Wordless Wednesday!

Digital, but still cool!

Need an anchor for your ship in the storm?

How about the anchor of Hope?  Hope is a casual word that gets tossed around a lot today. But what is Hope really. And what is an anchor? And why did God combine the two?

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil Hebrews 6:19

Well, most of us know that an anchor is that huge iron hook that is tossed over the side of a ship. It drags along the ocean bottom until it catches in a rock or a crag and then it keeps the ship in place. It keeps the ship stable and firm and sure, even during a storm.

But how can hope keep our ship firm. How can hope keep us steady and sure when life seems to be falling down around us? Isn't hope just a nice word that makes us feel good? Isn't it just something we wish would happen but we aren't sure it will?

But after studying the Bible, I've come to believe that the hope God is talking about is so much more than just wishful thinking.

1. Hope is a real, tangible reality of something good in our future

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance Romans 8:24-25


2. Hope is more than an anchor, it is a refuge

that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.


3. Hope is something we can believe. In other words, it is not a dream or a wish
who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, Romans 4:18
 
Okay, so what are we hoping for? What is our hope in?
 
1. We hope for the glory of an inheritance
...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 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, Ephesians 1:17-18

2. We hope for the riches laid up for us in Heaven since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel Colossians 1:4-5


3. We hope for the riches of Christ's glory
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory Colossians 1:27

4. We hope for salvation from this world and the wrath of God (notice that hope protects our mind from Satan)
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Thess 5:8-9


4. We hope for an eternal, gloried body!
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure 1 John 3:2-4


5. We hope for the return of Jesus
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2:12-14

6  We hope for eternal life
that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.Titus 3:7

It's easy to see that our Hope is in things eternal: eternal life in the presence of God, glorified bodies, an inheritance with the saints, life in heaven, salavation from God's wrath, the return of Jesus!  All these things are promised to believers by God. They will happen. They are our future. Hope is not in something that might or might not happen. Our hope is in a sure thing!
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful Hebrews 10 22-23

You may be surrounded by trials and struggles and problems. You may be overwhelmed by the things going on in the world and even in your own family. You may wonder if you'll ever feel hope again.  But I have good news. You can get hope!. It's not out of your reach!. It has nothing to do with circumstances.

How do we get hope?
 
1. We get hope by reading the Bible
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Romans 15:4 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;  and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us Romans 5:3-5

2. We get hope by going through trials, leaning on God, and coming out victorious

 
So, what are you waiting for? Get a good dosage of Hope today! It's free. It's invaluable and it will anchor you firmly in the midst of the storms.
 
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 

What do you think of the new blog look?

I'm hoping to change the header too soon! I did this just while I was playing around on the design page.   A reader and friend is helping me with the header design.  Anyway, thoughts?

What do you think? Are we living in the last days?

"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'In a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth. I will shake all the nations....I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms." (Haggai 2:6-7, 21-22)


In the last few weeks, the U.S. stock markets have tanked. Americans have lost more than $2.3 trillion in personal wealth. 14 million American are out of work. We face a double-dip recession. Our debt is increasing daily. And Washington is frozen in partisan gridlock, arguing over cutting what is essentially pennys in comparison to our debt.
And still Iran is building nuclear weapons unhindered, Syria and Libya are slaughtering thousands, Egypt has imploded, and Israel is increasingly threatened.

More than 100 rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles have been fired from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities along the south. A suicide bomber also detonated himself near the Israel-Egyptian border. Eight Jews were killed last week when a jihadist attacked an Israeli public bus, and at least 30 were wounded. A rocket hit a home in Beersheva on Saturday night, killing one Israeli and wounded four others. Dozens more Israelis have been hospitalized for shock. Israel has struck back with airstrikes against selected terror targets, but the violence has only escalated.

An very rare and unusual earthquake registering 5.8 struck the eastern coast of the US and a hurricane is bearing down on New York as we speak.

I'm not recapping these recent events to invoke fear. I'm recapping them to invoke Hope. Hope that the end of the age is drawing near.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows

Are we in the last days of which Jesus spoke? Could it be this generation that sees His return? My husband and I disagree on this issue, so I'm curious to hear your opinions.

Wordless Wednesday!



With all sails billowing beneath a fair wind!



Something for nothing

Let's face it, we live in an entitlement culture. I've never witnessed a generation like our present one where people somehow believe they are entitled to certain things: education, health care, food, unemployment, government loans, welfare, etc.. the list goes on and on.

We like to talk about "rights" in America, when in actuality the only rights our forefathers wanted us to have were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and those rights came from God not government.

