Good Sunday Morning as June closes this week!!!
1. Question – Have you asked yourself, ‘How’s my hope glass?’ Full, Dwindling? Empty? Is my future bright with hope? Do you pray without faith?’
2. Thought – from Streams in the Desert, daily devotion for June 26th, by L. B. Cowman.
I suspect that the source of every bit of sorrow in my life can be traced to simple unbelief. If I truly believe the past is totally forgiven, the present is supplied with power, and the future is bright with hope, how could I be anything but completely happy?
Yes, the future is bright, because of God’s faithfulness. His abiding truth does not change with my mood, and He never waivers when I stumble and fall over a promise of His through my unbelief. His faithfulness stands firm and as prominent as mountain peaks of pearl splitting the clouds of eternity. And each base of His hills is rooted in an unfathomable depth on the rock of God.
Mont Blanc does not disappear, become a passing vision or a whimsical mist, simply because a climber grows dizzy on its slopes.
Is it any wonder that we do not receive God’s blessing after stumbling over His promise through unbelief? I’m not saying that faith merits an answer or that we can work to earn it. But God Himself has made believing a condition of receiving, and the Giver has a sovereign right to choose His own terms for His gifts.
Unbelief continually asks, ” How can this be possible?” It is always full of ‘how’s,” yet faith needs only one great answer to even ten thousand “how’s.” That answer is – GOD!
No one accomplishes so much in so little time as when he or she is praying. And the following thought certainly aligns well with all that the Lord Jesus Christ taught on prayer: If only ONE BELIEVER WITH TOTAL FAITH rises up, the history of the world will be changed.
Will YOU be that one that rises up, submitting yourself to the sovereignty and guidance of God our Father?
Prayer without faith quickly degenerates into an aimless routine or heartless hypocrisy. However, prayer with faith brings the omnipotence of God to the support of our petitions. It is better not to pray until your entire being responds to, and understands, the power of prayer. When genuine prayer is even whispered, earth and heaven, and the past and future, say, “Amen!”
This is the kind of prayer Christ prayed. (P.C.M. & A.E. McAdam & James Smetham & Samuel Hart)
“What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?” (Romans 3:5)
“Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer except those things outside the will of God.”
While walking and exercising the other day I was pondering hope. Lewis has a great chapter on hope in Mere Christianity. The question that kept coming back at me was this: ‘Do you think God would of sent His Son here to save us if we didn’t have hope?’ ‘How’s my hope glass?’
Have a great close of June!
rem – I had no knowledge that I had no knowledge.
Question & Thought & ANDs.
