FRESH AIR FOR THE SOUL

Today’s post is part of the Christian Writer’s blog chain. The theme for June is “Fresh Air.” Click on the links to the right to see how my friends look at this topic.

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Most days my bedroom window is open. Except on summer afternoons when it is shut tight against the heat.

Ah, but come evening, the blinds go up; the window slides open and the cool evening air slips through my screen and pushes the hot, still air up through the attic and out of the house.

Thanks to our remarkable whole house fan, it takes but moments to bring the temperature in the house from 90 to 70. And to return my mood from heat-induced grumpy to my very cool self.

Sometimes we don't get those cool evening breezes though. When that happens, it's not pretty in our bedroom. There's me, lying on one side of the bed—as far away from my heat-producing husband as I can get. Pillows turned every 5 minutes to the "cool side." The ceiling fan is on high. The nightstand fan is on high. The big box fan, perched on my dresser and aimed directly at me—is on high. Another box fan in the window. On high. And a cool, wet cloth on my hot, sweaty forehead.

The only good thing about those nights is that when the cool breezes return, I'm praising God and thanking Him for rescuing me from another night in the inferno and for sending me exactly the kind of fresh air I need.

Kinda like He did when He sent Jesus.

To the early Christians, Jesus must have been like fresh air—sweeping away the cobwebs of legalism; brushing off the dust of disbelief; blowing away the despair of sin. Understanding the promise of salvation, forgiveness and redemption through Jesus literally does away with the threat of spending eternity in the inferno of hell.

Yes, there are a few crazy people who actually like triple digit temperatures. But for most of us, the still, hot air is suffocation. It is a baking of the soul; a crisping of the mind; a burning up of a peaceful spirit.

We need the cool fresh air of the evening to renew our bodies so we can prepare for the heat of the day ahead. Likewise, we need the fresh air of Jesus to renew our souls for a time that may be filled with an inferno of trials and worry. The blessed fresh air of Jesus flows through us by means of the Holy Spirit. It can refresh us. We need only to open the window of our souls and let it flow.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for the variety you created in this world—day and night; light and dark; the heat of the day and cool evening breezes. Thank you, Jesus, for gifting us with your Spirit. Help us let your Spirit flow freely through us, restoring our souls with the fresh air of your love. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Are you invigorated by the heat or the cool? Was there a time when your experience with Jesus was like a breeze of fresh air?

PRAYING NAMES—A FEW MORE

Here are a few more names for your praying enjoyment. Please email me or leave a comment with names of loved ones you would like to pray for. I’ll research the meaning of the name, create a prayer and post the next batch within a week or two. After they’re posted here, I’ll move them and add them to the permanent ‘PRAYING NAMES” page at the top of this blog.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about…go to my May POST that explains praying for loved ones by praying the meaning of their names.

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ANANDA: Bliss, worthy of love

Heavenly Father, I pray that Ananda will live her name. I pray that she will find true joy and peace through you. I pray also that she will understand how completely worthy of love she is both to you and to others. Show her your love in a real way today. Assure her of your presence in her life. Help her take hold of your hand and walk along side you, receiving your peace and knowing that she is worthy of your love.

JUSTIN: Just, lawful, true

Heavenly Father, I pray that Justin will live his name. I pray that in all things, he will live his life being just and true in everything he says and does. I pray also that he will understand that you are true and just and that your words in scripture and your example in life, Jesus, is the one real truth he can cling to throughout his life.

LINDSEY, LINDSAY: dark lake; linden trees near the water

Heavenly Father, I pray that Lindsey will live her name. I pray that she will understand that although the waters of life may be dark, she can rely on you to be her guide through them and to light her way across them. I pray also that she will be like the trees near the water’s edge, gaining strength and nourishment from you, Jesus, the living water.

ALAN, ALLEN: handsome, rock

Heavenly Father, I pray that Alan will live his name. I pray that he will understand that you made him to be a handsome reflection of your beauty. I pray that he will live his life in the beauty that you gave when you gave yourself for our salvation. I pray that his faith will be a rock that he and others can rest on, strong and firm for every challenge that comes his way.

