Make the World a Better Place

There is a longing for the world to be a better place, one that has existed throughout the ages. There is a crying for things to be better, for someone to make it all right. The human heart cries out to God - we hear it in the words of the prophet Isaiah: 

Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    that the mountains might quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
   those who remember you in your ways. ISAIAH 64:1-5a

Today, we can wait with hope. Knowing the troubles and heartache we would continue to experience in this world, Jesus encourages us with these words: 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” JOHN 16:33

So we wait... with anticipation of something better. In this season of Advent, we wait... not with despair, but with hope.  The hope in knowing that Jesus has overcome the world and all of its brokenness.

And while we wait, we seek to be healers, through the love that comes from the Lord. 

We love because He first loved us. 1 JOHN 4:19

Michael Jackson wrote a song titled "Make the World a Better Place." 

Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make it a better placeFor you and for me

Be encouraged by these incredible children who invite us to care enough for the living to put our love out into world and each do our part to make the world a better place.

Joyful News

In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, 
The gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him,
We're sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  EPHESIANS 1:13

I say it here again, once and for all, that you should understand the Gospel as nothing other than the divine promise of His grace and the forgiveness of sins.  For that is why it happened that previously Paul's Epistles were not understood and could not be understood, because they did not know what the Law and the Gospel really mean.  For they regarded Christ to be a lawmaker, and the Gospel a mere doctrine of the new laws.  That is nothing else than locking up the Gospel and concealing all things.  

The word "Gospel" [Evangelium] is Greek and signifies "joyous news," because it proclaims the wholesome doctrine of life by divine promise and offers grace and forgiveness of sin.  Therefore, works do not belong to the Gospel, for it is not Law; rather, only faith [belongs to the Gospel], for it is altogether a promise and an offer of divine grace. 

Whoever now believes the Gospel received grace and the Holy Spirit. This causes the heart to rejoice and find delight in God, and [the heart] then keeps the Law voluntarily, gratuitously, without fear of punishment, without seeking reward since the heart is perfectly satisfied with God's grace, by which the Law has been fulfilled.  

Excerpt from 365 Day Devotional Readings from Martin Luther Day by Day, August 9

Saturating Grace

And the day begins! 

My eyes opened in the darkness.
The sky had a hint of pink hue bordering the horizon...
I wait with the camera ready!

The sun rising over the vastness of the ocean, its light bringing forth a new day, 

gives me a picture of God's love entering the darkness of a broken and hurting world. 

Just like the light of the sun that shines on all creation, 

the Lord is not selective about where his love can reach, it is available for all.

Each day, faithful, without hesitation, the sun rises.
It's light expands to fill every space it touches.

The reflection like a pathway, inviting and showing the way.

Come to me, all you who labor ad are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

MATTHEW 11:28

I Am - David Crowder

There's no space that His love can't reach

There's no place where we can't' find peace

There's no end to amazing grace

Take me in with Your arms spread wide

Take me in like an orphan child

Never let go

Never leave my side

I am

Holding on to You

I am

Holding on to You

In the middle of the storm

I am holding on 

I am 

Love like this

Oh my God to find

I am overwhelmed

With a joy divine

Love like this sets our hearts on fire

This is my resurrection song

This is my halleluiah come

This is why it's to You I run

There's no space that His love can't reach

There's no place where we can't find peace

There's no end to amazing grace

Faith and Joy

Happiness and Joy can be so closely related...

Circumstances will be what they are.  

Life happens. 

Sometimes it's good, sometimes not.

What if, instead of seeking the way to happiness, 

we discover that joy is the way?

Jesus said: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  JOHN 10:10

Joy is different.  When life is challenging, it doesn't seem like the kind of full which Jesus speaks about having.  Happiness may be more connected to circumstances.  I've experienced times of great sadness, where there was definitely no happiness, yet joy was very present.  

Joy runs deep - transcending circumstances.

Could you agree that even when there are hard times, and in them you know you are loved, regardless, and in spite of the circumstances, that joy is present?  Not happiness, but joy.

Joy is rooted in relationship - one that loves unconditionally.  That's godly love.  The kind of love that always contends for the good of another.  When a person knows they are loved, there is comfort, and peace, and yes, even joy in the hard stuff.  

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines joy as:

• the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires - described as delight
• a state of happiness or felicity - described as bliss
• a source or cause of delight

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.  PSALM 37:4

This verse captured my attention some years ago, and now here, contemplating joy, I find that DELIGHT and JOY are connected!  God says, I love you.  Delight in me - have joy in my love for you, and receive my love abundantly!  

Burdens shared are cut in half

Joy shared is doubled

When we are receiving the full measure of God's love, we have more than enough to share.  We can be generous.  And, when we are generous and bless others with this love, it produces more joy!  

