Posts Tagged ‘ Hope ’
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31 ESV
It feels like Jesus is taking His sweet time returning and our world is growing worse and harder to live in.
But if we trust that His timing is good, and we remember that He has promised He is returning, we will find Him strengthening us through the Holy Spirit.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
Romans 5:3-4, ESV
The reward helps us endure.
The process mabites us more like Christ.
Christ is our hope!
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4, ESV
Once again, if anyone says we do not need the Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, does not know the Bible. Here, Paul explicitly reminds the reader that even those writings give instruction, encouragement, and hope.
But no weapon will be able to hurt you; you will have an answer for all who accuse you. I will defend my servants and give them victory.” The Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 54:17, GNT
Today, we know we have truth on our side, and living rightly leaves no room for debate or accusation.
Soon, the Lord’s victory will be complete, His enemies made His footstool, and we shall dwell in His presence forever!
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31, ESV
When we are doing God’s work and living rightly, it does not matter what others say and do. We know we are justified, made right with God.
No one can take that from His people.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2, ESV
Do not be confused. Jesus was not happy to die, but He was willing to endure anything for what was on the other side: eternal life with His forgiven adopted brothers and sisters, to the glory of the Father through the Holy Spirit who draws us in guides us to that perfection of faith.
As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven.
Luke 24:51, GNT
Imagine seeing your friend, who you now know is also your God risen from the dead, leaving you again.
But this time you have a mission He has blessed.
And you know He is coming back to be with us.
Forever.
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12, ESV
Young, old, or have a past: do not wait for others to give you a chance.
You live your faith, and live it well in the power of Christ by the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father.
Amen.
Once again, this series is a re-post from three years earlier, with some additions by me.
________________
It is now the second week of Advent! (See last week’s devotional thought here.)
Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.
So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14, ESV
It is important for us to remember that God’s people, the Israelites, those who painstakingly preserved the written Word of God and pursued righteousness, failed to recognize Him when he came to them quite literally in the flesh.
Jesus said just three chapters later, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). Our culture today is largely spiritually dull, even in many churches.
Ask yourself, “Would I recognize God if He approached me today?” Seek His face in prayer, Bible reading, and the fellowship of believers. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Too many missed Him the first time around. Seek the living Lord!
“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 16:7b, ESV
Welcome back, people of the internet!
Today’s topic: FAITH!
Why?
Recently, I have heard several people – including Richard Dawkins, AronRa (an atheist apologist?), Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye the Science Guy – all call faith in general, with Christians in particular, foolish.
These people claim that Christians believe with a blind faith, that they do not believe in the Bible or God for any good reason, but just because that is what they were told to believe.
Is this true?
According to Hebrews 11:1 (ESV):
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
So, what does this mean?
Basically, faith is trusting and believing something based on evidence. Something that is not seen is believed because there are things we can see and test that support it.
A popular example is a chair.
The chair looks sturdy. I have seen other chairs hold people up. Therefore, I have faith this chair will hold me up.
How do I know your faith is true?
Live it out. Show me. Sit on the chair. Show your faith by sitting.
Another example is a compass.
We believe a compass points north, because we have seen so many compasses point north.
(Though, it is possible a compass can be manipulated by magnets …)
“Ah,” you may say, “But that is science!”
What evidence do we see of not seeing things in science?
A lot!
What about black holes?
We have never seen black holes, because they literally eat light. So, how do we know they exist? We have evidence they are there.
An interesting example from the past few years is the Higgs boson.
The Higgs boson is, essentially, what gives matter mass (the ability to have weight and substance). It was theorized using mathematics. The so-called “God particle” (actually, the “Oh my God particle”, from a note scribbled by a physicist) was officially discovered by slamming atoms together in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and using the resulting mathematical probabilities to “see” this “thing”.
In other words, it was seen through the symbols of mathematics.
It was not actually seen with eyes. Rather, it was predicted (hoped for) and then proved through mathematics. We used these symbols to express the evidence of what we cannot see to prove (have conviction) that it is there.
In the math.
Scientists use written symbols to find evidence of things unseen.
Sound familiar?
You could say I have faith that people have faith, even when they are “faithless.” Because I see the evidence.
They say “These words made out of symbols and numbers tell me this should be here, and I am going to believe it because all of the other math checks out, too.”
Because we have these words that tell us about Jesus.
Some of you may remember the Four Core Facts I covered a few years ago. What does this have to do with anything?
The Four Core Facts:
If you are willing to objectively look at this evidence, you can see the evidence for the truth of God and His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.
That evidence includes that Jesus quoted the Old Testament, which we know existed before He was born, He claimed it was about Him, and then He claimed He would die and raise again.
And He did it! Thus validating what He said.
In fact, this is the ultimate evidence. Paul himself (you know, one of the most successful evangelists for the Church, having planted so many throughout the Roman Empire) said this is all that needed to be preached! (1 Corinthians 1:22-23, 2:1-2)
It could be argued that the Church itself is the biggest evidence.
Jesus proved it Himself.
So we do not believe it “Just because,” but because Jesus said He would die and come back and did.
God called Abraham to sacrifice his son. Some call this barbaric, but it really is not.
Abraham and his wife were way too old to have children, but God said “You will have a son.”
When God then called him to sacrifice this son, I can guarantee you that he thought something like, “Well, you said I would have a son through whom you would multiply my descendants, and here he is. You could easily bring him back to life, so though I may not like it, I will obey.”
God did not raise Isaac back to life (He did not need to), but He did do it with His own Son!
So there is faith: “I have seen the evidence. I may not see God. I may have seen Jesus Himself. I may not be able to see everything the Apostles and other disciples saw, but I see the written evidence.
People just do not want to accept the evidence.
Do have the foolish faith of a Christain or the foolish faith of those who say there is no God? (1 Corinthians 1-2)
I still have faith in science, even with a lot of people who do not believe the Bible, because the math and the science checks out and proves the validity.
I also have faith that God’s Word is true.
a simple man of God 