Our Promised Hope
Café Menu for Thursday, December 25, 2014
Today’s Special is: Joy and Peace to the World
Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Robin Jones
Main Ingredient:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peaceas you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NIV
Entrée:
Menopause… I don’t believe that this little “sweetheart” was mentioned in the Bible. It is not on my Christmas list.
God was clear that childbirth would be arduous when He said,
I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.
Genesis 3:16a ESV
Perhaps, menopause is covered by the word “affliction” or “anxiety.” I don’t see “hot, sweaty, crazy, overwhelmed lady” anywhere in my Bible concordance.
I’d like to say that whilst swimming in the menopausal mud pit of anxiety, I breast stroked right to my Abba and looked for His promise to pull me out of the miry clay… but I didn’t.
The descent into the morass was a three week slow fade. Week one… prayerlessness. Week two… anger. Week three… hopelessness. My Joy and Peace became elusive and unattainable. No matter my human attempts, they only served to churn up the mud and drag me deeper. Ever been there, Sis?
At some point, I stopped churning and started sipping the Living Water. I slurped up this gift and turned my attention from affliction to Abba.
If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.
2 Timothy 2:13 NIV
God. Is. Faithful. He will not abandon us. Yet, in our affliction, we always find a reason to stop trusting Him. Our trust stops and so does our joy and peace.
The key to unending joy and peace is to TRUST HIM.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM
Joy and peace are not elusive. They are attainable and infinite in Him.
SO THAT you may overflow with hope
Clinging to God benefits you, but more importantly, those who around you. Trusting God creates an inflow of JOY and PEACE and an overflow of HOPE.
The power of God’s promise is that it changes the atmosphere within you and around you. How?
by the power of the Holy Spirit
He brings Joy to the World in the form of our Hope… Jesus. Hope spreads the Light of the World into darkness.
Take Out:
Spirit: Pray for God to put someone in your path for you to share your Hope… Jesus.
Mind: Meditate on this quote by Charles Spurgeon:
O Beloved, I plead with you not to treat God’s promises as something to be displayed in a museum but to use them as everyday sources of comfort. And whenever you have a time of need trust the Lord.
Body: Use your eyes to really see someone who needs to know that God loves them. Use your mouth to share the promise of Jesus with them. Use your arms to hug them.
Dessert:
Lord, Your promises are like stars. The darker the night the brighter they shine. Jesus is our Only Hope. Help us to look up and see You shining in the darkness. Help us allow Your Holy Spirit to change the atmosphere within us, so that Jesus overflows out of us. The world needs more Hope. The world needs more Jesus. I need more Jesus. Help us spread Your Joy to the World. In Jesus’ Precious Name We Pray, Amen.
© 2014 by Robin Jones. All rights reserved.
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