Hope


Remember your promise to me, for it is my only hope. Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles. Psalm 119:49-50

There is a saying –
You can live for 40 days without food,
You can live for 7 or 8 days without water,
You can live for 4 or 5 minutes without air,
But you can’t live at all without hope.

The suicide rate in many countries today is higher than it has ever been. Even teenagers are ending their lives before they have hardly begun; despairing, helpless and without hope. Many people suffer from chronic depression and struggle daily to find something to hope in or for.

At the end of a few busy weeks of ministry I experienced a very painful time of doubt and depression which left me feeling helpless, useless and hopeless. Daily I struggled with an assault on my mind and I was very tempted to lose hope of ever being able to make a useful contribution to life. It was not a nice time. It was hard to pray or even to read a couple of Bible verses.

What was happening to me? I was under an attack from the enemy of my soul, Satan. He is the one who wants to take away our hope, our self worth, even our life, if he can. Jesus told his disciples that Satan was out to rob, kill and destroy (John 10:10).

One morning as I listened to a sermon, a scripture spoke to me, it lit a spark of renewed hope in my soul. Its truth touched a chord in my heart and I received it, began to think about it and let it do its healing work in my life. The healing restoring process began at the moment I received that truth. The word of God is living and powerful and it has healing power for our soul. A few days later I read some other verses in Habakkuk 3:17-19. It says this “….yet I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. (That’s my choice), The Sovereign Lord is my strength! (That’s my confession), He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains. (That’s my victory). I noted in my Bible “It is my choice to rejoice.” I was on the pathway of praise to mental and spiritual health.

The verses in Psalm 119 hold much truth for us. Find or remind yourself of a word from God that you can hope in. In your difficulty, whatever it is, hold onto that word from God and let it comfort and strengthen you. Let it do its work in you and watch it bring new life, hope, peace and joy, until you too can say with me “Your Word, Lord has given me life.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank you that your Word is living and powerful and that it has the power to bring healing and life to me as I meditate upon it. Let your Word dwell richly in my heart and mind this day. Amen

Darkness


You will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives from prison. You will release those who sit in dark dungeons. Isaiah 42:7

Have you ever felt that you were in a dark dungeon? I have! I remember a few days after my son was born that there was a day when darkness descended on me like a thick black cloud. I can still “see” that day in my mind and recall the horror of despair which was what we called the “baby blues”. As the darkness enveloped me it was as though I could see nothing else around me. My mind was dark and filled with heaviness. It was surely like being in a dark dungeon.

That day Jesus released me. He came in the form of a dear lady, Peggy, who came and took me and my two children out into the light of the world where depression lifted and, thankfully, did not return. We just went for a drive and perhaps a meal at her home but it was enough to overcome the darkness and set me on the path of hope again.

If you do not know what it’s like to be in the dark dungeon it’s more difficult to understand those who are, but perhaps you could ask the Lord to make you aware of someone who is in the dark and you could pray for them and perhaps find a simple way to help lift them out into the light. Such an act of love will bring its own reward back to you.

The Bible says, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all”(1 John 1:5). He is the One who can bring light to our dungeon but sometimes when we are in the pit we don’t seem to have the will or the strength to even want to be free. That is the time that we need someone else who will help us up.

In those dark times Satan tells us that we can’t do it and that we have no choice but to remain in the dungeon. The truth is that God has given us a free will. Just like in the Garden of Eden when Satan spoke a half truth to Eve, that is a half truth and half lie. We can’t do it alone but we DO have a choice. We can decide to ask Jesus to lift us up and out of the dungeon and we can do some things to help ourselves. We have the choice to read a verse or two of scripture or to put on some praise and worship music; we also have the choice to say “yes please” when someone offers to help us up.

The good news is that we do not have to stay in the dungeon. God will provide a way of escape.

Prayer: Thank you God that even the darkness cannot separate me from you. You are always with me and ready to lead me out into your light. Amen

Friendship


A man that has friends must show himself friendly and there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 KJV

As I have grown older my attitude towards a number of things has changed. One of those things is friendship. I was never one to have a lot of friends growing up and I tend to think that I may have experienced some difficulties in friendships because the words of my mother still ring in my ears “to have a friend you have to be a friend”. She obviously said it often enough for it to make a significant impact on my life because I found myself speaking those same words to my children and now to my grandchildren. Today I value friendships dearly; they are very precious to me.

Yes friendship is definitely a two-sided thing. To be successful there has to be both give and take or it becomes an unhealthy relationship. We have probably all experienced people who have used and abused our friendship and when we were brave enough to set some boundaries in place they became offended and went off sulking. Friendship that is all-consuming and selfish is an unhealthy friendship. We need to be wary of someone who wants to “own” us. That is not the kind of friend we need!

