| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Fresh wind, fresh fire” Our Bible verse for today: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:3-4 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Do you have resilient faith and a living hope?” The other day, as I was preparing the Bible study to go along with our Wednesday evening prayer meeting, I came across two terms that I like very much and which I plan to hang onto. One was “resilient faith” (used by a Bible commentator), and the other was “living hope” (used by Peter in the passage above). Faith is defined for us by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11:1. In the Amplified Bible it reads: “Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen (the conviction of their reality – faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.) Resilience is the ability to endure stress and strain without breaking. A resilient person can endure a lot and recover quickly. Resilient faith then, is the firm conviction and absolute trust in God and His promises that enables us to endure stress and strain without breaking and to recover quickly. Hope, as used by Peter, is more than just wishful thinking. Peter used “hope” in much the same way that the writer of Hebrews used the word “faith”. It’s the confident expectation of good things to come, as promised to us by God. The “living hope” that Peter tells us we have been “born into” as a result of our faith in Christ, is something that’s alive and vibrant. It provides us with a sure promise of a glorious eternity in heaven, but it also has great meaning for this lifetime. Our living hope is the key to our resilient faith. This is the truth we sing about in the old Baptist hymn “Because He Lives”, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know, He holds the future; and life is worth the living just because He lives.” Do you need some fresh wind in your sails and some fresh fire in your soul? Spend some time this morning thinking and praying about the living hope you have been born into and the resilient faith such hope provides. Our faith is based upon our confident assurance that because He lives, all fear is gone … God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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