Glory Seed Devotional’s, 2018 Anticipating the Spiritual Jesus the Prelude to Life
Blessing our God who Blesses us…
Shalom!
Confessing time! There have been times when I don’t stop to take stock of my life the give God the Blessing He is due! Therefore, let it be said by me, “Blessed be the LORD, for he has heard the sound of my pleading. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song. The LORD is the strength of his people; he is a stronghold of salvation for his anointed. Save your people, bless your possession, shepherd them, and carry them forever.” (Psalm 28:6–9, CSB)
In all honesty there are times when I don’t feel like Blessing God because I don’t feel Blessed, but after sulking a few minutes the Holy Spirit gently reminds me, “…we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:3–5, CSB, selected portion)
Did you notice hope popped up a couple of times? Hope is one of the major themes of the Bible. Wasn’t the reason Jesus came into the world because hope had been lost? Isn’t the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives to give us the divine hope we need so we can smile in the face of hopelessness and declare and unbreakable allegiance to the God WHO IS Hope, WHO IS our strength?
With Christmas still fresh in some of our minds Guideposts 7 Things that Christmas Teaches Us about Hope, reason number 7 reads, “Light shines brightest in darkness. That’s the heart of the Christmas story, an overriding message of hope that is articulated beautifully in the lyrics of “O Holy Night”: “O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.” God didn’t come into our world at high noon. He entered our lives in darkness -- showing us the way to light, guiding us towards love, and demonstrating how to overcome shadows and blackness. Christmas teaches us that even when things seem dark, we can trust the everlasting light.
“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” **
Gary
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"Scriptures marked NCV quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75039. Used by permission."
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
** John 14:6, CSB