Renewal of Hope

Psalm 42:11

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

The Psalmist has always reminded his soul to cast all its burdens upon the ROCK of his salvation. This is so important in our lives as well. When we walk through the valleys, when there’s darkness all around, when it’s difficult to sense the presence of God - It is all the more important to renew the hope in our never changing God. From the above scripture, we see that there are two things that helps in renewing and restoring our hope in Christ.

1) Reassuring our soul that God is our Keeper and so there is no need to despair – reminding ourselves of all the things God has done in the past boosts up our faith.

2) Praising Him in the dark and stormy circumstances – thanking Him for the lessons God is teaching us through the tough times and for the amazing things God has stored up in our future.

For we know, that

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of them all. (Psalm 34:19)

The Biblical Stress-reliever

^{Philippians 4:6,7}

⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Nothing can get better than this promise! Reason? There’s a lot of fake promises and empty guarantees out there in the world that claims to provide us joy and peace – but in the end, it’s all absolute vanity and makes us crave for a peace that’s true and lasting.

Philippians 4:6 -  is the ultimate stress-reliever for every believer!

It’s an undeniable fact that we are constantly bombarded with anxious and fear inducing thoughts that are bound to stress us which eventually steals our joy and inner peace. But, we as the children of God have a way out of this – simply by “casting ALL our cares on our Caretaker”, thanking Him for His mercies that are new every morning and presenting our requests to the God who answers prayers. And the outcome? (Philippians 4:7) It’s the divine peace that can never be understood; it sure is insane to be happy and peaceful in the midst of a storm! – That’s the kind of peace that this world could never offer.

God bless!

The Divine Counsel

Psalm 32:8 (New King James Version)

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.

There may be a lot of instances in our lives, when we find ourselves meeting the crossroads – wondering “which way do I choose now?”. Be it in taking up a course to study, choosing a career, selecting a life partner or any other major milestones that define our lives and impact our future. While the world offers numerous options, we know that it only further complicates our decision making process. But, the Bible clearly states that as a man/woman who trusts in God, we have access to divine counsel from our loving God, the Creator who has infinite wisdom and the One who holds our future. What a comfort that is! The only question that now remains is – whom are we running to for directions? Whom do we consult to help us take major life decisions? The divine counsel is guaranteed to only those who completely yield their lives to God and who choose to trust Him in every circumstance.

Proverbs 3:5 -6

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.

The Real Faith

A Hymn of Faith – Habakkuk 3: 17-19

¹⁷ Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls—

¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

The power of “Faith” is in declaring our trust in God, when the circumstances look discouraging or even impossible. It’s in the furnace of these difficult times that the genuineness of our “Faith” is tested and proved valuable. Let us declare our trust in God just as Job put it, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” This kind of radical Faith does one thing – elevates God above anything and everything that we have/possess in our lives. It often corrects our perspective, purifies our motives and keeps our focus only on God and the things that are eternal.

As the hymn goes,

My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,

Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;

’Tis His to lead me there—not mine, but His—

At any cost, dear Lord, by any road.

-          Frances Brook

"Brokenness" is the starting point for God's chosen vessel

Psalm 51

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

Just a reminder that God does not expect that we should stay positive and all-smiling all the time.

God can handle a broken and weak spirit if we choose to lay our broken and (seemingly) meaningless lives down at His precious feet as He graciously accepts it as a ‘living’ sacrifice.

Whatever we may be going through right now – however impossible our circumstances might look – let’s just take time to pour our hearts and cry out to our God of salvation! He knows how it feels (for He’s gone through the worst possible suffering in every aspect Himself) and He has endured till death on the cross. God comforts us in our deepest sorrow, and strengthens us in our genuine brokenness, for “through the burning crucible of desert, where holy men and prophets are cleansed and purged for God's great purpose, until at last, at the end of human strength, beaten into the dust from which he came, the metal is ready for the Maker’s hand”. (Quoted from the “Ten Commandments” script)

A broken spirit and a contrite heart
You will not despise, You will not despise
You desire truth in the inward parts
A broken spirit and a contrite heart

Lord, my heart is prone to wander
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Your courts of love

- Don Harris and Marty Nystrom

God bless!

My "Waiting" season..

I wonder, "How can this be?"
I know it's beyond my capacity
To understand Your plans and deeds
So, I simply trust thee, I trust thee

When I've reached the very end
When I've lost all my hope
Give me the Grace, my Gracious Friend
To keep holding on to the rope

"Will this season be forever?", I ask
Though I know Your promises are true
As I count my blessings in my past
My faith slowly begins to renew

I sometimes tried to go my own way
But that made me know loneliness
Finally, all my dreams at Your feet I lay
I know You can use my brokenness

I know it's all working together for good
According to Your divine, perfect plan
Prune me and mould me as You would
As I become more like the Son of Man

My Shepherd knows what I need
He'll give me His best in His perfect time
On His precious Word I will feed
Which aligns me to His will, not mine

Seeds Vs Weeds

Seed from the Word and Weed from the world

Matthew 13: 24-25

24 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.

