusual in a Pentecostal church, I complied. He asked, "Are you a minister? ?" Now I was surprised. I said yes and waited. He quietly said that I had been waiting a long time for an avenue of ministry to open up, and that I should not give up. He did not know it of course, but I had been planning to resign my "credentials." He went on to add other details, which I won't go into, but the basic intent was to tell me that the day was coming, and not far off, that my prayers would be answered and I would be pastoring a church. I'm glad you asked this question because there was a part of that prophecy that I need to remember right now.

2. ...dreamed of a stranger, then actually met them later?

No. But I dreamed details of what would happen at my son's birth. I told my husband about the strange dream, and then put it out of my mind. It was a dificult and stressed delivery and there was great concern about the baby, but I had a sense of peace. I had dreamt it about two months before--though of course I hadn't know that the dream would actually happen in real life--until it began to unfold. I knew the baby would be alright, and I knew angels were present. I'd already seen it. Wow! Good to remember that. That was a wonderful gift from God to me!

3. ...seen a wonder in heaven? (including UFO's)

My sister, Paulette again, and her husband saw a round, glowing disc in the sky, following the highway. Others were looking too, I think I remember her saying, and pulled theirs over. It got lower and lower and then went up and disappered. Hey, do northern lights count? They are certainly a "wonder" though probably not what Presby Gal has in mind.

4. ...seen a "sign" on the earth?

Not sure how to answer this one. Hmmm....does healing count? I could relate some stories about that. The most recent was a young woman visiting our church, sitting on the back row and not entering in. She later reported to her family that her right ear, which had been deaf since childhood, was hearing. At last report, a few years later now, it is still normal. I think I wrote about this in the our Rev Gal book "Ordinary Time."

5. ...experienced knowledge of another language without ever having studied it?

I have interpreted a "message in tonues" from another speaker on many occasions. But here is a far more fascinating story. We have a young woman, Tara, from our congregation, presently in Africa, who has travelled on several short term missions trips.

That's us in the picture below, as Tara says good bye before heading to Africa.

On a trip to Egypt, one of her team members had an amazing experience. She shared it with me by email and later with our congregation when she returned home. Here is the brief version of the story. A group of them, including Tara, were talking with a blind beggar, trying to overcome the language barrier--unsuccesfully. They walked away, but then one of them said, "I don't know what to do, but I have the strongest feeling I must go back to talk with him." She began to speak to him in Arabic (if I remember correctly), NOT knowing what she was saying, and feeling scared. The man looked shocked and then proceeded to carry on a conversation with her that lasted for several minutes! Tara knew just enough of the language to know that she was speaking to him about Jesus, but none of them, including their teammate, knew what she was telling him. She continued speaking for some time, and then seemed to be finished. I don't know whether I am more impressed about the spritual gift that was occuring or about the courage of a young woman to step out in faith and start speaking sometihng other than English. She did have the "gift of tongues" previously, but I can tell you that there is a vast difference between praying in what some call a "prayer language" where no one but God is hearing you, and doing what she did! I hope I'd be as bold, if the situation called for it!

Bonus Question: What would a modern day news coverage of the first Pentecost have sounded like?

I shudder to imagine! :-)

The "Evangelical Manifesto" is Published

I have not read it yet, but will do so later today. If you'd like to see it, here is a link. I will likely come back and comment after I read it, so feel free to do so if you would like.

Below the Office Window

If you want to see some really spectacular photos, go here to Jules' photo blog,

"The Way I See It."

An Evangelical Manifesto

Proclaiming Softly, pointed her blog's readers here to an article regarding what is being called an "Evangelical Manifesto." It is due to be released in Washington DC tomorrow. I'm interested in the document, and found this quote regarding political agendas on the "right" or the "left" thought provoking:

...faith loses its independence, Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology."

I find that I am avoiding using the word "evangelical" in much the same way that I long ago discontinued speaking of myself as a "fundamentalist" even though by some definitions I would qualify. Though I know many of my friends would disagree, I feel there is just too much emotional, political, and ideological baggage attached these days for me to be comfortable using the word "evangelical." That is sad, I think. And it is why, even though I don't yet know the contents of the manifesto, that I can at least agree with the authors that the word has lost it's meaning.

I wait with interest to see the contents, and to see who does and does not sign it. Wonder why no one asked my opinion? :-)

This quote, "Phil Burress, an Ohio activist who networks with national evangelical leaders, said that if high-profile evangelical leaders such as Dobson and Land don't support the document, 'it's like throwing a pebble in the ocean' and will carry no weight" makes steam come out of my ears.

A friend of mine said it. I repeated it after this correspondence and I'll repeat it again, "Doctor Dobson is not the Protestant Pope."

What do you think? Has "evangelical" lost it's meaning?

Hope In God

My sermon for May 4th, the first in a series based on a metaphor we are using to cast vision--an OASIS.

The first letter in OASIS, O, reminds us to OFFER HOPE.

We cannot offer water we do not have. If we are to truly be an "oasis," we must be people who have hope ourselves and are willing to offer it freely to others..

We think of "hope" as a kind of wishful thinking. I hope I get what I want for Christmas, get asked to the prom, lose weight, find my keys, and so on. The Bible speaks of a different kind of hope. The write of the Book of Hebrews says our faith is sure and our hope is certain.

Our world tells us otherwise.

Romans 5:1-5
Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, who through our faith has brought us into that blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory. We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.

