All tagged hope

Faith, Prayer, and Opening the Box

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Way to Eternity

Are we waiting to fully understand God before we will allow ourselves to believe? Do we hope he is who scripture says He is, but need more proof? Some of us don’t want to admit that God exists because our own limited intelligence, ability to conceive, or because our lack of understanding who He is, keeps getting in our way. Well, hope is fine, but it isn’t the same thing as faith. Hope is seeing a box, and wanting to believe that God might be in it. Faith is our ability to take the vapor of that hope, and treat it as if it were real. Faith is the first step towards believing… it opens the box in which we have placed our hope that God exists, and allows us to peer inside expectantly. Belief, on the other hand, is seeing the evidence of Him in the box, and realizing that He is not only there in its confines, but is in everything that surrounds it… and abides in us too. So today let’s think about where we are on this path from hope to faith, to belief, and into the eternal presence of God beyond.

If Time is Money, What is good?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Doing Good

I read two different devotionals each day and I write my thoughts surrounding them in these early morning devotional messages and prayers. But, today is different; I am taking the time to pass on my thoughts regarding a book I have been reading as well. Have you ever heard the expression "time is money"? It is a common saying that I have heard and repeated most of my life. Today I thought of it again as I read Galatians 6:10 and wondered if time isn’t also good… is time the thing that measures how much good we can do in life?

Is There Hope Where We See None?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Hope in Prayer

We can find ourselves waiting on the answer to a prayer that doesn’t seem to be coming, or at least coming anytime soon. We are suffering, or waiting to be rescued, and yet all we hear is the silence of God. But friends, we can rest assured of two things today; the first is that someone is experiencing this right now (possibly you) as they read these words, and the second is that help is on the way. We might lose hope as we suffer through the pain and fear in our lives, but God is ever faithful and true. When we feel lost or abandoned do we continue to pray? Or maybe we hear ourselves shouting out to the Lord in our frustration rather than finding strength in our anticipation and trust in Him.

Faith; the Substance of Things Hoped For

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Faith and Hope

As I read my devotional today, the words of the author, E.M. Bounds, described faith as that which "determines our relationship with God - how we deal with Him and how we see Him as the savior." I latched onto his phrase "Faith is not believing just anything. It is believing God, resting in Him and trusting His word.", but so many people have faith and hope in other things that don’t warrant their faithfulness at all. We hear this all the time. We hear people say that they have faith in this or that, a sports team, a political party, even a pastor or priest, and there doesn’t seem to be any limit as to what they will place their faith in. Do you see this too?

Fretting needlessly about the World as it crumbles

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Fearing the World

Do we let the happenings of the world trouble us and destroy the faith and tranquility we have in Jesus Christ? Are we so worried about what is occurring in our day to day lives that we can no longer see or feel the eternal truth, which is that Jesus suffered so we could be redeemed; and that He has brought us peace and rest? If so it is time we started stripping the meaningless outer layers away from our life of faith, and get down to the one thing that truly matters... the Cross.

Hope - Our Confident Anticipation in God’s Word yet to come

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope

Throughout time the people who lived out their lives in this world have been confronted by events that have challenged them as they have struggled to remain hopeful. This place has much beauty, and we can be certain that pleasures and blessings abound in abundance here, but this is also Satan’s present home, and he confronts us daily with hardship and tragedy as he seeks to destroy our faith, and our hope in God. So we struggle each day to maintain our hope, but where does it come from? Our Hope comes from the Lord, and moreover, He is our hope. Do we experience this divine hope?

Renewing our Hope in the midst of Life’s Storms

Richard Forbes
Renewing Hope

Truly blessed is he who has never stood hopeless on one of life’s darkest nights, and searched for a tiny glimmer of hope. When we stand beneath a starless sky, or cower in hopelessness as storm clouds turn our day to night, where do we find the strength to believe, and the faith to hope again? Where do we turn to reclaim the lost joy that will bring light back into our lives? There is but one place for us to turn, and that is to the Lord. We cry out to Him with tears of desperation, and patiently wait upon Him with a strength that only His Holy Spirit can brings to us. We trust in our hope’s return, and have faith in Him, our strong tower, while we wait for the glow of the Lord’s righteous return.

Trials, Endurance, Character, and hope that becomes Salvation

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope of Salvation

People face many trials in their lives, and as Christians we are not exempt from them. It is common for new Christians to think that because we experience a deep seated hope in salvation that this implies that our hardships in life will vanish, but to the surprise of many we find that they do not, and are a necessary part of a robust faith. Suffering through trials increases the endurance of our faith, which in turn strengthens our character, and this leads us to an amazing hope, and at last, a confidence in our salvation through Jesus Christ. When we suffer, and we do so in Jesus, something amazing happens… our faith, and walk with Him becomes stronger, and sweeter. The confidence, and hope, we have of salvation wells up in us, and God’s will for us in Christ, extends beyond our earlier hope into reality.

Transforming Our Hope to Faith, to Belief

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Belief and Believing

We believe in God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but although we believe, is that enough? When the Lord tells us to step out beyond our belief, in faith alone, do we have it in full measure? Can we walk into the unknown by leaning on Him completely; abandoning the comfort we have grown accustomed to, and trusting enough to journey into unknown circumstances? To receive his inheritance Abraham had to go out as God commanded him to do, and to redeem the world Jesus had to take on our sin, and venture into death. To do these things it took more than hope… it took faith, and beyond that, a firm belief.

Good Friday, and our Journey from Faithful to Believer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Faith , Belief, Good Friday

Our faith in God grows in the lessons we learn during the trials and tribulations we face in our lives with the Lord, but the real foundation, and engine that drives it, and ultimately leads us to believe, is trusting in God’s Word. Unless we lean on God’s Word, and take it as truth, then we don’t actually believe, we have simply based our imagined religion on a golden calf we have constructed for ourselves… a fantasy.

Do not Fear, nor Despair

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Fear and Despair

Are we having a good day, or bad one today? I hope that this is an exceptionally good one for you, but life is also sprinkled throughout with days where we wake up wondering how we will make it, and praying for deliverance. On days such as this we need to stoke up the fire of our faith, and remember that no matter what happens during this day we are God’s children, and this is the day that He has made. It is alright to feel a sense of desperation, as a matter of fact every Bible account shows us that our Father demonstrates His greatest love, mercy, and provision, during desperate times, so if we trust, if we have faith, then He will lead us, and we will not succumb to despair, or find ourselves in the grasp of our faith’s greatest enemy… fear.

Remembrance, Assuredness, and Hope in our Prayers

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Hope

When God makes a promise to us it is His bond, and He needs no reminder of it, so why is it that we feel inclined to remind Him of His Word in our prayers? We do this, not for God’s benefit, but to remind ourselves of what He has said, insure ourselves that we are praying as we should, and to give ourselves renewed hope. Remembrance, assuredness, and hope, or in other words, His Word, His promise, and our faith, how can we possibly pray without any one of these being present… even if they manifest themselves in something as simple as a groan?

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