Renewing hope in hopeless times
“He won’t go to sleep…The Lord is…at your right side…[He] will…keep you safe…wherever you go.”
Psalm 121:3-8 CEV
The last time you checked, wasn’t God still bigger than any terrorist attack, financial disaster, illness, accusation, or mess you found yourself in? Well, He hasn’t changed! plus His angels are watching over you 24/7.
www.thewordfortoday.com.au
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
Some are still wrestling with this promise, one day wondering what kind of fool offer this is, the next wondering what kind of fool would turn it down. Who else can get us home? Who else has turned His grave into a changing closet and offered to do the same with ours? Let’s take Jesus’ offer … we don’t want to miss this chance to see our Father … we need to give God our answer: say yes to Him. Our prayer needs no eloquence, just honesty.
Excerpted from 3:16 the Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado.
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” Jeremiah 32:27
Morning by morning, new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand has provided:
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me– Chisholm.
There’s a lot of rubbish timber on my property and it needs to be dealt with! It’s a bit like the rubbish in our lives… it just accumulates as trees die, limbs fall, and weeds grow… everything becomes has become such a mess. Until the junk around the grove of trees is cleared away, it can never be a nice place to sit and reflect on the ways of God in our lives. That’s the same sort of things with our lives… how much rotten wood is laying around choking out the beauty of who we are and and keeping us from enjoying ourselves and God.
Have a great day!
Our hope is in Jesus Christ.
“The Lord directs the steps of the Godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Psalm 37:23-24 NLT
God has a way of bringing us through rough situations and reminding us of where we came from. Then when we experience success, we realise like Joseph that it was God who opened the door and God who gave us favour and success. Now it’s our turn to bless others!
The QE2 paid its last visit to Sydney this past weekend. It’s a very beautiful ship. My pastor and his wife were on board having completed a cruise from New York. They had a wonderful time and met up with some lovely people. They were most encouraged to meet up with other Christians on board. The chaplain and his wife were even able to come to our church yesterday.
I was camped at my property in Majors Creek last week and had a fun time watching the gang-gang cockatoos eating the hawthorn berries. The trees were full of them, all cracking open the berries and eating the centre. They did this all day! I was ignored as I walked around taking photos of them. I’ve been told that as the berries ferment the gang-gangs get tipsy. I suspect they were beginning to experience that as I watched them. The morning I left they were screeching and it reminded me of someone with a hangover….
The one in the photo here is female. The male has a red head with a red tuft. They are really quite delightful!
“Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory.” Revelation 19:6-7
The more clearly we see God’s sovereignty, the less perplexed we are by man’s calamities.
At the recent “Airing the Quilts” fair at Braidwood, NSW I found this delightful quilt depicting the birth of Jesus. As it is Christmas, and a time to realise that through Jesus we have hope beyond anything that rational humanity can comprehend. God bless you as you reflect anew of Jesus, the Son of God, coming as a human babe
What follows is an article I have just read addressing the issue of ‘guilt’. Guilt and self-pity often walk hand-in-hand bringing down an immense sense of helplessness and hopeless. The self-focus of these two keeps a person’s eyes off God and thoroughly fixed on the problem(s) they struggle with. The article is written by Alfred C.W. Davis, MBA, M.Div. of Agape Healing International Inc.
Many Christians say they feel detached, numb, alone and cut off from God. They often describe their situation as feeling like being in a prison, a pit, a box or some type of bondage. When I hear these words in a person’s story, along with the descriptors of shame and self-criticism, I begin to listen for the condition of “guilt” that presents itself as a lack of self-forgiveness . I define guilt as: atoning for one’s own sin through self-punishment. Leanne Payne describes it in her book “The Healing Presence” as “our failure to receive forgiveness from God – P.82.”
In our culture, we are taught to be responsible and performance oriented. We learn that we need to do things to take care of ourselves. When we experience a feeling of remorse, we intuitively start to do something to deal with it in our own strength. God’s solution of confession, repentance and receiving the forgiveness of the cross seems too easy. So, we use our superior intelligence to complicate the process. Knowing that we are guilty, we begin down a destructive path of self-criticism, self-judging, self-accusing, self-condemning, self-blaming, self-loathing, and self-hating. This process is a form of self-wounding that leads to confusion, fatigue, headaches, hopelessness, depression, suicide and possibly death.
In 2 Corinthians 7:10 it is described in this way, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but wordly sorrow brings death.” Judas is an example of how guilt works. In Matthew 27:3-5, it says, “When Judas, who had betrayed
him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse”….. “So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself”. Judas could not forgive himself and his way of dealing with his wordly sorrow was to punish himself by taking his own life. This is the extreme result of guilt, but even in less extreme forms, guilt still leads to spiritual death and a separation from God. Guilt is a form of unbelief that says “The forgiveness of the Cross does not apply to me.” In a distorted prideful way, guilt leads the person into a process of self-justification through self-punishment.Godly sorrow is the conviction that I need to get on my knees and confess to God my sin and inadequacy. In 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The problem is that guilt makes us believe that we are not purified and not forgiven. After confession, many people revert back to guilt and function out of the repetitive cycle of self-criticism, self-hatred and self-punishment. But, God’s plan is better. He wants us to be free of the pain and hurtful feelings so that we will sin no more. His solution is to empower us so that we will repent and change and live a more holy life. Receiving the forgiveness of the Cross is the key to living a victorious life.
How does one overcome guilt? First, be aware of how the words of guilt create a self-imposed prison. Second, work through a prayer of self-forgiveness and lay down all the self-destructive words. Third, invite Jesus into the dark place where you have been hiding and ask Him to lead you out. Fourth, accept the truth of the forgiveness of the Cross of Jesus Christ and claim the benefits of freedom for yourself. This is God’s plan for you, as it says in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourself be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Retrieved from: Dr Grant Mullen’s Article Archive
October 20, 2007
Suan Bua resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Waterlily @ Suan Bua resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Water Lily leaf, Suan Bua Resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Suan Bua Resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Suan Bua Resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Suan Bua Resort, Chiang Mai, 2007
Decorative bamboo at Suan Bua resort - photo art
Decorative bamboo at Suan Bua resort - photo art
Decorative bamboo at Suan Bua resort - photo art
Suan Bua resort - photo art
Suan Bua resort - photo art
Suan Bua resort - photo art
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