JAY: a type of bird; swift, victorious

Heavenly Father, I pray that Jay will live his name. I pray that he will find freedom in loving you and being loved by you. I pray that he will be able to soar in his faith and that you will lift him up during times of trial, as if on wings of eagles. I pray that he will claim the victory that you offer and that his faith will make him victorious over all evil that threatens him and those he loves.

BECOME LIKE A CHILD

This week’s posts have been about children—our two new house guests, the boys they are mentoring and how children are fresh air to the stale world.

Here are two verses to meditate on over the weekend

“At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. (Matthew 11:25)

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

If God’s truth is revealed to little children, let us become like children so we may understand and thus enter God’s kingdom.

FRESH AIR TO A STALE WORLD

Today my baby girl is 22. No, I won’t embarrass her by posting baby pictures online for the entire world wide web to see. Take my word for it. She was a beauty. And still is.

Nicole wasn’t one of those girly girls as a child. No pink frills. No lace. No ribbons. She wore jeans, cowgirl boots and an oversized wolf T-shirt until she turned 12. Then one day when I wasn’t paying attention, she went from total tomboy to young woman.

When I turned around, she took my breath away. Now that she’s moved away from home, every time she comes back it’s like she’s bringing fresh air with her. She fills the house with color and music and delight. Having her home is like breathing fresh air after a spring rain.

Before we become parents, we are still becoming the people God means us to be. We are still moving from childhood ourselves; learning to trust our never-quite-enough wisdom; understanding the world and our place in it. When we are blessed by that first child, he turns our world upside down and forces us to find a new place to perch.

When our first born arrived—our wonderful son—I remember my husband and I sitting quietly together holding our precious bundle of blue and whispering. “Life will never be the same.”

And it hasn’t been. We simply cannot imagine life without our children. When they arrived, it was as if God breathed fresh air into our lives and expanded our lungs and our hearts to contain the increased volume of love they brought. Every day our children showed us how to look at the same thing we saw yesterday and see it from fresh eyes. Every day our children showed us delight in things we had forgotten were delightful. Every day God showed us how to love our own children so we could finally understand His love for us.

One day 4-year old Nicole came running into my office, declaring, “Mommy, look what I found!”

Tearing myself away from the computer, I had half a second to wonder what could be so exciting to merit her enthusiasm.

There she stood, next to me, holding an egg beater, turning it slowly, rotating the beater blades like gears on a bicycle. I’d had that egg beater for 15 years, but to my 4-year old daughter, it was brand new; miraculous and exciting. And for a moment, it was exciting to me, too.

To children, everything is fresh and new. They remind us of the amazing things God has created for us in this world. Once reminded, can we continue to look at our world with the freshness of children? Can we retain our childlike love for God and a childlike gratitude for His gifts?

Perhaps we can, if we remember that we are His children.

Happy birthday, Nicole. You are a precious gift from God. He loves you and so do I.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us never lose our childlike love for you. Help us to always see you as our Heavenly Father. I pray that we will always be a sweet blessing to you; a fresh breeze wafting up to heaven. Thank you for being our Heavenly Father and thank you for the fresh air we experience from the children you place in our lives. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have an example of a time a child taught you how to look at something with fresh eyes?

OPEN HOUSE

Yesterday, Jason and Ervin came to live with us. Only for six weeks, but for those six weeks, we have two new sons and they have a new home base. They will be mentoring fatherless middle school boys as part of a summer program with Shoulder to Shoulder in Sacramento. 

Two years ago we had two different young men stay with us as they worked with Shoulder to Shoulder. I’m not sure how blessed they were; but we were definitely blessed by their presence in our home.

We look forward to being similarly blessed by Jason and Ervin.

Of course, when the call came requesting our spare bedroom—as usual—my initial reaction was to wonder “how will this personally put me out?”

<sigh> Obviously God’s still got a lot of work to do in me.

In fact, my first thought was, “I won’t be able to lounge around in my PJs in the evening for six whole weeks.”

Are you laughing? After I stopped laughing at myself, too, I realized that such a “hardship” wouldn’t really be so hard after all.

