Where are you placing your future? Is it done with Hope and Assurance?

January 10, 2020 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Do you have verses that are yours? One of my life verses is Jeremiah 29:11. I first connected with this verse when I was asked to choose a verse for my grandson at his baby dedication. God led me to Jeremiah 29:11 and I began to cling to the promises it holds. The connection for today and every day is the hope contained with God’s Words. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This verse tells me God knows me and my future and He has good planned for me. Those things He has planned are designed to give me hope and a positive future. I am convinced that God loves me and wants the very best for me. I am convinced that God is good, desiring the best for me- for my good and His glory. How can I not have hope?

Does this mean that everything will always be good, happy and fulfilling? No. It means that whatever happens in my life, God can use it for my good. Romans 8:28 confirms this, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Since I know and love Jesus, I am assured that He can and does use all things in my life for good. In the hard times, it is difficult to be assured of this, but looking back or looking at others suffering we can often get a glimpse of this truth. This calls for our faith and trust in Him.

I cling to the truths of Jeremiah 29:11 when hard times come, when I see amazing things happen, when I look and plan for the future and seek to know what He would have me do. I ask for His help and guidance as His will is perfect His direction is true. Let Psalm 25:4-5 be your prayer as it is mine. “Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
⁵Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
    and my hope is in you all day long.

Linda

Got Hope in 2020? Anchor it in God’s Steadfast Love.

January 7, 2020 nofearlinda2 Comments

As we look at hope in scripture we see survival hope, hope in His Word and today I see hope in His steadfast love. God’s love is an anchor for our soul and His love surrounds us 24/7. Knowing God loves us- gives us Hope, knowing God is trustworthy and faithful gives us Hope that is secure in that love. John 3:16 reminds us that God’s love is what motivated Him to come after us, free us and send Jesus to suffer and die to redeem us for all eternity. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This love, eternal and sacrificial is ours so that we may have Hope.

In the Psalms David captures this love hope and puts it into words we can cling to: Psalm 33:18 “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,” Psalm 33:22 ” May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you.” Psalm 147:11 “The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” We see in these verses hope comes from knowing God’s unfailing love because we revere, worship and adore Him. Hope comes when we put our trust in God, and God is pleased or delighted by our reverence and fear. We know that God is love, and the proof of His love is His sending Jesus to save us. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”1 John 4:10

Meditate on God’s steadfast love today and consider how that love gives you HOPE: 1 Chronicles 16:34 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” Psalm 13:5 “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” Psalm 33:22 “Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.

Begin 2020 with Hope rooted in God’s Steadfast Love,

Linda

Find Hope for Living in 2020

January 3, 2020 nofearlindaLeave a comment

The Bible assures us of Hope in various ways. As I mentioned first we have survival hope, that is filled with God’s promises, mercy, care and love. It is continual hope that never quits and demand our praise because of its consistency and unendingness. Psalm 71:14 “But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.”

Today let’s look at the Hope we have in Scripture. Psalm 119:114 “You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.” Psalm 119:147 “I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.” Psalm 130:5 “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;” The psalmist knows that God protects him, as He says so in His Word. He know that in all of life’s circumstances when he calls to God for help, he knows God will answer as He says so in His Word. He also knows that timing belongs to God and that as he waits he has hope because of God’s faithfulness in His Word.

Do you have Hope because of the assurances God gives in His Word? For this to be true, you have to open the Bible daily and feast upon His Word. You have to hunger to know Him more fully and rely upon His Word. Make it a priority this New Year to join a group that studies God’s Word each week. Perhaps your local church has such a group, if so join and make it a priority. Perhaps you need another place to study, look up the following organizations and see if there are classes meeting in your city. Both groups have studies for men, women and children. These are both Bible base interdenominational, internationally available studies that systematically delve into God’s Word seeking to know Him more fully and to apply scripture to life. Bible Study Fellowship and Community Bible Study classes are both found world wide! Look up you city, country and see if a class is close to you. https://www.bsfinternational.org/ and https://www.communitybiblestudy.org/

Delve into God’s Word in 2020 and discover HOPE for living.

Linda

2020 A New Year, A New Decade- How will you survive?

January 1, 2020January 2, 2020 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Yesterday I was in the look back mode, but today January 1, 2020 I am looking forward. Each year I have a habit of choosing a word to guide my year. Last year God gave me the word Trust and Wow! did I see that word week after week. I learned to lean upon God and trust Him in new, painful, scary and exciting situations. It was amazing how Trust kept coming up again and again, reminding me of who I am and where my Trust needs to be placed.

