“When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do.”ROMANS 4:17-18 MSG
Dare to trust God wherever you are and in whatever you are facing.
Even if you’re feeling hopeless.
Stay on the journey.
Though everything in Abraham’s life seemed to indicate otherwise, he chose to focus on the power of God and not on the impossibility of the promise God had given him.
I am sure that there were times that Abraham barely believed and struggled with massive doubt. I am sure that there were days that he was holding on to a thread of hope, he was human.
God will not take away your humanity or your emotions.
His plan is to work through both.
God has called you to trust Him, lean on Him and rely on Him as you walk the road before you.
Stay on the road.
Keep going.
Walk forward with the confidence that you may not know where you are going, but God does.
His promises come with His power.
Power to base your faith on what God can do, not on what you can see.
Hold on, my friend, you may have only had a thread of hope but in Christ, that thread is stronger than what you face and will hold against that which you fear
“Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” Ephesians. 5:2 Message Version
The Scripture above doesn’t say: Mostly what God does is judge us. Mostly what God does is condemn us. Mostly what God does is punish us. Mostly what God does is give up on us.
No, mostly what God does is love us.
He holds nothing back but gives us more and more and more. He loves us whether we feel it or not. He loves us when we are doing good or not. Can’t earn it. Don’t deserve it, nonetheless…what God mostly does is love us.
It reminds me of a phrase from the book, The Shack by William P. Young: “The nature of love is that it is freely given and received freely. God loves the lost and saved the same. He loves, period.”
“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!” – John 16:33 TPT
Peace isn’t found in the absence of problems, it is found in Jesus.
Peace isn’t found in the hope that the world will get it right, it is found in the promise that Jesus already did.
Peace is not about having a day without conflict or suffering, it is about leaning into God’s strength to deal with conflict and suffering.
Having peace does not mean having a day without external noise or internal worry.
He who faced death and conquered it, doesn’t tell you to simply have peace, He gives you His peace.
Supernatural, omnipresent, divine peace that faces the darkness without fear that the darkness will overwhelm.
He who is Light overcomes the darkness and guides you through it.
You have nothing to fear.
Rest.
Embrace His Peace.
Allow Him to fill you with knowledge of God and hope of heaven as you face madness of the world around you today.
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
2 Peter 1:2-3 NIV
God’s divine power through Jesus has given you everything you need to live the life God has given you.
To the call He has placed upon your life.
That doesn’t mean it will be easy.
If it was easy, you wouldn’t need God’s power to do it.
You will need Him.
You will need His power to keep going in spite of the obstacles, the setbacks, the failures, and the frustrations you are facing.
Good thing you have Him.
The promise is yours.
Grace and peace are yours in abundance.
Anchor your hope on His word and live fearlessly the beautiful life before you.
Let the shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts—to this shalom you were surely called in one body. Also be thankful.” Colossians 3:15, Tree of Life Translation
Shalom is a beautiful word that means a special kind of peace.
It is a peace born from struggle and hardship.
It is the peace of being put back together after being shattered.
The shalom of the Messiah is a peace that walked through the darkness and didn’t stop walking.
It is a peace forged in the throws of death and triumphed over it.
It is a peace that has faced the worst of mankind’s darkness and overcame it.
It is the peace of the One who conquered the unconquerable and rose blazing in light and life.
Shalom is a peace that come from the heart of God, delivered to us through the heart of Jesus and binds us together through the confidence that no matter what we face, the promise of eternal peace is ours.
“May God look you full in the face and make you prosper.”
Numbers 6:26 MSG
The word for “prosper” here in the original Hebrew is “shalom.”
It has become one of my favorite words.
At its core, “Shalom” means the type of wholeness that comes after being broken.
I think that the most difficult moment to look God full in the face is when you are broken.
When you have failed or fallen or lay wounded at another’s hand.
That is exactly when you need Him the most.
That is when you need to see the face of God and how He sees you.
That is when you need to see His love, mercy and grace as He gazes at you.
You need to know that when He looks you full in the face, He is looking at someone He loves, believes in and will put back together through the power of His love.
May God look you full in the face and make you prosper.
“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!” – John 16:33 TPT
Peace isn’t found in the absence of problems, it is found in the presence of Jesus.
Peace isn’t found in the hope that the world will get it right, it is found in the promise that Jesus already did.
Peace is not about having a day without conflict or suffering, it is about leaning into God’s strength to deal with conflict and suffering.
Having peace does not mean having a day without external noise or internal worry.
It is that in the midst of external madness and internal strife that you remember and rest in the truth that you are loved by God.
And nothing will change that.
As I write this, the words of an old hymn come to mind:
“My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness hides His lovely face I rest on His unchanging grace In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
When He shall come with trumpet sound Oh, may I then in Him be found Dressed in His righteousness alone Faultless to stand before the throne’
On Christ the solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
by Edward Mote, 1834
My friend, no matter what you are facing this Christmas, my prayer for you is that Jesus would be the rock you stand on.
Cindy Grasso 