It was at that point, amid the chuckling, that I heard the voice on the Bible CD playing in my head—of the Apostle Paul writing Hebrews 13:2.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

I’ll have to let you know if Jason and Ervin turn out to be angels. One thing I am sure of: they will be the hands of feet of Jesus to the fatherless boys they will be mentoring. That’s about as close to being an angel as us mortals can get.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, please help us be attuned more closely to the Holy Spirit so that our first reaction to a need is graciousness. Please continue to work on us so that we become closer to your example, Jesus. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Have you had a time in your life that called for graciousness and discovered that it was actually your first response? Or, like me, does graciousness take a little more effort?

FATHER'S DAY PRAYER

For now, my Friday posts will be simplified--perhaps a scripture, a thought or a prayer.

Here is a prayer to take us through this special weekend.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and every day. We thank you also for your plan and our place in it. This weekend we celebrate "Father's Day" to honor the men in our lives who are our earthly fathers. We thank you for their lives and thank them for their love and guidance in ours.

We thank you also for being our Heavenly Father. We thank you for our lives and for your love and guidance every day. Please, Holy Spirit, attune our hearts and minds to your leading so that we can know and love you more and follow your guidance with ever more confidence.

Thank you, Jesus, for becoming human for our sake. Thank you for showing us a bridge between the earthly and the divine and for your example of living and of doing your Father's will. Amen.

FRESH MOUNTAIN AIR

This post is part of the ChristianWriters.com blog chain. Our theme for June is “fresh air.” Click on the links to the right to enjoy what my friends have to say about “fresh air.”

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The contemporary Christian group, Third Day, has a beautiful song called Mountain of God. Here is part of it.

Even though the journey's long

and I know the road is hard.

Well, the one who's gone before me,

He will help me carry on.

And after all that I've been through,

now I realize the truth

that I must go through the valley

to stand upon the mountain of God!

Do you recall Moses’ journey through the desert?  For 40 years as the Jews meandered toward their goal, following as God led them by day with a pillar of cloud and by night with a pillar of fire. What a long, hot, dusty journey it must have been. How many of the people who had left Egypt died in that desert? How much suffering was involved in the journey?

I imagine the tents and the families; little children running past the crying babies and moaning elders, tired from the journey—emotionally, physically and spiritually. I imagine Moses, climbing the mountain and finding God waiting for him. It must have meant cooler temperatures, possibly even fresh, invigorating air after the heat of the dry, desert valley.

We too wander the desert of life. We yearn for a roadmap, forgetting that God has given us his divine roadmap right there in scripture. Sometimes—even with our eyes focused on God—we wander the desert valley. Trials. Pain. Worry. Grief. Setbacks. Loneliness.

These valleys make us yearn for the fresh air we can find when we stand on the mountain with God. Those precious moments when we feel God’s presence; know His love and grace.

Here’s to the fresh air we can find when we stand upon the mountain with God.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for walking through our valleys with us and thank you for meeting us on the mountain where you fill our spirits with your fresh air. Remind us that your presence, your word and your Spirit are refreshing to our souls. Keep us seeking after you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Was there a time in your life when you felt you were traveling through a long, dry desert valley? Was there a time when you experienced the refreshing presence of God and could look back on the valley and know that God carried you through it?

TONGUES OF FIRE

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Yesterday we observed Pentecost—the end of the Easter season on the Christian calendar and in ancient times, the day when the promised Holy Spirit was first received by Jesus’ followers.

But before Pentecost was a Christian holy day, it was a Jewish holy day, commemorating the giving by God of the Ten Commandments and the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses.  See my Wednesday POST for more on the history of Pentecost.

THE FIRE OF GOD

God frequently appeared as fire in scripture.

Genesis 15:17: God’s covenant with Abraham

Exodus 3:2: God’s appearance to Moses in the burning bush

Exodus and Numbers: leading the Israelites through the desert as a pillar of fire

Exodus and Deuteronomy: God’s appearance on Mt. Sinai

God is elsewhere linked to fire, such as His destruction of the bull during Elijah’s challenge to the Baal prophets (1 Kings 18:22-39) and references to refining silver in fire (Isaiah 13:9).