The friends I value are the ones who will listen to me when I am hurting and love me through it. Ones with whom I can be honest about my insecurities and failures. Ones who will also be able to share their difficulties with me and allow me to support them through their tough times. In Proverbs 27:17 it says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” This is the best part of a good friendship, you sharpen one another, challenge one another, stir one another up to do better, dream bigger and achieve greater things. These are the kind of friendships to look for.

The very best friendship of all that we can have is with our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the friend who will always stick closer to us than any other. He will certainly challenge us, stretch us and draw the very best out of us if we will take up the challenge of obeying His word. He will then call us His friend (John 15:14). I know that I want that honour. Do you?

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you want to be the very best friend that I can have. Help me to choose my friends wisely and be the very best friend I can be. Amen

Broken-hearted


The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

There are many broken-hearted people walking in our world today. We could probably call them the ‘walking wounded’. I suspect, though I have not researched this, that by far the largest group of broken-hearted people would be those who are the casualties of broken homes. Wives, husbands and children who have lost a partner or parent through death, divorce or other family dysfunction.

The scripture offers great comfort to these dear ones. It tells me that God is very close to them and that he wants to bring healing to them and save them from their despair. What a promise! I do not mean to be glib when I say this, but being broken-hearted can be a tremendous blessing because in that time of vulnerability we may be more open to God than at any other time in our life.

Just 2 months before my 13th birthday I came home from school to find that my mother had attempted suicide by taking an overdose of drugs of some kind. I was not aware of the despair which drove her to such drastic action, an action which caused great upheaval in our family – a forced move and many weeks of treatment for her in a psychiatric hospital which was a 2 hour drive away from our home.

It was in those early months during her illness that I came to hear the gospel – the good news that Jesus Christ loved me and died for my sins. At that time I think I was in great need of knowing that I was loved, and my hurting and vulnerable heart responded with eager joy to the invitation to have a personal relationship with Christ who loved me enough to die for me.

If you are broken-hearted today, God is very close to you. He wants you to reach out to Him and receive His help and comfort. Perhaps you know someone who needs to know that God cares about their brokenness. If you have received comfort from God for your brokenness you can share the good news with them and ask them if you can pray with them? Bring God’s presence to them by allowing His love for them to flow through you. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says this, “Praise be to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Become a channel of blessing and comfort for He says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for your comfort. Thank you for the promise that you are near to the broken-hearted and that you will save those who are crushed in spirit. Help me to receive this truth as a reality in my own life so that I can bring your comfort to others who are hurting. Amen

Following


If someone serves me, let him follow me. John 12:26

We were fascinated this morning as we watched a shag and a pelican fishing for their breakfast in the lake. The shag, quite a small bird, was obviously the leader whether he meant to be or not. Wherever he swam, the pelican followed, dipping his head low as they zigzagged in and out under the jetty. When the shag disappeared under the water for a time the pelican watched to see where he would appear and would alter his course to continue following. The result for him was some good fishing. He obviously considered the shag to be worth following and he was well rewarded, so long as he continued to follow the shag’s lead.

To be a successful Christian we need to learn how to follow Jesus, our leader. Too often we can get caught up with following people and relying on them rather than developing a more personal relationship with our Lord. Because people are imperfect we may end up being disappointed and hurt if they don’t meet our expectations. It may even cause us to be disillusioned with Christianity because we were taking our lead from man rather than from Jesus.

Just going to church on Sunday does not make us good followers of Jesus either. It may make us good church attendees but we may not be growing in our knowledge and understanding of God’s ways unless we are serious about pursuing and keeping our eyes on Jesus, our leader who said, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24).

If we say that Jesus is our leader then we need to follow him. That means knowing his instructions through reading the Bible and learning how to tune into the Spirit of God, our teacher, who will give us adjustments in our direction as we walk through life. “Your ears will hear a word behind you saying “this is the way, walk in it” whenever you turn to the right hand or to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21). Again a warning in Psalm 95:7-8 “Today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion…..”.

Read God’s word to understand His will for your life. Listen to His voice and adjust your direction. Remember that His “fine tuning” instructions will never contradict what is written in His word. This will make you a good follower. God promised Joshua good success if he would read, meditate and follow God’s word (Joshua 1:8). The same promise applies to us as we follow God’s way. Learn from Mr Pelican to be a good follower and like him you will have good success!

Prayer: Dear Lord, Help me follow you closely and learn of your ways so that I can be a good leader too. Amen