Comparison between Seeds and weeds

Seed – Word of God – Produces good fruit

Weed – A wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants, anything that is NOT of God and tries to steal away the Word of God – stunts the growth of the seed and produces nothing useful

Source:

Seed comes from God (as it is the Word of God) through the Bible or when we pray or through His people

The weed comes from Satan through the world (media, entertainment, our social community, friends, family) or through our own flesh

Purpose: 

Seed produces good fruit and weed stunts growth

Distinguishing a Seed from a Weed

When you get a thought and you do not know if you should dwell on it? We can distinguish the seed from the weed like so:

1.  Seed always comes from the Word of God (and is based on TRUTH) and NEVER contradicts it whereas a weed is against the Word of God

2.  Seed promotes Faith and Weed (which disguises itself as facts) promotes Fear

• Remember that the world can provide 10 bad reports (12 spies of Israel who spied Canaan) when God provides 2 good reports. Its upto us to choose to believe what Joshua and Caleb say and to filter out the other negative reports. They may be facts but not the TRUTH. The Truth (Seed) feeds Faith and the weed feeds Fear!

3.  Seed takes you closer to God and a Weed pulls you away from God

Control Growth of Weeds in your life

1. Weeds from the outside

• Flee from the sources that are under the control of Satan - Media, Cinema, Internet, ungodly relationships
• God removes the sources sometimes by removing your best friend who keeps you from God - just allow and accept it! 

2. Weeds from within 

• When our flesh triggers impure selfish thoughts, let the Holy Spirit to de-seed those weeds
• Allow God’s pruning - unhealthy branches affect the growth of the overall plant/tree

Feed the Seeds, not the Weeds

The Parable of the Sower – Mark chapter 4:14-20

¹⁴ The sower sows the word. ¹⁵ And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. ¹⁶ These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; ¹⁷ and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. ¹⁸ Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, ¹⁹ and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰ But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

1. Wayside - Hearing the word but not paying attention to it, not meditating on it
2. Stony ground with no roots - No relationship with God - (A deep relationship with God everyday grows our roots in Him)
3. Thorns - cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things
4. Good soil – hearing the Word, accepting it and being ready to obey

Growth Boosters

1.   Sun - Jesus, the Sun of righteousness – Salvation

Malachi 4:2: 

But to you who fear My name
 The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
 With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
 And grow fat like stall-fed calves.

2.  Water - the Holy Spirit (Washing of water by the word) - Sanctification

Ephesians 6:26,27: 

that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

3.  Manure – Surrender everything - Dead, decayed and broken parts of your life - surrender it to God and He will turn it for your good! God delights in taking the broken pieces and He mends them with His unimaginable creativity to create new blessed lives - 

I Samuel 2: 8

He raises the poor from the dust
And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.

Summarizing:

The Way of the Righteous – Psalms 1

 "Never leave ground for the Weeds"

1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

"Delight in His Word and meditate on the Seed"

2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.

"Be cleansed through the Holy Spirit (rivers of water) and bear good fruit (prosper) by doing God's perfect will for your life"

3 He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

A delay in the answers for your prayers?

Are you in a season where you feel that there is a delayed period of waiting? Does it seem that it is taking forever to get that problem resolved, that issue sorted out, that prayer being answered? Am currently in a season of waiting myself - with no clue on how long it is going to take to see the breakthrough in my life - and I know how painful/frustrating waiting can be. This morning as I was listening to the sermon by Joel Osteen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEaX1iw38Ck), I was encouraged in my spirit to keep believing, to keep trusting my loving God.

I just want to share two reasons why God may want us to wait before He provides us with the “answer” or what we call a “blessing” in whatever area of our lives we are currently in trouble.

God is more interested in our character, than our comfort – Rick Warren

The life of Joseph is a perfect example where we see how God uses “delay" to mold and refine the chosen vessels before they are ready to handle a blessing. “Blessing" is “dangerous” until our hearts are conditioned and trained to trust in God alone, which is very evident in the life of King Solomon. We know that King David went through a lot of troubles and extended periods of waiting and delay before God’s promise was fulfilled in his life (becoming the King of Israel) and we see how David was a man after God’s own heart (For God shaped his character through the troubles!). King Solomon on the other hand, received blessings in a very tender age, and he himself quotes this in the Proverbs, “An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.” - Proverbs 20:21. So God prepares us, refines us and deepens our root in Him - before He can give us His blessings, so that our foundation is in the Rock of Ages (Jesus) and not on sinking sand (Earthly blessings).

God loves us too much to give us "less than the best"

A delay is often a sign that God is preparing us not just for a blessing, but for a miracle - that will reveal God’s glory in a greater way.  We all know about this family that Jesus loved – Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. I started pondering upon this verse lately and found much comfort in it during my own waiting.

John 11:5,6 -  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.

I love the way this verse has been arranged. First we see that Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus and SO, he delayed the blessing (healing, in this case) for their dying brother Lazarus. Martha did not understand why Jesus (who loved them) wouldn’t arrive on time, to save Lazarus. Jesus deliberately took more time and “allowed” the death of Lazarus because He was preparing not a blessing (healing) but a miracle (a resurrection) for the family He loved! The story doesn’t end there – We read on to see the resurrection of Lazarus and John 11:45 says, Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. The “delay" opened the way for a miracle and the revealing of God’s glory in a greater way leading many into His kingdom. Martha would now be convinced that the “delay” was worth it in the end!

If you are in a bitter waiting period, you are in good company. Keep trusting our never failing God and in the end, just like Martha, we will know that His timing was perfect and what He has prepared for us – is worth every pain.

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Amen!