Hope Lies within the Soul

Confident Hope Faith Gives Us Hope Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5)    A Conquering Faith Ephesians 3:14-21 The Message 14-19 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. 20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! For Reflection The predictions for the health and safety of the Afghans are on my mind. I am thinking about how impotent we humans are at devising governance and how ineffective we are at solving the problems generated by the unexpected consequences of our actions. Try as we might to mitigate the impact of all kinds of injustices, we often fail.  More importantly, we fail at the expense of pursuing other efforts that would show the world the efficacy of centering our effort on God-centered, compassionate missions. We are told that the earliest followers of Christ practiced healing ministries to those marginalized by the dominating forces of government and religion. Early followers of Christ had no doctrines or creeds. They lived lives dedicated to helping ease the burdens of their fellow human beings,  Their work flew in the face of the Roman and Priestly power. Without violent uprising and by feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and offering a tent for all to seek refuge, they undermined the forces that inhibited the life that God had intended them to live. The hope of the hopeless was energized by the personal sacrifices of members in the Jesus movement. Pray Pray and have the courage to act in compassionate ways to help those who suffer the vagaries of human folly. Pray and open your tent to your brothers and sisters who need a kind word or a silent ear to listening; to the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the downtrodden, and be amazed at what God can do through you. Pray and bring hope to the hopeless. Forward to a friend