A WORD THAT GIVES LIFE AND HOPE

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

– Acts 20:32 NIV

Proverbs 15:23 says, “A person finds joy in giving an apt reply-and how good is a timely reply.” What inspired this post is the timeless and timely word God continues to speak to me that reminds me, reassures me and instills confidence within me that He cares about me and He is concerned about me. I was actually just relaxing and enjoying the moment of solitude afforded to me at this moment that led to the desire to post the expressed appreciation of how I have been privileged to witness the word of God at work in my life!

The Apostle Paul declared in the book of Romans, “As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations. He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” – Romans 4:17 NIV My reflection was in response to the thought of God’s faithfulness to  motivate me, move me and position me to step into something better, greater and new despite the reality of the current condition of circumstances that may not reflect where I desire to be in life. That thought led to reflection upon a recent conversation shared with a friend who recently had God move in their life as they sought to wait patiently for Him and we were dialoguing and fellowshipping around the truth of scripture when God moved just at the time we were discussing the value of applying what we learned from the life of Sarah when God promised she would have a child and she decided to act feeling God had forgotten her.

Reflecting upon this led to me thinking about what is written in Acts 20:32 regarding the grace of God’s word provided to build us up and position us to gain access into the inheritance of those who are sanctified. Time again I rejoice in being a witness to the manner in which God makes use of His word to uplift, encourage, motivate and move me to respond to Him and take action that leads to restoration, transformation and transition into something greater, better and new! All this led to this post today! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

May God bless you and help you receive the word of His grace to build you up, position you to inherit His promises and experience the fullness of life Christ came for us to have.

PRESS FORWARD, PUSH THROUGH & PERSEVERE BEYOND

“A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.”

– Mark 5:24b-27 NIV

When life opposes faith sometimes the intensity of the adversity can erode the inspiration of hope for the greater, better and new. Even the bible teaches in the book of Proverbs that hope deferred makes the heart sick. Jesus is described in Matthew’s gospel in the Garden of Gethsemane, while under great duress and distress anticipating the tremendous burden of suffering for the sins of humanity, as being overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. An extended period of elapsed time abiding in the company of misfortune and grief will cause even the mightiest among us to question, ‘How long?’

The calamities of life that oppose my vision of where I desire to be and aspire to go can distract me and cause me to forget about my desired destination. Adversity has a way of diminishing my ambition for a future hope and belief in God for something greater, better and new. How grateful I am to God for the way He manifests Himself, reveals and makes Himself known to me that keeps me moving despite what I face that tries to turn me back from the direction of my destiny and away from God.

The life of the woman illustrated in Mark’s gospel is a constant reminder to me of what I need to do to step into the destiny of what God has promised me according to His word involving His future hope and plans for me. We are introduced to the woman in Mark 5 in the midst of her dilemma being sick for extended period of time and no matter what she did to get better, things progressively got worse. She could have easily resigned to the belief that her lot in life was to remain sick, depleted and without hope for something greater, better and new, but she didn’t. Hearing about Jesus aroused her and stirred her on a journey towards the fulfillment she always sought after and desired but appeared always out of her grasp.

The crowd that pressed around Jesus became another obstacle in her journey towards recovery, but she did not let it dissuade, dyer, or distract her from her ambition and goal. She pressed through the crowd, pushed through the obstacles standing between her belief and the manifestation of God’s promise and persevered despite any real or perceived challenges that got in the way of encountering the miraculous! She is but one of many who can testify to us about the principles of determination, initiative, persistence and the type of fortitude it would take to step into one’s destiny. The greater question is, “Does my life tell others about these principles too?”

May God bless you and help you to keep in step with His Spirit to step into the fullness of what Christ came for us to have.