21 Day Fast Day 10

Today is Week 2 day 3 of our 21 Day Fast, January 17, 2024.
I think most of us have backgrounds that have played a role in how we defined things according to our preconceived ideas. When we come to the Lord we are confronted with a worldview that is quite different from what we thought. The word hope for many of us was a kind of wishful thinking. “I hope I get that bike I wanted; I hope I meet the right person for me; I hope I’ll make it big.” And the list goes on. Biblical hope is not that at all. This hope is a solid and secure reality. It is grounded in the very nature of God and all he intended for us from the foundation of the world. When God created us he always had a family in mind; one of love and relationship filled with joy and delight; Something so mind blowing it goes above and beyond anything we could ever have imagined. He planned a glorious place for us to live with him in Heaven. It’s not wishful thinking. It’s a reality!  Consider these following verses:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (ESV)  11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Notice that these are God’s plans! You can count on them. He made a foundation that is immovable. It is what hope really is.)

Romans 5:1-2 (ESV) 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  

Colossians 1:3-5a (ESV) 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. (The hope they had in the promise of God was because of their faith in Christ and their love for their fellow Christians.)

1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,  (It’s secure! It’s ours.)

God bless you as you meditate on these verses of Hope and take ownership of them by believing.

Love in Christ,
 
Pastor Ray  

Keep soaking on the following verses and be encouraged!

1 Peter 5:7  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

2 Corinthians 12:9  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.  

Psalm 46:1  God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Matthew 6:33  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.