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  LUKE 2:8-12

In these days of Christmas, where we celebrate the birth of the Christ child and Savior of the world, we wait on the promises of God, to send His love into the world through Jesus - Emmanuel (God WITH us).  He humbled himself and came down, love came down, and love poured out.

In receiving this love, everlasting joy is possible.  

Faith and Hope

HOPE

It's a powerful driver!

The HOPE of something better leads people to hurdle incredible challenges... 

and the lack of HOPE can drive another to despair.  

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  HEBREWS 11:1

Hope that comes from faith is far beyond wishful thinking. This kind of hope is grounded in the assurance of the redeeming work of God through the finished work of Jesus, the Messiah.

In this season of Advent, we wait for the birth of this Christ child, the one promised and hoped for.  Hope grounded in faith looks to the ONE that always keeps his promises.  Looking back, we can see promises fulfilled.  Looking forward, knowing the faithfulness of God in the past, we can trust that He will be faithful in the years to come.  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  JOHN 1:1-2, 14

There is great mystery in the work of God.

Faith stands in the gap between fact and doubt.  We wonder, we question, and we doubt.  Some reject.  The goodness and faithfulness of God calls people to hope.  

Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life... and He calls us to follow Him.  Human beings don't do this perfectly, we make mistakes and are frequent in our failings.  However, we can look to the ONE who walked this same journey of life and did it perfectly.  

All of human history points to the resurrection.  It is through this sole moment in time that faith pivots.  So in this week of Advent, the week of Hope, we have the opportunity to focus on what truly brings hope.

Hillsong wrote and produced a beautiful song.  Take a moment and look to the Hope of the World, Jesus.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When Darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all
He is Lord
Lord of all

Christ alone
Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,

Faultless stand before the throne.

A Season of Waiting, Advent Begins

Waiting...  

Americans live in such an instant culture that waiting can be challenging.  We have choices as we wait - impatience, or enjoyment of the moments in between where we approach the waiting with a sense of expectant anticipation. 

I LOVE the ocean!  There is something about the rhythm of the waves that provides a soothing sense in my being.  With each wave there is an ebb and flow.  I know each will be present in the cycle of each wave.  I'm not anxious wondering when, but knowing there will be one that follows another.   The calm anticipation allows me to enjoy the moments. 

Today begins the season of Advent,
a time of waiting for the birth of the Christ child.  

Once Thanksgiving is done, we're in the thick of the commercialized Christmas season.  Advent provides an opportunity for intentional waiting.  Each day provides opportunity to focus on what God has done, is doing, and will do.  It's a season to see the faithfulness of God through the fulfillment of HIS promises.  

About 700 years prior to Jesus' birth, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
    and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
    but with righteousness he will judge the needy,

    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  ISAIAH 11:1-4

The Lord fulfilled this promise through the birth of Jesus.  I'm sure some in the generations of those 700 years must have wondered if the promise would truly be fulfilled.  Many in this generation have the same question.  As we look back and see the ways that God has been faithful in the past, we can know that He will be faithful in the future.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the people of old received their commendation.  HEBREWS 11:1

Faith says - Trust me as you wait!  

Peter wrote to the people of his day:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.  2 PETER 3:9 

This Advent, my focus will be on faith.  My prayer is to grow in my ability to wait with a heart and mind of expectancy, to trust in the Lord's promises and rejoice in His grace.

Will you wait with me?  

I'd love to hear about your waiting practices. Please share them in the comments.

Grains of Sand

Walking along the beach on a beautiful sunny morning, the Words of God that ran through my mind were 

"more numerous than the sand on the seashore."  

I paused... looked in front and behind me.  The beach stretched as far as I could see in both directions and I began to imagine all the beaches that I have visited.  It's quite an illustration to think about anything being more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore.

Grains of sand...  each so tiny...  so many! 

I think of God's promises to Abraham.  Still childless at the age of 75, the Lord challenged Abraham to count the number of stars in the sky and promising that his heirs would be more numerous than that!   It took another twenty-five years later before Isaac, the son of promise, was born.  It's a long story of promises, faith, obedience, disobedience, forgiveness and restoration.  He left his country to go to a strange land, there were family conflicts that resulted in separation, there was adultery and abandonment.  

It's messy!

There was failure!

Walking with God is a journey!  

Many years later in the New Testament, Paul writes: 

We walk by faith and not by sight.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:7  

Sometimes the journey is filled with joy and at other times sorrow.  

Sometimes the steps are clear and at other times it's like groping in the dark.  

It's not that God's not clear, it's that our human understanding is clouded.  