In fact, Deuteronomy 4:24 tells us that the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

So if God appears as fire and uses fire for His purposes why do we think of fire as something which represents evil?

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE

Perhaps we fear fire because of the image of Hell. We envision Hell as an eternal fire filled with—hellfire, not surprisingly—and brimstone. We have this image partly because of the Book of Revelation, where the Apostle John shared his vision with us.

But we forget that everything in the universe is God-created, including Hell. God created Hell as a place to set aside evil in the end times. And just as God chose to appear as fire, He can use fire for His holy purpose. To purify. In the end times, God will purify the universe by sending evil to Hell where it will be consumed by His own power.

FIRE IS GOOD

At both events commemorating Pentecost—the giving of the Ten Commandments and the giving of the Holy Spirit—God made His appearance as fire. Both events are celebrated as “Pentecost.”

At the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:18: Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire.

At the giving of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:3: They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

This last fire/Holy Spirit combo was prophesied by John the Baptist in Luke 3:15-16:

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them saying, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

John, referring to Jesus, said that only Jesus had the power to baptize people into the presence of God, to be convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and to be then purified by the fire of God’s righteousness.

Seen from the view of scripture, purification is a righteous process; a godly, just and loving occurrence. As it relates to John the Baptist’s prophecy of baptism by the Holy Spirit and fire, we look again at Acts. 

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

John’s prophecy was fulfilled on Pentecost. Those early Christians not only were baptized with the Holy Spirit, but tongues of fire from God came to rest on each of them, baptizing them also in holy fire.

OH, NOW I GET IT!

I love this image of the Christians sitting in the house, a sound like a mighty wind filling their ears when all at once a tongue of fire settled over each of their heads.

Folks back then didn’t have electricity. They could have no “light bulb over their heads” moment like our modern cartoons show.

But I like to think of this as one of those ancient “a-ha light bulb moments” where, instead of a modern light bulb, they had what the ancient people used to light their homes—a flame.

To me, this was the early Christian’s light bulb moment. When they received the Holy Spirit they realized, “Oh, NOW I get it!”

Do we get it?

If we have received Christ into our hearts, we too have received the Holy Spirit. But do we get it? Do we understand the power of God within us? Are we open to His leading? Attuned to His presence?

Are we set on fire by God in us?

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your presence, whether by fire or the Holy Spirit. Jesus, thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to us. Please help us, Spirit, attune our lives to you. Purify us and use us for your good purpose. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a favorite passage of scripture in which God uses fire for His purpose?

PRAYING NAMES - A FEW MORE

Here are a few more names for your praying enjoyment. Please don't forget to email me or leave a comment with names of loved ones you would like to pray for. I'll research the meaning of the name, create a prayer and post the next batch within a week or two. After they're posted here, I'll move them and add them onto the permanent "PRAYING NAMES" page.

If you don't know what I'm talking about...go to my May POST that explains praying for loved ones by praying the meaning of their names.

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Ava: like a bird; voice

Heavenly Father, I pray that Ava will live her name. I pray that she will have such a strong faith in you that she will soar as if on the wings of eagles. I pray that she will run and not grow weary; that she will walk and not faint. I pray also that when she speaks, others will hear your words and the sound of your voice. I pray that she will be an example to others of her faith in you.

Christian: Of the Christian faith

Heavenly Father, I pray that Christian will live his name. I pray that throughout his life, people will hear Christian’s name and know by his life, his words and actions, that he is your son. I pray that he will be strong in his faith and an example to his family, friends, loved ones, co-workers and strangers of a godly man who trusts in Jesus.

Athena: goddess of wisdom and war

Heavenly Father, I pray that Athena will live her name. I pray that she will be known to others as a woman who lives a life of godly wisdom. I pray that her spirit will be that of a wise, righteous and thoughtful child of God. I pray also that she will be a Christian soldier in God’s army, putting on the full armor of God and excelling in obedience and strength of faith, as if a soldier, marching behind the banner of Jesus’ cross.

