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Prisoners of Hope

Prisoners of Hope

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Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

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The higher we ascend in understanding of divine love; the more our hearts start to mourn for the suffering occurring in this world. Our own peace doesn’t comfort us, for how can one who loves be comforted while others continue to suffer, and suffer greatly? In a world of suffering, peace is a byproduct of a hope, thus an illusion until the hope is fulfilled.

In lack of understanding, we are unaware of the extensive suffering throughout the world on many levels and the part we play in perpetuating the cruelty, suffering and pain. We don’t really “see” it. We may hear of it, but it doesn’t penetrate our being causing us to make a change. We feel empathy for a moment, but the blindness allows us to get caught up in our daily lives feeding the very cruelty we despise. Our hearts and minds are darkened so that we think “things aren’t so bad” and “we are pretty good”, thus others who are enduring suffering feel the coldness of a “hardened heart”. It’s understanding our blindness and the ability to be blind that creates true humility. We don’t know as we should. 1 Corin 8:2

For all creation is in bondage to the cruelty of others, as well as their own cruelty upon themselves. As a human being it’s near impossible to not be an instrument of cruelty to creation on some level. Our infrastructure isn’t built on the care of others, but on their abuse and suffering. And as it continues to expand upon cruel foundations, the suffering only increases. It’s like mud is everywhere and we can’t become clean, and the current mud makes more mud.

As we start to awaken to the truth, thus divine love, we start to see both the suffering and the part we play in it more clearly. This mindfulness is difficult to behold, for it cloaks the heart in a garment of mourning and sadness.

In this awareness, our hunger and thirst for righteousness grows strong and we push into it with all our being. Our hope is that the Creator will soon have great mercy and come to His creation to save, heal, restore, and renew. We have enough suffering. We need healing and renewal. Malachi 4:2 We need the medicinal touch of the Creator to flood this world like a light in the darkness to set us free from fear, pain, suffering, and death that we receive and give. To open up the door into this realm and let His presence overtake this place. For with every day, the suffering increases and a spirit of mourning grows heavy.

It’s a hope that can only be fulfilled by His spirit alone infusing this realm, infusing us, for it is impossible for the enslaved human spirit, which is bound in weakness, to break such strong bonds. With this hope of deliverance for all of creation from the chains of suffering, we become prisoners of hope. Prisoners, in their weakness, who can become so much more by His power in them. We are the problem, and we, in our very weakness, are the cure for Christ came to make us into the temple of the spirit of God, the spirit we all so desperately need. May we seek to be the temple of His divine nature.

Psalm 30:11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,

This verse and others like it, put a spark of life into the sadness, a hope. The hope that one day soon the suffering will end, that there will be no more cruelty, pain, and death. That the dawning day will truly bring in a Day that the Lord has made. Psalm 118:24 A Day to change all days. 

The ways of life are so beautiful. They captivate the spirit like the most stunning sunset. The purity and perfection they contain is glorious, harmonious, loving and life-giving. Yet, here in the world it is near impossible to abide in this beauty that our hearts so long for. Thus our hunger and thirst for His righteousness increase by which perfection is manifested among all of creation. We need deliverance, a healed creation, and the promise of it keeps us prisoners to this hope. I pray a hope that is soon fulfilled.

While we wait for the consummation of all our hopes, may we continue to seek to increase and abound in loving kindness. In this world, even little lights seeking to love others in sincerity and truth make a significant impact.

Zechariah 9:11-12 “As for you also,

Because of the blood of your covenant,

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 

Return to the stronghold,

You prisoners of hope.

Even today I declare

That I will restore double to you


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Streams in YOUR Deserts

Streams in YOUR Deserts

Isaiah 35:6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert

God has been teaching me this “streams in the desert” level of trust He desires of His children. A level of trust in which His people KNOW He is able to make streams in their deserts so that they act on that faith. If you truly believe in this power of God in your life, how different would your responses be to life’s impossible circumstances?

Do you believe God can make streams in Your deserts? Honestly? What do your actions show? This level of trust is what God desires of us because this is who He is to those who trust in Him to be their God.

