By Verlyn Mahaffey
Do you remember the two bands mentioned in Sunday’s testimony by Jen Goss? I don’t! She said this is what we would probably remember. But what I do remember is the word HOPE! Within her testimony she shared how the people in a certain country for 20 years told the story through art of how people were killed when a bomb was dropped and many, many died. And this is what was passed on from generation to generation! Then she shared a wonderful truth with these artists that they should begin to pass on a story of HOPE! I said yes, the story of HOPE! We have this Lord, a wonderful, powerful, life changing HOPE, a LIVING HOPE in Jesus to live in and pass on:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” (I Peter 1:3-4 NIV)
Life has pain, hurts, disappointments, disruptions, but my HOPE is in God, not my circumstances, not in this world, not in other people! We are promised that there is an inheritance that will never perish and is kept in heaven for us. The Psalms are rich in expressing man’s feelings and thoughts and the thoughts of God in showing us Himself. Look at Psalm 33:18-22:
“But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”
Now this is true HOPE to be passed on, a HOPE that is based on the true nature and character of God. You can with all confidence say that you are never hopeless. Think about it! There is no circumstance, no time in your life that you could possibly be hopeless if you are trusting in God. Now if I can only live like I truly believe this!
A prayer from the Psalms for this week: “Lord, when doubts fill my mind, when my heart is in turmoil, quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.” Psalm 94:19 (Living Bible)
(A plug for our spiritual journey starting August 29: Psalms: Lament to Praise….Encounters with God!)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Promises...
By Adam Forsberg
This past week my family and I went to California on vacation. We headed out to the airport Saturday morning for our 11:30 flight, only to find that our flight was delayed by about two hours. We were promised that we would take off at 1:30 PM, and that we would still make our connecting flight. As expected, we didn’t take off until almost 4 PM, causing us to miss our connection. Luckily there was another flight later on that evening, but we were stuck in Minnesota for a few more hours. Going to California was amazing, seeing the beaches in LA, to huge redwood trees, to the mountains at Yosemite. But all throughout the trip, promises were made to my family that were either were not fully kept, or were just flat out lies. Some of these things were information about hotels and their amenities, departure times, ticket prices, food quality, and lots of other little things. After a while, you start to become disappointed, and start to loose faith in any promise that is made to you.
This really got me thinking about how great it is that all of God’s promises are true. We can put our full hope in what God says, without ever having to worry about Him lying, not keeping His promises, or coming up short. What a relief it is to know that the things that God promises us in His Word are completely, one hundred percent true. God gives us multiple examples of this throughout the Bible. A few are to Abraham and Sara (Genesis 21:1 “…and the LORD did for Sara what he had promised.”), to Paul (Acts 9:15 “…This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.), and to us, our resurrection from the dead to live with Him forever (1 Corinthians 15).
We can trust what God tells us, so there is no need for us to worry about our lives, what will happen to us or others. Because we know that all His promises are guaranteed, we can have peace through every part of life, and have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Listen to this song that reminds us of God’s promises. Afterwards, look up different promises that God has made to us (Romans 15:13 for example), and dwell on the fact that they are completely true and trustworthy.
This past week my family and I went to California on vacation. We headed out to the airport Saturday morning for our 11:30 flight, only to find that our flight was delayed by about two hours. We were promised that we would take off at 1:30 PM, and that we would still make our connecting flight. As expected, we didn’t take off until almost 4 PM, causing us to miss our connection. Luckily there was another flight later on that evening, but we were stuck in Minnesota for a few more hours. Going to California was amazing, seeing the beaches in LA, to huge redwood trees, to the mountains at Yosemite. But all throughout the trip, promises were made to my family that were either were not fully kept, or were just flat out lies. Some of these things were information about hotels and their amenities, departure times, ticket prices, food quality, and lots of other little things. After a while, you start to become disappointed, and start to loose faith in any promise that is made to you.
This really got me thinking about how great it is that all of God’s promises are true. We can put our full hope in what God says, without ever having to worry about Him lying, not keeping His promises, or coming up short. What a relief it is to know that the things that God promises us in His Word are completely, one hundred percent true. God gives us multiple examples of this throughout the Bible. A few are to Abraham and Sara (Genesis 21:1 “…and the LORD did for Sara what he had promised.”), to Paul (Acts 9:15 “…This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.), and to us, our resurrection from the dead to live with Him forever (1 Corinthians 15).
We can trust what God tells us, so there is no need for us to worry about our lives, what will happen to us or others. Because we know that all His promises are guaranteed, we can have peace through every part of life, and have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Listen to this song that reminds us of God’s promises. Afterwards, look up different promises that God has made to us (Romans 15:13 for example), and dwell on the fact that they are completely true and trustworthy.
