One Year Book of Hope..week 5

Sufferers

My Grace Is All You Need

Because I choose to believe God's Word and because I have experienced it in my own life, I thoroughly believe that the grace God provides is all you need-it is enough-for whatever you face.  It will be delivered to you in the form and quantity and timing your circumstances require.  It is enough to enable you to endure rejection and betrayal without becoming bitter.  It is enough to generate joy in the midst of great sorrow.  it is enough to help you endure the loneliness of your bed and the reminders of loss everywhere you turn.  It is enough to enable you to continue believing that God is good and he loves you.

 The grace God provides to you is enough for whatever suffering he allows into your life, not just enough to survive but enough to equip you to emerge from your suffering with faith intact and hope for the future.  What God said to Paul he also says to you: "My gracious favor is all you need" today and for everything you will face in the days to come.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9

One Year Book of Hope week 4

Holy Spirit, Comforter
Spirit-filled, Spirit-Controlled
The key questions is not, "how do I get more of the Holy Spirit?" If you have placed your faith in Christ to save you, you already have the fullness of the holy Spirit inside of you.  The question is, Are you willing to give him more of you?  Perhaps he is inside you but you've kept him confined, refusing to give him full room and reign to change your attitudes, alter your perspective, order your steps.  Are you willing to move your demanding ego and consuming desires out so that he can become the central force and sweetest desire in your life?  Are you willing to see your agenda and appetites diminish so he can accomplish his purposes?

No Words
I want to pray. I want to pray in harmony with God's will. But sometimes I just don't seem to have the will to pray, nor do I know how to pray.  What a relief to know that the Holy Spirit helps me in myh weakness and confusion.  When we are weak-willed and weak-minded, when distress has consumed our energy and emotions, the Holy Spirit helps us. .... He prays for us with deep devotion and perfect articulation when we have no words--only tears and questions.
Deuteronomy 29:29 Acts 2:22-24, Romans 11:33-34, 1 Corinthians 2:9....excellent scriptures on God's ways being a mystery to us.

One Year Book of Hope. Week 3

The Father Heart of God
A Father's Joy p.19 But he had no opportunity to give the speech because his father was so eager to forgive.

A Father Gives Good Gifts
If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. Matthew 7:11
We know he's our heavenly Father and desires to give good gifts to those who ask him.  The problem is, because we are so limited in our understanding, we don't always know what is good.

But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Romans 8:15-17

A Loving Father Disciplines His Child
Should we not all the more CHEERFULLY submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever? Hebrews 12:9

The One year Book of Hope Week 2

Jesus, Man of Sorrows
The Greatest Tragedy p.13 But I wonder, What would God label as a tragedy?
There is no tragedy in being ushered from this life to the next when that next life is spent in the presence of God.  The only real tragedy is a life that ends without that hope.

Wrestling With God's Plan. p.14
In it I see the fully human, fully God Jesus facing the Cross and crying out to his Father, who has the power to make another way, enact another plan...but chooses not to.

The One Year Book of Hope

wk.1 Broken hearted
p.1 You may feel that no one wants to be around you.  Deep down we know that it is not a lot of fun to be with someone who is sad.  But God loves brokenhearted people.
Guard Your Heart p.4
To nurture a soft heart, keep telling god what you need, even when you hardly know what to say or what to ask for or if he hears you.  Thank him for who he is and what he has done, for all he has given you, and for the ways he is making himself known to you.  Gratitude plows up the ground for God's peace to grow.  This is the kind of peace in the midst of paint hat is foreign and unintelligible to the world, and can only come supernaturally.  Peace is a gift of God, but we prepare ourselves to receive this gift as we pray about everything, cultivate gratitude, and refuse to surrender to worry,.
But I Am Trusting p.6
I would like to tell you that our desire to trust in God erased the fear we had about the future-but it wouldn't be true.  What I will tell you is that we determined to trust God with the future of our family. And it wasn't a decision we made one day for forever.  It is a decision we make again every day (or at least most days) and a decision we continue to make every day. It's the same for you.  Will you trust God today even as your life feels shortened by sadness?  Will you surrender your future into the loving hands of God?

Unpacking Forgiveness-chapter 8

Should I Just Get Over It?
p.98 Starting a quarrel is like flinging a glass of water across a room.  Once you have done it, you can never reverse the process...
p.99 The first thing you should do when you are offended is prayerfully evaluate yourself...
In those instances where right and wrong are not clear, it is usually best to drop the matter, "Love covers a multitude of sins" A person's wisdom gives him patience.
p.102 "Dropping it" does not mean talking to everyone else about it.  If you decide to drop the matter, then do not say another word about it.  And if someone comes up to you complaining about how he or she has been treated, encourage him or her to go directly to the other person.  Avoid a person who talks too much (Proverbs 20:19)

Unpacking Forgiveness-chapter 7

Unpack with Great Urgency
p.89 If we don't work through conflicts immediately, there is a possibility we may cause others to stumble, and that is a responsibility we do not want to shoulder; better to gouge out our eyes, cut off our hands, or tie an anchor to our ankles and pitch it over the side of a boat than to do that.
p.91 But don't you realize that continuing the conflict one more day may cause your children or friends or family to stumble?  Is that a responsibility you want to have?  Take radical action as soon as possible to work things out.

Unpacking Forgiveness-chapter 5

More than a Feeling
p.65 Therapeutic Forgiveness says that forgiveness is unconditional.  Forgiveness should be granted regardless of whether or not the offender is repentant.
 Biblical Forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance...
(my thoughts; totally new thought to me...not sure what I thought at first but after reading this chapter found some things very helpful. I believe he is correct but do need to revisit this several times before it sinks in...)

p.66 first objection is to say, 'Well, if we do not automatically forgive all people, we will be bitter."
I then explain, "No, because Christians must graciously OFFER forgiveness to all people, just as God offers forgiveness to all.  A Christian who loves and offers grace is not bitter."
p.71 God did not intend that we would forget about relationships and move on.  Members of the Body of Christ ought to be distinguished by our self-sacrificing love for one another (John 13:34-35), not by our ability to start over with a clean slate and a different set of people.

Unpacking Forgiveness-chapter 4

Defining Forgiveness for Christians
Eph. 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
The quality of mercy in not strained, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven, Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed/It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
Shakespeare
p.55 In biblical forgiveness, the forgiving person pays the price of forgiveness.
p.57 or to punish by holding the person at a distance (I do this)
Christians must always forgive the repentant.

Unpacking Forgiveness-chapter 2

Motivation to Unpack
p. 37 So why do it?  Here is the short answer.  You should be motivated to unpack forgiveness so you can know maximum happiness.
p.38 We should seek to glorify God in how we work through broken relationships, knowing that even as we glorify God, we will maximize our joy.
p.39 Where forgiveness is concerned, if I do what is right (what glorifies God and is most Christlike), then I will also do what is best (that which maximizes my own joy and happiness.)
This is how we can understand what the Bible teaches about forgiveness and act (with determination) upon that understanding.

Unpacking Forgiveness..chapter 1

chapter 1-How to begin unpacking
p.30 The reason Paul told the Philippians to WORK out their salvation with fear and trembling is that when they do, God will graciously work in and through them.  God works in and through us as we cooperate with his gracious work in our lives...
Means of grace are how God pours out his grace into the life of a Christian.  These means of grace include his Word, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and worship.  When you participate in any of these means of grace, you hoist your sail into the wind of God's love and favor.  If you have been trying to work through forgiveness without consistent involvement in the means of grace, you are only paddling with your hands.