Hope For Today

Dear Friends, The God who created the world and everything in it desires to have a relationship with you and me.   Do you know that he knows you by name?   How incredible is that? There are around 7 billion people on this earth and God knows you by name.   God is calling us into a relationship with him. Isaiah 43:1 says “But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.   O Israel, the one who formed you says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.  I have called you by name; you are mine.”   (NLT) God created us first, and foremost, for a relationship with him; a relationship with him is the most fulfilling one we can ever experience.   God knows us better than we know ourselves and he loves us unconditionally.   He is the source of all that we need; a relationship with him brings us peace, hope, joy, love and fulfilment.   No other relationship can meet all our needs, if we look to others to supply our needs we wi...

Dear Friends, Do you see yourself as God sees you?   As his masterpiece?   What makes something a masterpiece, a real work of art?   Not the object itself, but the master artist who created it and designed it.   For example, Van Gogh’s pieces of art were not masterpieces in themselves, they were masterpieces because of the one who created them. Therefore, I’m not a masterpiece because of anything I do or have achieved but I am one because I’ve been created by GOD - THE MASTER DESIGNER. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”   Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) Don’t you just love that!   I know I do.   You and I are God’s masterpiece!   How amazing is that!   (I know there are several exclamation marks in this short paragraph, but it’s something I want to exclaim, it thrills me to the depth of my very being.)   You may want to spend some tim...

Dear Friends, When you sense that God may be calling you to something new, to take a step of faith, you can experience a variety of emotions.   On the one hand there may be excitement as you think about the plan God has for your life and where he is leading you, on the other hand you may be anxious about facing the unknown and what he is asking you to do.   Or perhaps stubbornly you decide to dig your heels in because you don’t want the change.    You may be wondering why he is calling you to do something different when you are satisfied with life as it is, when you already consider yourself productive in your relationships, home, work, ministry at church etc.   To leave all that behind may not make a lot of sense to you. I wonder what emotions Abram experienced when he heard God’s call on his life.   Abram was from a prominent family, his ancestry can be traced all the way back to Seth, Adam and Eve’s son.   His was a wealthy family with...

Dear Friends, When God commanded Noah to build the ark, Noah obeyed, he did everything that God commanded him to do. Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives along with the animals who entered the ark were kept safe and protected.   They were in the ark for nearly a whole year.   Can you imagine what it must have been like to have spent almost a year in the ark?   The noise and smell from the animals, not being free to wander outside and smell the fresh air.   The waiting and the patience needed to wait. I wonder if, after all those months, Noah experienced times of doubt.   Had God forgotten him?   Did God care about him at all?   Had he really heard from God in the first place?   Would he spend the rest of his life confined to the ark? I know for myself there are times when I wonder if God has forgotten about me.   Perhaps you’ve been there too - a situation where it feels that God has forgotten you, where he do...

Dear Friends,   Forgiving others for what they have done against us is not easy, but forgiving ourselves for our own sins and failings can be just as hard.   To be honest, it’s something I really struggle with. I know the truth that “if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. ” (1 John 1:9 NLT).   I know that the moment I turn to God, confess my sins to him, he forgives me totally and completely, yet I still have a hard time forgiving myself. I think perhaps it’s partly because of the person I am that I sometimes find it hard to forgive myself.   I’m a perfectionist, which I used to think was a positive quality, but over the past years God has been teaching me differently (but that’s a story for another time!)   I expect to get things right all the time, to be perfect, and so when I’m not I’m very hard on myself and unforgiving. Then, when I think I’ve learned to for...