This year God has given me the word Hope. I have always loved writing and talking about the hope I have in Christ, but I feel His Hope will reach into all corners of my life. So I thought it wise to spend a few weeks looking into HOPE and seeing how hope is described in God’s Word. The verse I found to start with is Psalm 71:14 as it seemed to capture the hope I feel right now as I begin this new year. “But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.” Psalm 71 was written by King David in his old age. He reflects upon God, his dependence upon Him and God’s continuing faithfulness. David resolves to continue praising God just as he has done since his youth. “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.” Psalm 71:5

May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
    with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who seek my hurt.
¹⁴But I will hope continually
    and will praise you yet more and more.
¹⁵My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
    of your deeds of salvation all the day,
    for their number is past my knowledge. Psalm 71:13-15

David knows the ‘world’ will come against him, yet he knows God will deal with them. He has his hope placed in God and will praise Him. No matter what as he knows God is sovereign and in control of all things, people, and places. He vows to continue to proclaim what God has done for him.

This is a challenge as we face a New Year. We know for certain that things will come against us-as they always do. What we know, like David, is that God is faithful and will stand with us. We need to trust in His sovereignty and mercy and cling to Him in HOPE. That is my answer to, How will I survive in 2020? I will cling to Him in HOPE knowing with absolute faith that God is faithful, loving and merciful. He will be gracious to me as I place my HOPE in Him.

Looking forward to 2020 with HOPE,

Linda

Looking forward with Hope, backward with Thanks 2020 here we come!

December 31, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

I always love December 31 because it means I am on the brink of a new beginning. Those failures I’ve experienced during the year can end, and I can start fresh and new. Hope springs eternally in our hearts as we walk in faith and trust with our Lord and Savior Jesus. In Psalms 42 and 43 David questions himself repeatedly with these words: Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation.

David wonders, and so do I, why I fret over failures, defeats, troubling circumstances, etc? His answer, and mine, is in trusting God alone. His hope, and mine, is in God and the salvation He provides for eternity. So as I end this year, I will reflect on what I achieved for Him, what God did in and through me, and look forward to the New Year with Hope. I will look backward with thanksgiving in my heart as God has been 100% faithful in all things just as He promised.

Isaiah encourages us in 49:29-31 that the Lord knows the way, will provide and lead us in His way of hope.

He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Will you join me in focusing on Hope and what God will bring your way in 2020? Not only is it a New Year, it is also the beginning of a new decade. Resolve to move Onward and upward with Christ alone!

Linda

God’s Revelations Through Advent=God’s Abounding Attributes

December 26, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Advent of 2019 has been very confirming and uplifting to me. As I wrote about the Christmas story, Messiah’s long awaited arrival on earth, I was filled with wonder and praise for our Almighty God. Seeing the story anew through the lens of who-is-god God’s attributes gave me a glimpse into the magnificence and depth of our God. I saw God’s accessibility, grace, omniscience, as a person, His incomprehensibility, invisibility, holiness, as a preserver, merciful, a promise-keeper, righteous, sovereign, perfect, omnipotent, provider, merciful again, glorious, Savior, faithful, just, wise, Father, guide, love and eternal.

For 25 days we have looked into the character of God and reflected on how His character could impact us. God desires that we are accessible to Him and to others. He gives us grace and asks that we show grace to others. God alone is omniscient, incomprehensible, invisible, personal, preserver of all things, righteous, sovereign, perfect, omnipotent, glorious, Savior, promise keeper and the giver of eternal life. He calls us to be holy as He is holy and to wear the righteousness of Christ though faith in Him. Be merciful towards others and lend them helping hands. God wants us to be faithful to Him and to those around us, just in our dealings with others, a giver of wise council, good father’s and mothers, guide others towards Him and to be open to His leading. He wants us to keep our word and follow His Word. God desires that we love Him and love those He has placed in our life as much as we love ourselves.

David reached the following conclusion about God in Psalm 86:10-13.

No pagan god is like you, O Lord.
    None can do what you do!
⁹All the nations you made
    will come and bow before you, Lord;
    they will praise your holy name.
¹⁰For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.
    You alone are God.

Thank you for joining me this Advent. May you be blessed as you endeavor to live for Jesus and grow more and more life Him each day.

Linda

Christmas with Eternity in Focus!

December 25, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Merry-Christmas

Today we celebrate the birth of the Christ. His birth was foretold by the ancient prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born…” The place was foretold in Micah 5:3 “But you Bethlehem…”. He came to earth that day born as a human child, yet one who would lead a sinless life and die to save us from our sins. We believe that only God’s Son, Jesus, could satisfy Holy God and bring us back into relationship with God. Isaiah foretold in Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” So where does that leave us? If we believe He was born miraculously as a man who was both fully human and fully God, and He was able to die to save us from our sins, what more is there for us to believe? He is coming again. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, we need to remember the story does not end in the manger or at the cross. The story of the redemption of mankind will end with us living with God for eternity. Just as His first coming was heralded by angels so will His second coming. Just as His first coming was miraculous, awesome and breathtaking so will His second coming be worthy of King Jesus when we meet Him in the air.

