Category Archives: Faith & Hope

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February 5, 2014

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Faith & Hope, Thanks & Praise

From a Senior Citizen in Christ

2014-2-5So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit inside us is made new every day. [2 Corinthians 4:16 (NCV)]

Lord, you may not change through the years but I surely have. Although I may tire more easily, please keep my spiritual life robust and lively. As my body becomes weaker, please make my faith stronger. May the fact that it is increasingly harder to get on my knees (let alone get back up again) never keep me from prayer. My heart will always kneel before you in praise and thanksgiving. Thank you, God, for all that has been and all that is yet to be.

My body and my mind may become weak, but God is my strength. He is mine forever. [Psalm 73:26 (NCV)]

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January 21, 2014

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Faith & Hope, Sorrow, Grief & Regrets, Today: Make it Count

Looking Forward

They will come home and sing songs of joy on the heights of Jerusalem. They will be radiant because of the Lord’s good gifts — the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden, and all their sorrows will be gone. The young women will dance for joy, and the men—old and young—will join in the celebration. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and exchange their sorrow for rejoicing. [Jeremiah 31:12-13 (NLT)]

Lord, don’t let me spend a lifetime mourning what might have been; open my eyes to what is yet to come.

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January 3, 2014

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Bible Stories, Faith & Hope, Miracles

Miracles

Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour. [Matthew 8:13 (NLT)]

The centurion had to go to Jesus before his servant was healed, the leper had to kneel before Jesus before being made clean, the paralytic was brought to Jesus before he could walk, the bleeding woman had to reach out and touch His cloak before being healed, and the blind men had to call out to Him before regaining their sight. What did all of these people have in common? They believed in Jesus and their belief led them to go to Him. If they had believed and not gone to Jesus or if they had gone to Jesus and not believed, a miracle wouldn’t have occurred. They did the work before Jesus performed the miracle. Of course, not every illness will be miraculously healed nor every problem miraculously solved, but there can never be a miracle in our lives if we don’t go to the Lord and believe!

Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” [Matthew 9:29 (NLT)]

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December 21, 2013

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Faith & Hope, Money & Wealth, Prayer

We Are Rich Beyond Words

Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.
You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.
When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me. [Psalm 86:1-7 (NIV)]

In Psalm 86, David calls out to the Lord saying he is poor and needy. At that moment in time, David felt poor and needy but it wasn’t because he was penniless. True poverty has nothing to do with finances; true poverty has to do with lack of faith. God will protect and save us when we have faith in him; He will be merciful and gracious to us when we reach out to him. God will bring joy to our lives if we trust him; He will forgive and love us because we cry out to him. He will hear us and answer us. There is no reason for us to be poverty stricken in God’s world. We are, indeed, rich!

I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! [Revelations 2:9a (NIV)]

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December 17, 2013

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Challenges & Difficulty, Faith & Hope, Prayer

Lord, Help!

“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor! [Psalm 107: 28-30 (NLT)]

Why do we so readily call upon God to help us find our lost keys or to ease traffic so we can get to an appointment on time, and not immediately turn in prayer to Him when there is an illness, a troubled relationship, or a family crises? Are we afraid he can’t handle the really big stuff? This is the God who parted the Red Sea and fed 5000 with a few morsels of food. All we need to do is cry, “Lord, help!”

He is close to all who call on him sincerely. He fulfills the desires of those who reverence and trust him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. [1 Chronicles 29:18-19 (TLB)]

I do not know much about God and prayer, but I have come to believe, over the past twenty-five years, that there’s something to be said about keeping prayer simple. Help. Thanks. Wow.   [Anne Lamott, from “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers”]

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November 30, 2013

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Faith & Hope

We are Never Abandoned

As a deer thirsts for streams of water, so I thirst for you, God. I thirst for the living God. When can I go to meet with him? Day and night, my tears have been my food. People are always saying, “Where is your God?” [Psalm 42:1-3 (NCV)]

Unfortunately, like David, there may be times we feel abandoned by God. Our faith doesn’t make us exempt from troubles nor does it render us impervious to sorrow, depression or despair. Our faith, however, does give us hope. Our hope in God (and professional help, if necessary) can carry us through those desolate and trying times of life.

Why am I so sad? Why am I so upset? I should put my hope in God and keep praising him, my Savior and my God. [Psalm 42:5-6a (NCV)]

A Christian will part with anything rather than his hope; he knows that hope will keep the heart both from aching and breaking, from fainting and sinking; he knows that hope is a beam of God, a spark of glory, and that nothing shall extinguish it till the soul be filled with glory. [Thomas Brooks]