Romans 8:22-25
For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)


Romans 8: 22-25 from The Message
All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

"Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all...As long as matters are hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength." G.K. Chesterton

Why Do We Need to “Hope in God”?

Because is is the only way to hope when things are hopeless. Only God is unchangeable, full of love and compassion and kindness. Discouragement, dryness and frustration often begin with a faulty sense of hope. A person who hopes in God will not be destroyed by hurts from people, because they are not looking to people for their source of satisfaction. If we are dry it may be because we need to place less of our trust in people, things or ourselves and more of our hope in the Lord, the one who promised to never leave or forsakes us.

Paul teaches us how to overcome feelings of tiredness, sadness or hopelessness when he writes, that we wait patiently and confidently!

Things Are Not Yet Right

The earth groans….we do too. Things are not yet made right. People who hope in God have the confident expectation that regardless of what happens, God will love us and sustain us--and some day it will be made right.

Perhaps Paul thought of what David wrote when he was tried and troubled, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God." (Psa. 42:11)

I once read a children’s story about a man sentenced to death. He obtained a reprieve by assuring the king he would teach his majesty’s horse to fly within the year--on the condition that if he did not succeed, he would be put to death at the end of the year. "Within a year," the man explained later, "the king may die, or I may die, or the horse may die. Furthermore, in a year, who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly."

Stuff Happens

When our hope is in the Lord we are not undone when things do not go our way. Paul in NT and David in OT abounded in hope despite their many trials, attacks and troubles. These men were not like some of us that quickly give into discouragement when faced with adversity. Hope is built upon a confident faith that the Spirit will help us look towards better things to come. Hope visualizes the blessings that come with new life through Christ. Placing our hope in God helps us base our expectation on all the characteristics of God instead of our circumstances or feelings. This is expressed in the hymn, "The Solid Rock." I sang that as my first "special" in church. I was about 11 and my knees knocked together. I was grateful they were concealed behind the pulpit! I loved the song then, and I love it now.

"My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand."*

Water for Our Spirits Brings Fruit in Our Lives

Jesus described himself as LIVING WATER. Paul remembered that our roots of faith reach an inexhaustible reservoir of Christ’s grace, love and hope. When a person is consistently drinking from Christ’s living waters they are not overcome by dry spells (and those will, inevitably, come).

David wrote that those we delighted in God’s words were “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." (Psalm 1:3) Ezekiel wrote, "By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing." (Ezek. 47:12)

Allow the Lord to help you yield a greater quantity and quality of spiritual fruit as you grow in your hope in God.

Suggestions

Would you like some suggestions about how to refresh your spirit in God? Here are some I find helpful:

Prayer. This includes both talking with God and taking time to become still and peaceful, seeking awareness of God’s presence.

Praise. It is not easy, but if you stop in the middle of despair and praise God, and I mean aloud,
you are making a conscious decision to hope in God.

Read scripture. You knew I would say that, didn’t you? We know it, but we often don’t do it. We turn on the TV, or we send an email, or we eat or any number of things to distract ourselves. The Psalms are especially good for refreshing your spirit.

Listen to music. Since the goal is to refresh ourselves in God, choose carefully what you are listening to. I love to play the works of Bach, a man who wrote music with the express intention of glorifying God. Perhaps you like hymns. Or you can sing along with praise music.

Choose. I mean make choices that are deliberate and positive. Choose to speak in an uplifting, positive manner. Choose words that are hopeful and encouraging. Avoid negative words like a poison. Sometimes you might even need to, as much as possible, avoid negative people.

Remember, attitude is everything. Choose a good attitude. Yes, you can.

There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Clare Boothe Luce.

Hopeless is Human, But Jesus Promises Refreshing

Only God gives hope when everything appears hopeless. When people become weary, sick or weak they tend to give up hope. Many are depressed, worried and gloomy. Others are overwhelmed, tired and lonely. Every one of us has experienced those things. It is part of being human.

Paul teaches us that the only way to remain hopeful is to develop a thirsty heart for Christ’s rivers of life. Paul knew what it was like to feel tired, ill and abused, but He wrote, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day." (2 Tim. 1:12)

Hope equips us for what lies ahead. The great apostle realized that no one is able to face the trials of life without hope – it is like a fresh drink of water.

Perhaps you are trying to quench your thirst with some other hope besides the Lord? Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." (Matt. 5:8) Nothing else satisfies like Jesus. Turn your eyes and heart toward Him. Allow the Lord to turn your night to day, your gloom to gladness and your sorrow to singing. Ask the Lord to allow you to grow in your hunger and thirst for righteousness and hope.

A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!

Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, what might it do for us?

Are you feeling hopeless? Are you willing to hope in God? Take a deep drink of God’s hope. At times we may have to wait until our hope is realized, but it is as sure as God’s Holy character and word.

* Edward Mote (1797-1874), "The Solid Rock," 1834:

This Made Me Say "Ouch"

I think I am looking forward to attending the Festival of Homiletics in May, because lately I've been reading about great sermons and great preachers.

Leonard Ravenhill said, “No man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying. … We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”

I tend to be one of those who works to avoid failure rather than to gain success. I think I need some tweaking in that area. Nonetheless, that last line struck me rather powerfully. I think there is nothing more important in this world than being a person who is willing to agonize, pray, cling, wrestle, shed tears, live with passion, intercede, and fight for what is right and true and of lasting value.

Help me, God! I do not want to live as less than you created and called me to be!