Doing the Little Things
By Eric Miller
This past week I had the opportunity and privilege to speak at a High School camp in Pennsylvania. It was a humbling experience. I realized that being a passionate follower of Christ is hard work. I realized that I take so many things in my daily life for granted. But most of all, I realized that it’s easy to pray and read my Bible
because I’m “supposed to” or because its expected of me … but if I really want to see God work in my life; then I cannot survive without prayer and Bible reading. You see for a long time now, I’ve had this burning desire to truly see God do something amazing, something HUGE, in my life. I’ve wanted to witness Him do something I can’t explain or justify. Don’t get me wrong; I know He’s at work in my life and all around me. I
don’t doubt that at all. I also love seeing Him do the little things and can praise Him just the same because of those. But for some reason, I don’t want to be content with that. I want to be a part of something so much bigger than myself. And that’s where it hit me.
… God cannot use me for something big IF I’m not doing the little things right. If I pray before meals because that’s what I’ve always done. If I read my Bible when I’m preparing for a lesson at Youth Group or if I have time and feel like it. No! I should be praying constantly, about everything that passes through my mind. Every decision I have to make should be rooted in prayer. If I want God to move in the lives of the students of our church, then I need to talk to them less and talk to God on their behalf more. Rather than trying to problem solve and ask other people for advice, I should be asking God and reading His word. For every hour I spend in worry, I should spend two hours in His throne room pouring out my heart. It must start with doing the little things and doing them well. I will not mindlessly pray over something just because I’m supposed to. I want to start fervently praying for things, big and small, because of my need for God and knowing that I can’t do it on my own. I want to start reading my Bible with a hunger and thirst for the wisdom that only God can give. I want to stop singing worship songs to Him while allowing my mind to be somewhere else.
This past week I had the opportunity and privilege to speak at a High School camp in Pennsylvania. It was a humbling experience. I realized that being a passionate follower of Christ is hard work. I realized that I take so many things in my daily life for granted. But most of all, I realized that it’s easy to pray and read my Bible
because I’m “supposed to” or because its expected of me … but if I really want to see God work in my life; then I cannot survive without prayer and Bible reading. You see for a long time now, I’ve had this burning desire to truly see God do something amazing, something HUGE, in my life. I’ve wanted to witness Him do something I can’t explain or justify. Don’t get me wrong; I know He’s at work in my life and all around me. I
don’t doubt that at all. I also love seeing Him do the little things and can praise Him just the same because of those. But for some reason, I don’t want to be content with that. I want to be a part of something so much bigger than myself. And that’s where it hit me.
… God cannot use me for something big IF I’m not doing the little things right. If I pray before meals because that’s what I’ve always done. If I read my Bible when I’m preparing for a lesson at Youth Group or if I have time and feel like it. No! I should be praying constantly, about everything that passes through my mind. Every decision I have to make should be rooted in prayer. If I want God to move in the lives of the students of our church, then I need to talk to them less and talk to God on their behalf more. Rather than trying to problem solve and ask other people for advice, I should be asking God and reading His word. For every hour I spend in worry, I should spend two hours in His throne room pouring out my heart. It must start with doing the little things and doing them well. I will not mindlessly pray over something just because I’m supposed to. I want to start fervently praying for things, big and small, because of my need for God and knowing that I can’t do it on my own. I want to start reading my Bible with a hunger and thirst for the wisdom that only God can give. I want to stop singing worship songs to Him while allowing my mind to be somewhere else.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
High School!
By Camille Coston
My name is Camille Coston and I will be going into ninth grade next year. A couple of my fears about going into high school are how big it is, the people, the teachers, the grades, and also the peer pressure! I am excited about going into ninth grade because I want to be in the Olympics when I get older and I’m hoping that by doing track next year the start of my dream will be fulfilled. This is something I would really want to do and I believe that God has a plan for my life! Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I know that God has a plan for my life if I want to believe it or not, whatever that plan might be.
The biggest fear I have of high school is definitely the peer pressure! Pressure to get involved with drugs, boys, sexual immorality and all the stuff that people might be tempted to do in high school! I am well aware that high school will be very different from middle school and I will be going T.J high school! To me, T.J. is a rough school to go to because there are so many people there that won’t be living for God and wanting to be obedient to Him! I am just scared that the devil will tempt me to do things I know is wrong.
I pray that God will help me through every weakness and help me find my strengths. God is not only a solid rock but He is also alive in me! During my freshman year at T.J I hope to grow in my faith and become on fire for God!
My name is Camille Coston and I will be going into ninth grade next year. A couple of my fears about going into high school are how big it is, the people, the teachers, the grades, and also the peer pressure! I am excited about going into ninth grade because I want to be in the Olympics when I get older and I’m hoping that by doing track next year the start of my dream will be fulfilled. This is something I would really want to do and I believe that God has a plan for my life! Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I know that God has a plan for my life if I want to believe it or not, whatever that plan might be.
The biggest fear I have of high school is definitely the peer pressure! Pressure to get involved with drugs, boys, sexual immorality and all the stuff that people might be tempted to do in high school! I am well aware that high school will be very different from middle school and I will be going T.J high school! To me, T.J. is a rough school to go to because there are so many people there that won’t be living for God and wanting to be obedient to Him! I am just scared that the devil will tempt me to do things I know is wrong.
I pray that God will help me through every weakness and help me find my strengths. God is not only a solid rock but He is also alive in me! During my freshman year at T.J I hope to grow in my faith and become on fire for God!
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