Hope For Today Videos

All around the globe there is unrest, conflicts, demonstrations.  And there are often abuses of authority and on the other side challenges to authority by anyone who doesn’t like the decisions made. It’s easy to feel vulnerable and uncertain with news coming at us day after day. Thankfully we have a solid and secure place to stand.  We can be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

Ash Wednesday - What's it all about?

Yeast was a little metaphor that was used to represent sin and wrong in Jesus’ time.  Jesus is warning his friends that just a little unbelief, just a little complaining, just a little believing the watered-down ideas about who He is that others have to say, can infiltrate and mess up everything.

What do you use to add "zing" to your life and bring that same "zing" to people around you? Well, we are all very different people and God, in His creativity has lots of different ways for us to bring out the flavour of His kingdom where we live and interact with others. 

How many times have people wiser than us tried to give us good advice that we ignored and looking back wish we’d recognized and heeded?  Sometimes the moment was just wrong or the way the message was shared wasn’t suited to where we were at. As we share the message of life with God with others, we need to pray for wisdom to know when to speak and when to simply pray and leave people until they are ready to hear what’s helpful.

It’s Valentine’s Day today.  This day is meant to remind us of love and hearts joined together in friendship and commitment.  God has shared His heart with us and invites us to share our hearts with Him. 

What does generous living have to do with living successfully? We live in a self-centered world and that kind of lifestyle typically becomes a person’s way of life without a conscious plan to live otherwise. And here comes God telling us that it is the opposite kind of lifestyle that actually satisfies us – the one that gives and the one that lives to refresh others. What are we to make of that?

Strength is a gift.  Strength is the product of an ongoing relationship with God.  Strength is the result of trusting God, waiting for God to act, and following God’s word and plan for fullness of life.  That is what gives us joy, keeps us safe, and helps us understand and respond well to the events of each day.

It is God’s heart for us that we live with dignity, with our heads held high, and in mutually respectful relationships. That doesn’t always happen, as we know too many sad stories of destructive relationships. Family breakdown, abuse, bullying, and discrimination are just some stress points in destructive relationships. We need to learn how to establish safe boundaries even while we pray for healing and restoration wherever possible.

What words about God’s goodness and love inspire you today? From early on in my walk with God, there is a prayer, familiar to many, that has touched my heart in a way that both stabilizes me and which creates a longing in me to love God more and respond more to Him.  What’s your reaction to this prayer?

How far is the east from the west?  It is a distance we can never travel and a destination we can never reach. Now here’s good news for all of us: Based on our acceptance of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has removed our sins from us and sent them to that place we can never reach – as far as the east is from the west.

In our 24/7 never-ending activity it’s good to hear the call to stop and pay attention to the one who created us and acknowledge who He is as our Lord and how good He is to us as His beloved children.