“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.”
— Oswald Chambers
Tag: hope
More than Watchmen for the Morning
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
(Psalm 130:5,6)
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The Path
“The Spirit of truth will come and guide you in all truth. He will not speak His own words to you; He will speak what He hears, revealing to you the things to come and bringing glory to Me. The Spirit has unlimited access to Me, to all that I possess and know, just as everything the Father has is Mine. That is the reason I am confident He will care for My own and reveal the path to you.” -Jesus
(John 16:13-15 The Voice)
For people who have been deceived in the past, the real challenge is to not dismiss the truth for fear of being deceived again. Until we learn to trust the voice of the One who loves us perfectly, the deceiver is still winning.
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Holding On and Letting Go
I’m holding on to hope
I’m holding on to grace
I’m fully letting go
I’m surrendered to Your ways
For some reason these lines from the song, Anchor, have been stuck in my head for a couple of weeks.
Perhaps letting go of anything that does not glisten with hope, or float with grace is surrendering to God’s ways.
Grace gives us permission to move and explore like an unsteady toddler who is anchored to a loving Daddy’s finger…
or like a pretty fushia in her ballet skirt, dancing in the breeze, yet nourished and sustained by a connecting stem.
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Disappointment… and Promotion
There’s nothing quite like disappointment to reveal what we really think.
A.W. Tozer wrote: ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’
Disappointment then, can be a deal breaker for us, or a notice that we are about to be sent to take a course that will upgrade our knowledge and prepare us for a promotion. Disappointment can reveal weaknesses in our assumptions about God and either cause us to turn back or motivate us to press on and pursue him to learn about the aspect of himself that he wants to show us next.
Pioneers learn to handle disappointment well because they need to learn from their own mistakes, simply because there aren’t that many ahead of them who have gone this way before. Learning from one’s own mistakes has the unexpected bonus of appreciating the wisdom and experience of others when the opportunity is there. Pioneers also learn to discern the difference between the wisdom of those who have pressed on in spite of set-backs, and the negativity of those who are sitting in their own disappointment, watching it congeal into bitterness.
God is good and nothing is impossible for Him. There’s always more to learn about him and he wants to draw us into deeper relationship. Keep going.
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Anticipation
When our characters are refined,
we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness.
And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need
because the Holy Spirit that was given to us
has flooded our hearts
with God’s love.
(Romans 5:4b,5 The Voice)
I couldn’t decide, so I posted both photos. Which do you prefer?
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Gaining Hope
Gaining hope,
I remember and wait for this thought:
How enduring is God’s loyal love;
the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion.
Here they are, every morning, new!
Your faithfulness, God, is as broad as the day.
Have courage, for the Eternal is all that I will need.
My soul boasts, “Hope in God; just wait.”
(Lamentations 3:22-24 The Voice)
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Streams of Hope
With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”
And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind
and unplug the ears of the deaf.
The lame will leap like a deer,
and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!
Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,
and streams will water the wasteland.
The parched ground will become a pool,
and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.
Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish
where desert jackals once lived.
And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
(Isaiah 35:3-8)
Charis: Subject to Change 