That may sound trite...  But, it's true.  I have met some brilliant people, but none compare to the one who spoke creation into being!  It's hard to imagine that such a vast and complex universe that works with such precision and order could have been formed without intelligent design.

God is constantly at work on our behalf,
seeking to redeem and restore humanity.  

He can't bless sin, but he does bless obedience!

Here, we come to the point where the Lord is testing Abraham: 

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”  GENESIS 22:15-18

The blessing follows obedience!

Abraham now had enough experience with God
to know that He always kept his promises
and this encouraged Abraham's obedience when God spoke. 

Where is God calling you to believe him and trust him?  

It may be in believing that He is who he says he is.  It may be in other steps of faith. Abraham waited 25 years for the first step of God's promise to come to fulfillment.  As for the grains of sand, they are still being formed as one by one, people around the globe believe God at His word and act accordingly.  

Who will be blessed because of your obedience?

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.  PSALM 139:17-18

The Lord is true to His Word! 

A Mighty Fortress by Christy Nockels

Restoring Hope

I remain confident of this: 
I will see the goodness of the LORD 
in the land of the living.  Psalm 27:13

Over the last three days, Baltimore has seen an explosive reaction that began in sanctioned protest and grew into an ugly display of of anger and destruction.

Amid the violence, there was an army of clergy singing through the streets with a desire for good to prevail over evil.  Top religious leaders of Baltimore placed themselves in harms way to end the violence, at one point on their knees in prayer at the corner of North and Fulton.  Rev. Carter said “we must go back to the streets.”  

This action by clergy is reaching out to young people, in their streets, on their turf…  

A reporter said: 

“The clergy are commanding this moment.  
The clergy are going to where they can take charge."  

Over time, a sense of unity began to develop as some who may have been part of the violence joined the prayer group.  This is a generation that has lost its way, said one of the ministers.  This is what happens when a dream is deferred.  

Documented on video we hear the reporter saying: "What do you think of the state of emergency the governor has declared?"  

The clergy respond with compassion: "There has been a state of emergency way before tonight: an emergency of poverty, a lack of jobs, disenfranchisement from the political process. It's been a long time coming."  

The people of God see hope

we see potential

we see beyond the surface

to the despair that resides in the human heart 

Despair...  a lack of hope... comes out in ugly ways - anger, violence, murder.  

People of God, we can speak into lives of people in despair.  

Some are called to the front lines when there is a crisis

(Full video here: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/clergy-marches-against-violence/32606352)

Some are called to the rehabilitation efforts

And some are called to the process of long-term development

I'm not talking about excusing bad behavior and wrongdoing.  I'm talking about knowing that the one who stepped in for us, on the cross of Calvary, stepped in for THIS too!

The people of God know that our creator can recreate the worst offender into one who brings Him glory - just look at Paul, who was formerly Saul.  The process of repair and restoration comes through relationships that champion another person.  With God himself as our champion, we find the strength and the ways to champion another person.  It comes by being FOR another person, not being AGAINST them.  

When we know that we've all come broken and the LORD is the one who stepped in and restored us, we can have the heart posture to step into the brokenness of another person's life and be the light in their darkness.  

Where might the Lord be calling you to walk with another 

and help them become all that God created them to be?

The words of Isaiah 58:6-12 are resounding in my mind:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Advent, Waiting with Hope

Advent begins - the season of awaiting the coming of the Christ Child.  

This week focuses on HOPE. 

...not a wishful kind of hope, rather the certain kind of hope, anticipatory waiting for something known to take place.

I've heard it illustrated this way...
From the time many young girls go to their first wedding, they dream of that day for themselves.  It is a wishful kind of hope.  Then they meet the person they want to spend their lives with and love develops. One day there is a proposal of marriage with an engagement ring to symbolize the promise, and now the wishful hope turns into a certain hope of the day to come and the lifetime of life's journey together to begin.  

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  HEBREWS 11:1

As the days of our life unfold, we experience joy and sorrow, abundance and want, laughter and tears, there is good and bad.  

Jesus said to his disciples:
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome the world.  JOHN 16:33 

In this week of Advent we focus on the certain hope of the Messiah, the Holy One, who became man, to live a sinless life in perfect obedience to the Father, and who gave himself as the sacrifice to redeem humanity.  By receiving God’s gift of grace, through faith in Jesus, there is life. Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  JOHN 10:10

...the Christ Child, Jesus, 

was born in a manger 

to make a way to the cross 

It is through the resurrection that we can have confidence and certainty in this kind of hope. 

My prayer for you is to experience this kind of hope knowing how deeply God loves you!

The song "He Made a Way in a Manger" says this beautifully!  Enjoy..