 2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

When the circumstances of life exceed our illusionary control, do we believe God can make something new within those situations or do we run? Quitting jobs, leaving vocations, getting divorces, running from responsibilities, sedating emotional pain, withdrawing from life, and retreating from ourselves; when we come against a roadblock and we see there is no more strength or resources to continue forward, what do we do? Do we run? Does God run?

Many of us tend to run. I know I have in the past. Either, physically in abandoning a situation or relationship, or emotionally in withdrawal, or as our pride likes to frame it moving on, which sounds so much better, doesn’t it? Within our human means running away can seem like the only viable option. And it’s true when we rely on our strength. But what about God’s? Who does He say He is to us? Deut 3:22, Isaiah 45:2, 52:12, 58:8 God doesn’t run. Time and time again, He shows how He makes streams in the deserts. The Bible testifies to this power, and our lives testify to it if we are willing to stop running and walk His paths. I’ve seen it, have you?

God’s love always endures, always hopes, and never fails. He is the Creator and can do anything, and if He is OUR God then His power and strength abound to us IF we abide and trust Him. John 15:7, Eph 3:20

The turning point in our lives that enables us to experience the power of God is TRUSTING Him in TRUTH and SPIRIT, which comes from being a new creation in Him.  It seems, we trust more in a psychologist or doctor to help us than God. We trust in self-help and the wisdom of this world to work through our “issues” more than the creative hand of our God who says He makes all things new for those who are in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Are you exchanging trust in someone else, for trust in God? God does use the elements of this world for our good, but where is your trust? Big difference. God’s creative power isn’t a theoretical concept, it’s God in your midst.

If God is so powerful, why don’t we see more deliverance by His mighty hand in the lives around us? Lack of trust, real trust based on becoming a new creation fashioned by God. Trust is the fruit of abiding in the Word of God and being taught by the Holy Spirit, which transforms our souls into partakers of the divine. Romans 10:17

We can’t do what we don’t know. Without individually abiding in the Truth and letting the Spirit of Truth write the Truth on our minds and hearts, fear binds us to a carnal reliance on a physical world that is only a shadow. Fear sets in, takes over and we start running or fight in our strength, which is just as bad. Meanwhile, the power of God is dampened by the lack of belief.  Matthew 13:58 Fear keeps us from trusting and waiting on God’s deliverance His way.

God offers a much better way. He goes before us to fight our enemies, He delivers us, and He makes our paths smooth, IF we TRUST Him in truth and spirit. (If we are trusting in a false image of God, it isn’t real trust, but idol worship) As we daily feast on the bread of heaven; abiding in the Bible seeking His face and to be taught by Him, then trust is the fruit. As He regenerates our lives into a new creation, His power starts flowing through us making streams in the deserts, our deserts.

In difficult challenges where there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope … remember God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8 There is no limit to His power. This powerful Creator working in our lives is who He is to His children; to those who seek His face. His people don’t act out of fear or hopelessness, but in power, truth and love.

In Hebrews 11, know as the faith chapter, God says He diligently rewards those who seek Him. Heb 11:6 Seek Him and abide in His truth and righteousness and see the Creator at work in your life creating something incredible from what seemed dead and hopeless.

Instead of running, seek the regeneration of God so that by the power of His Spirit in you, you love your husband, love your children, Titus 2:4, respect your bosses and employees. Colossians 3:22, 4:1 You work as to the Lord. Colossians 3:23 You lean not on your own understanding that sees no way out. Proverbs 3:5 You don’t complain, which doesn’t glorify the power of God. Phil 2:14 You don’t harden your hearts by being stubborn in continuing to do it your way or giving up. Heb 3:8 Seek the power of God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. Eph 3:20

God is looking for those who trust in Him, not in their own strength and resources or of this world’s, but Him. Who do you trust in really? God has tremendous things in store for those who do. Psalm 31:19

 1 Corinthians 13:7 love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


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Defeating Discouragement

Blog Talk Radio: Defeating Discouragement: Part I

A new PODCAST (click here to listen) is available on overcoming discouragement in our lives. You can also get it at itunes. Search for Stirring the Deep under podcasts.

