Be a Living Hope

Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter1:3

Some friendships are what I would describe as high-maintenance. These are friends who get easily offended and get upset if you don't call them every weekend and do something with them and give them a basic, daily update of everything you are doing.

But then there are friendships that go on for years. I have friends whom I have known for more than 20 years. I won't see them for a year, and when I do see them, we actually will pick up where we last left off. It is like we were just together.

In heaven, we will be able to pick up where we last left off with our friends and loved ones. There are things we wish we could have said to them. And there are things we wish they would have said to us. But the conversation was cut off.

Have you ever been talking to someone on the phone and lost service? You were in the middle of a conversation, when suddenly it began to feel like a one-way conversation. This happened to me recently. I was talking to my friend, and we were going back and forth. I asked her something and, after a long pause, wondered, Why isn't he answering me? He had been off the phone for awhile. We had been cut off.

In heaven, there will be reunited relationships and continued conversations. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we will have resurrected relationships.

The gospel is needed

Needless to say that attitude would be the epitome of selfishness, even criminal.  The correct answer is that you want to get the cure out to as many people as possible and as quickly as you possibly can.

To use another example, lets say that you were walking down the street and you heard someone screaming who is trapped in a house that is burning down. What do you do? just hope someone is around who can help or do you take action and do something?

How much more important is the truth of the gospel message, for it is a cure that is even more significant than a cure for cancer, that does not mean doing it rudely or harshly, or look at people as "notches on your belt." It means lovingly, yet boldly engaging them with the gospel message.

 

It's a option of freedom, a new life. we can actually have an impact into the lives of anyone around us, When we share the gospel with others, it's like we are going to a person who is trapped in a burning house, with only moments to live, and pulling them to safety. Scripture describes it as "Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment" (Jude 1:23 NLT).

Evangelism is such an important part of our journey, its the reason we are here to share the good news with everyone we have contact with. Surely surrendering our pride and what people think of us is worth giving up if it means someone can be set free and have Salvation.

His work, His Way, His Timing!

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from the beginning. Ecclesiastes 3:11

Some people start projects with great enthusiasm but then don't always finish them. That is me. I get really excited about starting something, but sometimes I lose interest. For instance, when I cook, I am excited about getting the meal ready and eating it, but then I don't really like to clean up. Or when it is time to clean \my bedroom, I will get three-fourths of it done, and then I will say, "I will finish up the rest later on today." And guess what? I never do.

Aren't you glad that God isn't that way? Imagine if God said, "You know, I love you. I have chosen you. I want to transform you into My image. But I am kind of bored with you. I am moving on now."
 

"What? Wait. You are not going to finish?"

"No. I have moved on. I found someone more interesting than you."

But God finishes what He starts. Scripture tells us that He is "the author and finisher of our faith" Hebrews 12:2."We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne! 

And Philippians 1:6 says, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

But here is what we need to remember: God does His work in His way in His own timing. As Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." But sometimes we grow impatient with God. We say, "Lord, finish this!"

He will finish it—you can be confident of that. But sometimes if we don't see any tangible progress, we think that God has lost interest in us or perhaps has even abandoned us. We need to remember that is never the case. He will complete what He has started.

So if there is anything you have been asking God to do or have a prayer unanswered, my challenge to you is - Keep praying and seeking the Lords will for your life, he will answer BUT in this timing and not ours,

Love & Blessings x

Michelle Hardisty

31/01/2012

Today We looked at Colossians 1 We follow a series called Haverim Devotions and today we looked at the First part P'shat”which means the intended meaning, we looked at the different things Paul was praying for the people of Colsse and then prayer these thing over each other.

Then we went to a school where we did some Teacher assistant work in a RE class, we looked at the topic of the Bible and the reasons why Christians read it, they discovered it was and has been for the past 500 years the best selling book, this gave us the opportunity to share about the Bible and stories within it in more details, the children had lots of questions.

Then we came back and did ministry prep for kids club tomorrow and academy. I had my first mentoring session where we talked about Nehemiah and the things that we struggle with and what we need to do to keep building the walls in our lives and prayed against all the barriers that stop us from doing this.

We finished the evening off at a youth group where I had the opportunity to heap lead worship we sang a great song, set me a fire within in my soul, that I can't that can't control, I want more of you God” this is the cry of our heart. where we watched the “ Noise Nooma” DVD there was a point where all the young people had to be quiet and it talked about reasons why its so hard to be in silence,

We then split into small discussion groups, we had a great discussion in my group, they said how there is so much noise around us and distractions its harder to hear God talk to you, we looked at the passage Matthew 11:28”.......”

- I asked them if there was any problems in their lives they need God to bring rest to and one boy really opened up to us about things he struggled him so we had an opportunity at the end to pray for everyone.