Mourning & Faith

READ | Hebrews 11:1-40

We all face this in life and we all need to come to terms with it – the death of a loved one. As I sit here thinking about this next Living Hope Devotional I can’t help but think about the death of my mom’s mom this past week. Death is never easy. But when it gets personal, it’s really hard. I can’t imagine the grief and the sadness throughout the world every day when a loved one passes away. My grandmother was probably the sweetest and kindest woman I’ve ever known. She was exactly what a Grandma is supposed to be. I’ll always remember her love for her family and how at every family get together she never sat down but was always running around serving people. What a beautiful and wonderful Grandma. I will miss her dearly.

Friends, I share only a piece of some of my memories but as I write I think of the title of this weekly devotional – Living Hope. And all I want to say this week is do you have it? Do you have a Living Hope that death is not the end but just the beginning of a different and new kind of relationship with our heavenly Father?

You know there are a lot of people who question people of faith as being without evidence that there is anything beyond the grave. I’m sad for them. They haven’t met our Jesus. Jesus provided ample evidence that we have a living hope beyond the grave because He was able to conquer death. No matter what you think about death and the grave remember this – Jesus conquered both. And history proves what Christians believe.

Though we mourn we do not mourn as people without hope. May God give you His grace and His mercy and His peace without limit this week.

Our House

READ | 2 Chronicles 7:11-22

There's a phrase that's repeated over and over again in the world of college basketball by the home team fans - Our House! It's a statement of authority and a statement of attitude. What it means is if you're coming in to our house you better believer we're going to defend our home court advantage. And if you've ever been to an NCAA college basketball game you can attest to this fact that when home team fans start chanting Our House the game is all decided with the home team coming out on top as the victor.

Friends, our passage this week is 2 Chronicles 7:11-22. But what I really want to focus on is 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says - if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. You know, very often I hear this passage quoted in a way where the church should be praying to heal this wicked nation. And I can't help but see that God is saying to Israel, my people should pray and humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways. What I want us to focus on this week is God's call to His people; His call for us to be the church, His gathering of people who represent Him well in our generation. It was His desire for Israel and it's His desire for all of His children.

Spend time this week doing these few things: humble yourself before God; pray to God the Father; turn from our wicked ways. And the promise is this - God will hear us from heaven; forgive us of our sins and then maybe what He promised Israel will happen for us as well, our land will be healed. To God be the glory!

Highs and Lows

READ | 1 Kings 18:1-19:3

The Old Testament is filled with stories that tell us about the day to day activities of our brothers and sisters in faith. Their highs and lows are recorded for our benefit, that we might learn how to rightly relate to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. First Kings 18:1-19:2 is no exception.

Read the story and you’ll see what I mean. The prophet Elijah had many conversations with God where God would use him for His good purposes. But at this time Israel had a king, King Ahab who considered it “trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam.” In addition, he served and worshipped Baal which provoked the LORD to anger more than all the kings of Israel before him. That’s no small feat!

Elijah’s ministry was full of challenges. God called him to approach this evil king to confront his false idol worship. Ahab easily could have killed Elijah simply by saying the word. But God protected Him because His purposes were greater than this king’s. So the challenge was set – both would allow their God to answer their prayer to see who the real God was. With the two bulls cut into pieces and placed on the wood Elijah said to the prophets of Baal (there were four-hundred and fifty) to call on their god to bring down fire on the bulls. And you know what happened? Nothing. Their gods were impotent, powerless to do anything. So Elijah steps in and has gallons and gallons of water poured on the bulls and the wood. As he prays the fire of the Lord comes down and licked up every ounce of the bull sacrifice, wood and water. The people were amazed and were heard crying out – “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!” Amen.

But moments later, after this great victory we see Elijah cowering in fear because of the threat coming his way from the kings wife Jezebel. Friends, ministry is often like this. After the great highs of ministry can come great lows, where we doubt. Let’s remember that what changed in Elijah’s circumstance seems to be simply his trust and his perspective. When he listened and trusted God’s word, success. When he listened to Jezebel’s threats and believed them, fear. Never allow your circumstances to control your faith, but allow your faith to control your circumstances.