hope

I will I will not be consumed

| Ramblings and Scribblings for Jesus

Lamentations 3:21-24

“Yet this I called to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions, never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.”

Let’s face it our world is full of sin. Everywhere there is sin and sorrow. All you have to do is read a few headlines, or turn on the news; it is easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you’re leaving God out of the equation. 

Maybe you’re going through a time of sorrow, the death of a spouse, parent, child, or a dear friend; or possibly you’re walking through a divorce, a failed marriage, you are disillusioned and feeling alone. It’s easy to feel alone or overwhelmed by it all when we stare at our circumstances or the world more than we stare at the Lord.

The prophet Jeremiah had these problems in his day, and he saw a ray of hope in all the sin and sorrow surrounding him. “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” Jeremiah knew where to turn, and to whom he should look. He knew from past experiences that God is always faithful. God is full of compassion. There is no sin or sorrow he cannot heal. And God always responds to us when we ask him for help. (Jeremiah 33:3) And I believe he wants to astound us with his goodness and mercy. 

Jeremiah knew that punishment would follow disobedience, and it did. But God also promised future restoration and blessings, and Jeremiah knew that God would keep his promises. Do you believe that God will keep his promises to you? 

If you are looking to anyone or any other place except to the Lord for deliverance from whatever it is you’re facing, you’re looking in the wrong place. God alone is Sovereign over everything! God is our ever-present help. God‘s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. If you do not want to feel overwhelmed, scared, guilty, etc., read God’s word and pray, and after you’ve done those things wait. 

Every morning we have new mercies, and every morning we need them. We are not always faithful, but God always is. We have to get to the point where we stop looking for the world to fill any void inside of us, and instead remember, “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.”

Don’t look to the world for your peace of mind, don’t look to celebrities, don’t even look to those around you, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and his word, and then the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace! 

What we all need is God, we live in a world that doesn’t want the things of God. It pushes its agenda on us daily, sometimes hourly. Stand firm and know that one day, on THAT day, this world and its hardships and sin will all pass away, but the Lord will remain and all His promises to us will be fulfilled. 

I don’t know about you, but that makes me so excited! I plan to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, to fill my heart in mind with his word, and fellowship with him in prayer. He is my portion! 

TWO SIDED

| Ramblings and Scribblings for Jesus

Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character, and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Paul is giving us some difficult concepts in these verses. He is telling us that the Christian life is a two-sided thing. We are both complete in Christ meaning we are accepted and secure in him, from the moment we are born again, but we are always growing in Christ, becoming more like him through the trials and tribulations of life. My Bible commentary says it this way: “We enjoy the status of Kings and the duties of slaves. We feel both the presence of Christ and the pressure of sin.”

We see in verses 3 and 4 the process by which we are being perfected.
We learn to rejoice in suffering, knowing that because of it, we gain perseverance, and because of perseverance we gain, character, and through the character, we gain hope. Landing us in this; “hope does not disappoint,” Why does it not disappoint because, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.”

We are under construction, with the goal being that day by day we will look, talk, and act more like our Savior Jesus Christ. For early Christians suffering was the rule, not the exception. Today there are Christians all over the world who live under constant suffering, torture, and some death. Nowadays it seems most Christians are seen as the enemy and have some types of persecution just for being a believer. When we disagree with the world, the woke folks and the political agendas being thrown at us, they say we are haters, yet we know we hate sin, and pray for those who are blinded by it. We also know that none of us are without sin. The difference between us and them is we have repented from our sins, accepted God’s gift of salvation, and now are citizens of heaven. We have been forgiven, and stand before God clean.

We don’t rejoice in suffering because we enjoy pain or hardships, but because we know that God is with us in our suffering. He is working His plan out in our lives, and He is faithful, and we can trust that these things we go through are being used for our perfecting. Suffering builds our character. We develop perseverance as we go through the many rivers and valleys of life. God wastes nothing. Not one hard moment in your life has been wasted. You may not see what good God has brought from it on this side of heaven, but we can believe that if He said he brings good, it is a done deal. His word is truth!

So, as you go through life, your character, perseverance, and strength are being built up, and you can know that you are secure in your acceptance as a child of God in His Kingdom. You are already royalty, and you wear white robes and have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. This two-sided walk we take on this earth as we are passing through can take the stuffing out of us, ( trust me when I say I have experienced it more times than I like,) and it can sometimes cause our faith to shake, but it cannot rob us of the finished work of Christ in our lives. God knows when we are low on our faith meter, but He does not abandon us or even shame us for it, He knows who we are and how we are made. It was His hand that did the forming, and it is His hands that are doing the perfecting.

Square your shoulders mighty warrior, one day this life and all the ups and downs, hurts, and trouble will end, and you will stand face to face with your Lord and Savior, your faith will be sight, and all of it will have been well worth it! He knows we struggle. He sees our fears, our tears, our little faith, and He says come to me, let me give you peace, rest, strength, and help; let me make something far greater out of you and in you.

People this world is not our home, one day either in death or when he returns for His bride we will see him, all this hard will pass away in a moment in the twinkling of, an eye. What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see when I look upon His face the One who saved me by His grace when He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. COME, JESUS COME!

THE SPACE BETWEEN YOUR EARS

| Ramblings and Scribblings for Jesus

Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

What thoughts are robbing you of peace? What are those worries and concerns that you entertain in the space between your ears, ( in your mind.) What are those things that cause you to lose sleep, worry, be anxious, or unsettled? Everyone carries concerns around with them. These are not outward things that people can see, these are things that race around inside our heads at different times or all the time.
Sometimes these thoughts rob us of sleep, joy, or happiness. They are the unseen burdens that no one else sees.

Many are the thoughts we have in a day; they may be about work, family, finances, or relationships; the list could go on and on. However, the problem comes in when we remember that God’s word encourages us to lay our burdens down at the feet of Jesus; “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22) God is glad to carry your burdens and give you daily strength. He doesn’t come and grab them from you. Jesus asks us to trust him with them and give them to him. (Matthew 11:28-30)”Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We do not have to carry the weight of our thoughts alone. We have the invitation to take them to the Lord and lay them down, and in return, we are given His peace, His rest. The enemy of our souls (Satan) wants to keep us bogged down with the heaviness of our burdens or the things we see as burdens. He wants us to question God’s goodness and God’s ability to help us. Satan wants us to doubt that God has heard our cries for help, Does God see me? Does he hear me? Will God answer my cries for help? To find the answers to these questions we go to God’s word, God’s promises.

Psalm 6:9 “The Lord hath heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer.”

Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to power that worketh in us.”

Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

We do not have to carry these thoughts, concerns, worries, or feelings around with us. We have a Most Powerful advocate in heaven who is at this very moment praying for us. (Romans 8:34) “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Jesus is praying for you, and this most wonderful knowledge should cause you to run the throne room of prayer and cast all our cares, worries, and concerns on him, and rest in his work and the knowledge that Jesus has heard, he has seen, he understands, he has got this, whatever it is, and he is talking to the Father about it right now. When we do this, His peace comes in and calms the troubled waters of our minds. We receive a peace that passes understanding, our burdens no longer feel overwhelming and our hearts can rest. The space between your ears does not have to dwell on the negative, the hard and weighty, instead we can think of things above, (Philippians 4:8) “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” There are better things to let occupy the space between your ears, just remember: “HE’S GOT THIS!”

Give that “SPACE BETWEEN YOUR EARS” a much-needed rest. Cast your cares on Jesus…I promise you will feel better and have a clearer mind and heart.

Blessings to you my friends!