What do these events say about God? God is eternal. God exists outside of time. He is not measured by anything. We measure time by the movement of the planets and stars, which God created. God has always been and always will be. No one is like Him. We are not eternal because we have a beginning and an end. Because God is eternal, He can give us eternal life. David described God in Psalm 90:2 “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, form everlasting to everlasting you are God.” John wrote in Revelation 4:8 “Holy, holy, holy is he Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come.”

With our finite minds, the eternality of God is difficult to grasp. However, we can be assured that God is who He says He is and will do as He has planned for eternity. Jesus is the one who holds the key to our eternal life. John 4:13-14 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Come to Him this Christmas and be filled with His eternal blessing. Look past the manger, past the cross and look forward to His return!

Linda

Love, the motivating factor in the story

December 24, 2019 nofearlinda1 Comment

In our journey this Advent Season we have walked with Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zachariah, Anna, Simeon, the shepherds, the angels and the Wise Men, from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth. We have seen our Omnipotent, Omniscient, Sovereign God in control and guiding all events. Today, Christmas Eve, let us look at the prophesy Isaiah gave concerning this Christ Child, Emmanuel-God with us. Let us marvel at God’s Love for us. The depth, width and scope of what He would do to show His love so we could be reconciled to Him. Isaiah 9:6-7 was written 700 years before Christ’s birth.

Isaiah-9-6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Jesus was the full expression of God’s LOVE for us. He loved us before we first loved Him. His love is complete, eternal, uncompromising, faithful, true and unchanging. Scripture tells us that God is love. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 Here are a few scriptures describing God’s love:

Deuteronomy 33:12 ““Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”

Psalm 63:3 “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

God loved us so much that He sent His beautiful, wonderful Son to accomplish our reconciliation and redemption. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Thank you God for loving me so much and saving me.

Linda

Never doubting their guiding God, Jesus and family return

December 23, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

Herod the Great died in about 4 B.C. so an angel appeared to Joseph again and gave them the directions they were waiting in Egypt to hear.

Matthew 2:19-23: But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”

History proved Joseph’s fears to be real and God’s direction faithful as Herod Archelaus was an incredibly cruel and tyrannical. He was deposed after 10 years and the Roman’s took over with governors appointed by the emperor.

Joseph followed God’s direction and settled in Galilee in the town of Nazareth. God was an amazing Guide throughout Joseph’s journey’s. From leaving Nazareth to travel to Bethlehem with pregnant Mary for the census to Egypt and back to Nazareth, God led the way. God was their guide. God leads us in the way we should go. His Word teaches us how we are to live and think. Because God gives His children the Holy spirit, they recognize His voice and follow Him. We can trust God to lead us in the right way. Without God’s guidance, we would stumble and fall like people in darkness. Jesus is our guiding light so we can walk with God where He leads us with confidence and assurance.

Just as God was their Guide, He can be our guide in life too. We just need to listen for His voice, John 10:3, “The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” We can be confident that God will guide and lead us. Here are a few verses to reassure you can trust Him as your guide:

Psalm 23:2-3 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalm 31:3 “For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me;”

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Psalm 48:14 “that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever”

May you follow His leading each day, knowing that God is faithful and trustworthy. He will guide you, just as He did Joseph and Mary.

Linda

Where did Jesus go? Escaped to Egypt, just as God promised

December 22, 2019 nofearlindaLeave a comment

After the visit of the Wise Men to see Herod, it was only a matter of time before Herod discovered Mary, Joseph and Jesus. The Wise Men did not return to Herod and tell where they had found Jesus, but listened to God’s warning and left the country another way. Matthew 2:13-18 describes what happened next.

“When they had gone (the Wise Men), an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” God knew the inquiry of the wise men would stir up jealousy and hatred in Herod, so He sent an angel. Like before when the angel appeared to Joseph, he was obedient and did not question the wisdom of God. He took his little family south to Egypt and remained there and waited for further direction from God.

Herod, in the meantime, did not wait to act when he discovered the wise men did not return to tell him of the new king. He knew they had found him and had slipped away.

“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Leaving a trail of blood, hatred and jealousy is Herod’s legacy. God knew this would happen and foretold both the fleeing to Egypt and the destruction of innocent lives hundred’s of years beforehand. Jesus came to fulfill all prophecies concerning Messiah and He did.

Where do you see God in this portion of the story? Certainly we see God’s foreknowledge of events, His care for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, His thwarting of Herod, His messaging through an angelic being, His provision of funds for the trip from the Magi’s gifts, His protection…. God showed his fatherly care of this new family and of Jesus’ mission for all mankind. God is our heavenly Father. He is the father to all who believe in Jesus, His Son. He gives us His Spirit, adopts us into His family and makes us His children. He speaks to us through His Word and we can speak to Him through prayer. God is always good, wise and loving. He loves and protects, cares, trains and disciplines His children. As a good Father, God gave us His Word, Sent His Son and then His Holy Spirit to help us live lives pleasing to Him. John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”