The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
Tag Archives: Hope
On Facebook a few years ago, I encountered two posts from “Hope for the Broken-Hearted”. It feels like a good fit for where I am today.
One was a “Prayer of Release” in which the supplicant releases burdens and control to God, requests the promised peace of God, and thanks God for the subsequent protection and sustaining peace. The Bible clearly calls us to humble ourselves before God and to cast our cares on Him in 1 Peter 5:6-7. Philippians…..
God of All Comfort
There are a few items I have been batting around in my brain regarding God’s comfort. In John 14:26-27, Jesus promised the presence of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter in His place: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I…..
Jesus Never Changes
Fifteen years ago, Dan was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Seven months of treatments involving chemotherapy and radiation followed. The year before I had developed a digital “Change Management” file, in the face of my own three surgeries in seven months, that was very helpful in dealing with the 180° turn-around that cancer brought into our lives. In those documents are ideas about change, like the human circumstance of constant change (as in, there are three constants…..
Every Home Has a Hush
There’s an old Spanish saying that “Every home has a hush” – everyone carries a burden in some form or fashion. But it was the poet Robert Browning Hamilton who suggested that difficulty can be a strong teacher:
“I walked a mile with Pleasure; She chatted all the way; But left me none the wiser, For all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow; And ne’er a word said she; But, oh!…..
What God’s Grace Teaches Us, Part 1
Throughout the Epistles, biblical writers greeted their readers with the desire that they receive grace and peace. Since Scripture is clear that salvation is an outcome of God’s grace, how would the believers who were addressed in the New Testament letters not already have grace? Like most aspects of our salvation, there are multiple meanings for the biblical term “grace” and they relate to differing tenses. In the past, the Grace of God…..
Faith in God Who is My Rock and Strength
Metaphors of God’s strength appear throughout the Psalms: my Salvation, my Strength, my Rock of Refuge, my strong Refuge and Guide, my Strong Habitation, Shelter, and Tower, my Shield, Help, Maker, and Deliverer. During weeks such as this one, in which my husband was in the hospital from Monday through Thursday during Covid when there are no visitors (even spouses) allowed in hospitals, those metaphors become very real to me. God…..
Planted! (originally published Dec. 29, 2017)
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 55:22, “Cast your burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain you: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” The New Testament version of this is found in 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.”
Websters dictionary lists at least ten synonyms for the word “move”. They include proceed, persuade, activate, drive, impel, start, stir, act, budge, and…..
Psalm 27 is one of my primary go-to passages when I can’t see past the chaos and need encouragement.
Christianity in the Long Run
Acts 6:31 tells us “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” At that point of belief through which we enter into Salvation, we are redeemed, adopted, and sanctified. Our lives don’t freeze in that moment. Except in the case of eleventh-hour deathbed conversions, we generally aren’t carried to Heaven in that moment. We continue to live on this earth as spiritual newborns in Christ growing in the knowledge of God.
Scripture…..
Forever
When I was ten years old, my fifth grade teacher asked the class what we thought we would be like or be doing at the turn of the century. The purpose of the exercise was her philosophy that, having lived a full decade, we should know what we wanted to do as adults and focus on that for the rest of our academic careers. When I thought about the year 2000, all I could imagine was my age. I…..
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