Lauren, Laura, Laurel, Lori: The Bay; Laurel Plant

Heavenly Father, I pray that Lauren will live her name. I pray that her faith will grow as strong as a laurel tree and that she will provide spiritual shade and rest for others beneath her flowering branches. I pray that like Jesus’ parable, she will know that Jesus is the true vine and she is a branch. I pray that she will cling to that understanding and grow strong in her faith, creating sweet smelling flowers and lush fruit for Him.

Sarah, Sara, Sally: Princess

Heavenly Father, I pray that Sarah will live her name. I pray that she will recognize that as a Christian she has been adopted by the King of the universe. I pray that she will understand her status as His princess and will live as that nobility requires.

Daniel, Dan, Danny, Dane: God is my judge

Heavenly Father, I pray that Daniel will live his name. I pray that throughout his life, he will understand that God is just and that God, rather than society, is his ultimate judge. I pray that Daniel will live his life making each decision with the understanding that God is watching; not to be found wanting but so that one day God will say to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

FRESH AIR FROM THE SPIRIT

This blog post is part of the ChristianWriters.com blog chain. This month our theme is “fresh air.” See the links to the right and enjoy what my friends have to say about fresh air.

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This Sunday, June 12 marks the end of the Easter season on the Christian liturgical calendar.  Specifically, this Sunday, we celebrate Pentecost. Scripture tells us that Pentecost is the day Jesus’ disciples received the Holy Spirit. This supernatural event is recounted in Acts 2:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

PENTECOST

The word Pentecost comes from the Greek word pentekoste meaning 50 days. Fifty comes from the root word “pent” for “five” as in pentagon, a geometric shape with five sides.

Easter Sunday marked Day One of the 40 days the risen Christ walked among us before taking his place in heaven. Fifty days after his resurrection, on Pentecost, he gifted his believers with the Holy Spirit.

The day we observe as Christian Pentecost was also celebrated before Jesus’ time by Jews as the Feast of the Harvest or Pentecost. For the 49 days after Passover, farmers set aside first fruits of their wheat harvest.

On the 50^th day, they would make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to present their offering  and to celebrate the receipt of the 10 Commandments and the Torah—the first five books of our Christian Old Testament, also known as the Pentateuch or Books of Moses. The Feast of the Harvest, the Jewish Pentecost, was one of the most important holy days in Judaism.  

Even after Paul’s conversion, return to Jerusalem for Pentecost was an important event in the lives of the Jewish people. Acts 20:16 tells us:

Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

COINCIDENCE?

Notice anything interesting about these two important Jewish holy days?

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed during the celebration of Passover, when Jews sacrificed lambs to remember the preservation of the Hebrew people. Jesus’ sacrifice was for the eternal preservation of all mankind.

One of Jesus’ first instructions to his 12 disciples reported in Matthew 9: 37-38: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

This was followed immediately by Jesus’ instructions to the disciples to drive out spirits and heal in His name. To harvest people for salvation.

The Jewish harvest celebration of Pentecost coincided with the arrival of the Holy Spirit to the early Christians, which promised empowerment of all believers for God’s spiritual harvest.

Does God do coincidences?

FRESH AIR

Take a look at Acts 2 again:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

The followers of Jesus were inside a house and yet the house was filled up with sound from heaven. It got everyone’s attention. After that, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is given to all of us when we receive Christ into our hearts. I’ve not seen a flame over anyone’s heads when they marched down the aisle during altar call, though. Nor have I heard the sound of a mighty wind within a closed room.

But when I am still, I can almost hear the sound of God; sometimes as a gentle whisper; sometimes as a mighty storm. I am reminded that He is in control, and that He is working in and through me, by the Holy Spirit.

Just as He did more than 2000 years ago with the new Christians shut inside a house.

To the early Christians, holding on to a fragile new faith, the Holy Spirit flowing through the house and settling upon them, must have been the very breath of fresh air they needed. Whisking away doubts and literally filling them with the power of God.

The Holy Spirit in us is fresh air to the soul. When we are open to its presence, it can flow as a gentle whisper or a mighty wind. Let us open the windows of our heart and let it flow.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your power. Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit and for the power you instill in us. Remind us that you, Holy Spirit, as spirit, are fresh air to our souls, to our minds and to our faith. Use us, dear Lord, for your purpose. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you think it was a coincidence that the Holy Spirit was given to early Christians first on the day Jewish people celebrated both the harvest and the giving of the law? Do you even believe in coincidences when it comes to God?

