I am currently doing a four day Bible reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app. It looks at Abraham, Joseph and David and how they overcome their setbacks. I am finding it encouraging and thought I would share it.
‘Overcomer: Finding Strength in Hard Seasons’. Check it out here:
https://www.bible.com/en/reading-plans/19630
Hope is a simple word, but something we all need desperately. In an ever changing world, we all need hope to hold on to. Hope keeps us looking forward to the future with the expectation of good things happening.
Before I came to Christ in my early 20s I thought I had hope. Despite not being in good health, I hoped to find my wife, get a good job, buy a home and that my health would improve. All of these things did happen, but they were all limited to this life.
After I came to Christ I found the hope I really needed. It was a hope for this life and a great hope for the next. I was now right with God, my sins were forgiven, I had a calling to serve and I had a heavenly hope for when this life is over. I would spend eternity with Christ.
After following Jesus for more than 30 years my hope is stronger than ever. Despite the world around me not looking good at times, I still have a great hope that is found in Christ. He is my true north or my anchor when life is tough. He holds me in the palm of His hand and He is far greater than anything life can throw at me.
Hope for me today is all about H.O.P.E. It is about Holding Onto Promises Eternal. This is true hope. The hope we have in Christ. The hope that He is preparing a place for us. The hope that He is coming back. The hope we will spend eternity with Him.
Yes I still have hopes and dreams for this life, but my ultimate hope is in Christ. My ultimate hope is eternity with Him. This life may last another 5, 10 or 20 years for me, but my true life will begin when I take my last breath here and I see His face. Oh what a great day that will be!
In the meantime I hold onto promises eternal.
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
For me the compliments I remember and the ones that come when I am feeling a bit flat or low in spirit. They seem to make it through and touch my heart.
A few weeks ago someone I know well and have worked with said this to me, “You have a real gift of pastoral care. Wherever I go to work where you have been, the people rave about your care and compassion”.
The person did not realise at the time, but I needed that compliment more than they knew. It was more than I knew too! When I got home I shed a few tears of thankfulness and appreciation that my work was making a difference.
As someone who has worked as a Pastor, Companion Carer and now a Chaplain, we do what we do in response to the call and gifting God has given us. But sometimes, we need encouragement from the people around us too. It builds us up and encourages us to keep serving.
So, on that day, at that time. Hearing someone say those words really touched my heart. It lifted my spirits and encouraged me to keep pressing on in my service to God by loving and serving others.
As a Chaplain I get asked lots of questions. Someone recently asked the question “What is Jesus doing now?” We were talking about His return to heaven after He gave the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) to His followers.
Two things came to mind off the top of my head. I thought I would share them today.
1. He is interceding for us – Romans 8:34 tells us that Jesus is before the Father praying on our behalf. Like a lawyer pleads to the judge for his client, Jesus is pleading and praying for us before the Father. He is our heavenly representative!
2. He is preparing a place for us – John 14:1-3 says that Jesus is preparing a place for us. He tells us that there “are many rooms in His Father’s mansion” and that He is “coming back for us one”. He wants us to be where He is.
So what is Jesus doing now? He is praying for us and preparing the place we will spend eternity. That is great news…..in fact I think that is awesome news!
Today’s Our Daily Bread had a really good insight in the reading. It talks about Jesus and our work on the cross and how we are forgiven and purified by Him…
The apostle John reminds us that “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and encourages us to walk in fellowship with Him (vv. 6–7). Elsewhere, Paul reminds us that we “are not in darkness” but are “children of the light” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–5). In 1 John, the apostle challenges us to “not sin” (2:1). But because we’re still not perfected, we do continue to sin (1:8). John assures us that when we confess and repent, God will “forgive us our sins” (v. 9). Our “advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (2:1), “through the shedding of his blood” (Romans 3:25), is “the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins” (1 John 2:2; see 4:10). The NIV Zondervan Study Bible describes “atoning sacrifice” as what Jesus did on the cross in “removing guilt and purifying sinners (expiation) and appeasing God’s anger toward sinners (propitiation).”
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