Now, before you jump all over me, I'm not against helping the poor. I give quite a bit to those in need.  I'm simply against the government doing it. But I digress. I don't want to talk politics. I want to talk about this prevalent attitude of getting something for nothing.  I ran across this passage in Luke 17 the other day and I thought about it all day.

The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith
And the Lord answered, If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.

Ok, cool. Sounds good, right? Sounds like Jesus is happy they asked for more faith and He's going to give it to them, right? But then He starts telling this somewhat harsh story

Will any man of you who has a servant plowing or tending sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, Come at once and take your place at the table?
Will he not instead tell him, Get my supper ready and gird yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; then afterward you yourself shall eat and drink?
Is he grateful and does he praise the servant because he did what he was ordered to do?
Even so on your part, when you have done everything that was assigned and commanded you, say, We are unworthy servants, possessing no merit, for we have not gone beyond our obligation; we have merely done what was our duty to do.

Woa. Now wait a minute. That's really tough to swallow. I mean Jesus is talking about servants serving their masters and expecting no praise or anything extra for just doing their duty. So, I started to wonder why did Jesus tell this story right after the disciples asked Him to increase their faith?

My opinion? I think the disciples' request for faith was made in a flippant way.. maybe even in an arrogant way. They asked for a good thing, but I think Jesus wanted to remind them to be careful in their attitudes toward God. Yes, God is loving. Yes, God is good, and yes Salvation is free, but we should maintain the mind of a servant when we approach God. We should do our duty before Him and not have the entitlement mentality that we see so much in our present culture. Give me. Give me. Give me. We take God's salvation and then we constantly ask for more and more. I'm not saying we shouldn't ask for things in prayer. It's our attitude that stinks. How do I know? Because so many times I see people (myself included) who don't get what they ask for and we get mad at God.  We should take our lesson from the gentile woman who begged Jesus to heal her daughter, we should be happy with the crumbs that fall from our master's table!

It's a matter of humility and respect and appreciation. Qualities SORELY LACKING in today's world, and qualities that aren't even admired anymore. 

So, I got to wondering what is our duty before God? Here's two Scriptures that I believe sum it up entirely
(Aside from believing in Jesus, of course)

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? Micha 6:8

Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

Here's a shocker: What Jesus was saying is that even if we just do these things, we should still consider ourselves unworthy servants because we have only done what our master requires. I don't think God wants us to go around beating ourselves up for being scumbags. But I do think Jesus was cutting to the heart of the matter. God has already done everything for us. He's given us eternal life with Him at a very precious cost. Everything else He does for us is icing on the cake.

So, let's be careful of allowing this culture's entitlement mentality to drift into our spiritual attitudes.  God owes us nothing. And we owe Him everything. And some things are worth working for. Faith is one of them. It cannot be handed to us or increased supernaturally. It must grow in our daily walk with God. Otherwise it isn't faith at all.

God is a merciful, loving God. He will give you good things. But I caution you. Be humble. Expect nothing but God's love and salvation and be grateful for anything else He lavishes upon you!

Casual Fridays!

Whenever I'm not promoting a book or giving a review, I'd like to open up Fridays for any questions of comments you all have. Or anything you'd like to discuss!  I'll tell you a bit about my week and what I'm up to, and please do the same!  It will be a nice way to end the week.

This week, I've been working furiously on Veil of Pearls. It's due Sept 9th (I got a one week extension!)  and it's coming along. First draft is done and I'm going through each line, each paragraph, each scene to add, tweak, expound, alter, whatever it needs!  I think you're going to like this one. At least I hope so. The theme is Fear of Man. It's about compromising one's principals and beliefs in order to be counted among the popular crowd. I think there's a lot of that going around these days, don't you?  I know I struggled with it as a young girl. I mean, who doesn't want to be liked? valued?  The trouble comes when you try and gain that from a fickle crowd that wants you to comform to their idea of being "cool".    My heroine gets into a heap of trouble when she gets caught up in a world of parties and dances and plays and gorgeous gowns and handsome men. It's not so different than a young girl today who drinks or smokes or offers herself just so she will be liked by the "in" crowd.   Can you relate? Know anyone like that?

Well, other than writing, I've gone on walks, done a lot of praying, talked to my Mom in Tenn twice, cooked, cleaned, gone grocery shopping, pulled weeds, talked with my kids, and brushed my cats. Yes, and both yelled and cried at the news on TV! Oh, and I hosted a Bible study in my home last night.  Ah, the exciting life of an author!! 

What about you?