Overview: Discouragement is something we all face. In this show, I talk about how to defeat the discouragement in your life by embracing the truth. It isn’t an “ignorance is bliss” ideal that often comes with the “positive” thinking philiosophy, but it’s looking head on at the truth of our situations and battling them with the truth. God has given us much in Christ. We need to learn and embrace what we have in Him.

Ephesians 1:18-19 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

Blog Talk Radio: Defeating Discouragement: Part II

A new PODCAST (click here to listen) is available on overcoming discouragement in our lives. You can also get it at itunes. Search for Stirring the Deep under podcasts.

Overview: In the previous show, I talked about the source of discouragement and how when we get to the source we are enabled to battle this debilitating emotion.

Here I talk about three consequences of falling into discouragement and the steps to come out of it. This is an emotion that steals many precious moments of our lives that could be filled with growth and peace. It’s an emotion we all experience, yes, but we don’t have to dwell and live in it.


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Who Do You Trust?

Who Do You Trust?

 

Who do you trust: John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, the government, religious intuitions, the media, the financial system, or big business? Trust in any man or system is building on a foundation of sand. Who knows when the wind will come and stir them up, tear them down, and wipe them out?

Times like these put our trust to the test. Once again we are being tossed about in a huge wind tunnel, this time a failing economy, to see who will trust what. The choice is between trust in people and institutions whose bottom line is profits or trust in God whose bottom line is love. If we chose the former then our sandcastles will fall because the wind is upon us. For further explanation read the Three Little Pigs .

When we trust God we don’t fear man or his ignorant ways but we fear God because He controls everything including money. And for His true flock they have nothing to fear. When the Lord is your portion, you have everything, He is on your side, He fights for you and He is your hope. Think about that for a moment.

Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Lamentations 3:24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

In these times and all times I chose to trust God, the One to controls the wind. That way any interaction I have with others and institutions, which it is unavoidable living in this world, I will be encased in the protection, love and the sovereignty of God. Otherwise, my life will be at the whim of the world. Ephesians 2:12

Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”

Trusting is Hard

However, trust in God is easy to say and hard to do with sincerity and conviction. It is difficult and it takes time. It is difficult because God’s ways aren’t our ways. It takes time because trust is the fruit of cultivating a personal relationship with the God.

The majority of us lack authentic trust because most have neglected to nurture a genuine relationship built on knowledge. God is God we can’t change Him to fit our preferences though that is what we try to do. It is personal battle to trust God, because we are facing the truth that we aren’t in control. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us prefer a god that we can bribe, influence and control to some extent – in other words for us to be God. It is a battle we all face but it is worth the struggle to come to a point of surrendering to His sovereignity, because that is the only solid ground there is.

Yet, most don’t bother to really engage God and they lack a personal relationship built on knowledge as a result. They trust in a two dimensional god-like image created by their minds and when times like this come that vaporware trust is worthless. Their trust is like clothes in the story The Emperor’s New Clothes. An artificial relationship with God creating false trust can’t protect, defend, or provide. It can only leave them naked and vulnerable. Therefore their trust is in vain.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

I don’t know about you, but I want a solid trust in the True God because this world in all areas has been screaming lately – YOU CAN’T TRUST ME! Going through the trials of putting self aside is nothing compared to the reward of a real relationship with our Creator. I am fighting my fear and lack of trust in Him, how about you?

Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

How to Gain Trust

How do we cultivate authentic trust? We abide in the words that God gave us about Himself. Like a spouse, we listen, cherish and long to spend time with Him in intimate conversations in His Word. Trust comes from knowing.

God is calling us to come to Him in truth and spirit. Are we listening? Do we really care what He has to say in ALL 66 books? Do we really want a relationship with Him or just to be bailed out? Christ came to give us a personal a relationship. He won’t settle for less. As Kay Arthur stated last night at a gathering of the Women in Christian Media, “the Word of God is lost in the House of God.” We have pushed the Word of God aside and put everything else above our first love including laundry. We have neglected Him and acted in self-righteous arrogance. But if we humble ourselves and come back to Him, not our images of Him, in His Word and put it as THE priority in our lives, then He will be our first love, the object of our trust and we will be safe in His hands.

Psalm 91:14-15 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

Psalm 37:40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, And save them, Because they trust in Him.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”