HEAVEN IS OPENED

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.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Words: Edward Mote; music: William B. Bradley

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Yes, that’s me singing hymns again. Did you read my POST last week about praying hymns?

This great hymn was running through my head as I was thinking about what to share with you on this glorious Monday. It set me thinking about hope.

The world often refers to hope as wishful thinking. As we gaze at the dark clouds roaming above our heads we say, “I sure hope it doesn’t rain.” 

Or we eye the gas tank needle hovering well below zero and say, “I hope I make it to the gas station.” 

Or we purchase a lottery ticket and say, “I hope I win.”

 I like to think of Christian H.O.P.E. as an acronym:

Heaven is

Opened by the

Promise of

Eternity

In Christianity, hope is not wishful thinking. It is not just something we “want.” It is confident expectation. It is a solid assurance about things that are unknown to us in the physical world. Based on God’s character and His promises.

We say, “Our hope is in Christ.”

But when you say that, is part of your brain still translating it as “I sure hope I end up in heaven”? As if there might be a question mark floating around inside your brain? Is part of you wondering if that hope is only wishful thinking?

Christianity isn’t a “wish”-y washy faith. It is based on truth backed by historical evidence and by a rational, common-sense understanding that doesn’t come from someone’s active imagination. So let’s look closely at the word hope.

GRAMMAR 101: VERBS

An intransitive verb is an action verb that has with no direct object. In other words, the action is not done to anything or anyone else.

Let’s head to Webster’s dictionary for the intransitive verb hope:

1.      To cherish a desire with anticipation

2.      To trust

In Christian-ese, that would be like saying “I hope to see my family again in heaven.” It’s not wishful thinking; it’s based on trust. But this definition still doesn’t fully encapsulate the sense of absolute certainty that we’d like.

There’s also a transitive verb form of hope. A transitive verb is also an action verb but requires someone or something to receive the action. The transitive verb hope means:

1.      To desire with expectation of obtainment

2.      To expect with confidence

Do you notice the difference between the intransitive and transitive forms of hope? We’ve moved from “anticipation” to “expectation of obtainment.” An example of the transitive verb hope would be: “I hope for an eternity with Christ.” We expect it with confidence.

We’re getting closer.

GRAMMAR 101: NOUNS

But Christians more typically use the word hope as a noun. Hope becomes a thing; something real and true. The definition of the noun hope is:

1.      Trust, reliance

2.      Desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment

3.      Someone or something on which hopes are centered

These definitions explain that hope is not mere wishful thinking. When it comes to our faith, our hope is a result of God’s promise.

1.      We rely on God’s promise.

2.      Our desire comes with expectation of fulfillment.

3.      Our desire is centered on God himself.

In fact, our Christian hope is based not on only one of these definitions, but on all three. Like the Trinity.

If the Creator of the universe promises something, when it happens it’s not wish fulfillment. It’s fulfillment of what we have expected, based on our hope in Christ. Not sinking sand, but solid rock.

BUILDING HOPE

Our hope is also built. Jesus, the carpenter was a builder in life. And He is a builder of our faith.

Hope is built stronger as our faith becomes stronger. And our faith is built stronger as our recognition grows of the fulfillment of promises made.

My hope is not built on wishful thinking.

My hope is not built on something I simply want.

My hope is not built on what I can accomplish in this life.

My hope is not built on crossing my fingers and holding my breath.

My hope is not built on a quick wish as a comet streaks across the sky.

My hope is not built on a coin tossed in a fountain.

My hope is the full assurance of what God has promised; based on the evidence I see around me of His goodness and love. Of His promises made. And based especially on the promises He has fulfilled already through Jesus, the Christ.

My hope is built. It is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank you for your promises and your faithfulness in fulfilling them. Thank you for giving us a solid foundation upon which to build our full assurance in you. Amen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Have you wondered about the idea of “hope” and whether it is only wishful thinking? What does “hope in Christ” mean to you?