Hope Too

On February 5, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 5: 5

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given.

Don’t lose hope because, just like love, hope does not fail. Even though the horizon may look troublesome, do not give in to fear and hopelessness. Your hope is in the Lord Jesus, our Father and the Holy Spirit who they sent to us. The love that was poured out to us is the anchor of our hope because that love can never fail. It is pure, secure and determined. That love brought Jesus into the world for the reconciliation and redemption of us all. How can you give up hope when the God of the universe is the one who sent you His own love in order to secure you? Look up. Look upon that horizon with renewed faith and confidence. It may look like storm clouds, but it is really your victory on its way to you. Just don’t give up before it reaches you. Through the love of God, your hope will have its satisfaction.

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Trifecta Love

On May 22, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 9

Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

We all know that Jesus is our model, but do we ever consciously consider that he modeled love? Yahweh God is love; His composition is love. So, Jesus emulated His father and showed humanity what real love is.

There is a key in this verse to which I alluded in yesterday’s Word of the Day. Notice that Jesus received love from the Father. What he received, he gave, and in the same measure. He says, essentially, “What I received from the Father I gave to you in like manner.” So, where does that leave us? We must receive the Yahweh Father kind of love and then love others as He has loved us. The potency of God’s love is tripled towards us, though, because we have the love of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. They have poured out Agape love into our very being. “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us,” (Romans 5: 5).

Wikipedia defines Agape love as “unconditional love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance. It goes beyond just the emotions to the extent of seeking the best for others.” This love does not depend on any external factor. It isn’t an emotion. It is a choice, a determination of spirit, though not by works or by strength. Giving Agape love comes from receiving it. God has an infinite capacity for loving us and His love is never predicated on what we have done right. As the definition reads, it is beyond circumstances. As He pours out His love on us, if we will receive it with appreciation and mindfulness, our capacity to love will be enlarged. As we revel in God’s amazing gift to us, we overflow with gratitude resulting in a thankful heart which is better able to give love, even where it is not deserved.

Jesus tells us here that even as God loved him, so he loves us. He doesn’t stop there though. He adds the phrase, “abide in my love.” What do you suppose he meant by that? In a practical sense, how does one abide in his love? When I think of the word abide I think “hang out there.” It is stronger than that though. He means to set up your residence. Pitch your tent in Jesus’ love which is easily said but more difficult in practice. It is not as if we can literally make our physical home in his love, so what does this mean. I believe Jesus is telling us that emotionally, spiritually and even mentally we should stay right here in the midst of his love. The world is too much with us, as Wordsworth warned us. We get so swept up in the things of the world that we stop abiding in his love. We mentally, spiritually and emotionally vacate that space. Jesus wants us to allow his love to be pervasive in our lives and throughout our day. Abiding in his love means that it is constantly with us. We are continually reminded of his great love for us, a love deeper than the deepest ocean, higher than the highest mountain more expansive than space. Keep that in the center of your thoughts, and in the center of your heart. Let your life be absorbed in the love of Jesus, the love of the Father and the loving passion of the Spirit. Then, give some away. Sending you some of His love today.

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Confidence

On April 4, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 5: 5           GW

We’re not ashamed to have this confidence, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Can we truly be confident in the Lord, so confident that it shows? The love of God brings hope and we will not be disappointed in our hope because God has given us the Holy Spirit. Did you know that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to pour love into our hearts? He pours, not dribbles. A great volume of love is available to anyone who will receive. This love brings confidence.

We have confidence that God will never leave us nor forsake us because He poured out His Spirit to us. His Spirit lives in us so God is bound to us. He has chosen to be bound to us. We cannot be separated from Him because His Spirit is in us. That is a powerful statement. Therefore, nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8: 39). Surely this truth yields hope, a hope which leads to confident expectation.

Look at this verse from the New Living Translation, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Is that not special? Here is the Passion version, “And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!”

Just think, it was God’s choice that provides us with a never-ending flow of His love. No one coerced Him. He came up with the idea and the plan. So, our confidence is in His love because He offered it freely even while we were yet lost. When we did not love Him, He devised a plan to furnish us with an everlasting, endless supply of His love and His love never fails. We should have confidence in that love. It is reliable and we can trust in it.

Let your hope in God’s love fill your heart with confidence. There is no guesswork here. God has given Himself to you because He wanted to. If He would give you His Spirit, and His Spirit is constantly pouring the love of God into your heart, what would the Father deny you? He has given the best, why not the rest?

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Hope Alive

On December 6, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 5: 5

[A]nd hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

I feel real sorrow for the unsaved because they have no hope. I think it a horrible thing to live life without hope. When something bad happens in the life of a believer, we can always turn to our father for help in a time of need, and He is always there to render assistance or even a rescue if necessary. To whom do the unsaved turn? What hope have they?

No matter your problem or difficulty; no matter the challenge, you have a constant helper in the Holy Spirit, who was sent into this earth specifically for that reason. No matter how steep the mountain, the Holy Spirit is here to not only help you scale it, if need be, but also to move that mountain completely out of your way. Whatever you are facing today, let hope well up in your heart because God’s love has been poured out into your heart and His love brings hope. Grasp the fact that you have a way out of your most trying problems. You have a way to win. Then also take a moment to pray for all the lost. Even as you thank God that He has given you hope, ask that He send hope and salvation to the needy. Let the world receive hope through the love that was given to us through the Holy Spirit of God.

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Faithful Fear

On December 23, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 3:25

For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

It is a spiritual law that those things which we greatly fear, we will attract to us. Why? We meditate on it. We roll it around and around in our minds until it takes on a life of its own. As we think on that thing of which we are afraid, we experience many of the same emotions and almost to the same intensity level as if they really happened. In our imagination they are real and they have life. The next thing you know we start spitting that unbelief and fear out of our mouths. Language is how God created all that is. Our words have tremendous power in our lives. So when we harbor fear and dread in our hearts we continually give it life until we finally give birth to that which we have most feared.

But take heart! Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4: 18) and God is love (1 John 4: 8). God is that perfect love which has been shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5: 5). Cast all of your care upon him; cast all that you fear into his hands because he cares for you (1 Peter 5: 7). You now have no reason to fear. He has taken all of the fear unto himself and given you his perfect love in its place. Meditate on the depth of God’s love for you and you will be so full that there will be no place for that fear any longer. Bless God!

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