Hope For Today Videos

From the beginning of time God had a marvelous plan for each of our lives where we would be useful – be a blessing to God, to one another, to wildlife, to the earth – everywhere we went we would leave a blessing. That’s why Jesus came to make a way for us to have our relationship with God brought to life so we could, in fact, do what God originally intended for us.

We do long for God to wash us and make us clean, don’t we?  And to help us learn to do good, to seek justice, to help the oppressed, and to defend the causes of orphans and widows.

There was no room for Jesus in Bethlehem to be born that first Christmas night and we often struggle to make room for Him in our busy schedules – especially during these weeks leading up to Christmas. This really is what these 4 weeks of Advent are all about – making our hearts ready to welcome Jesus.

God hasn’t changed, doesn’t change, won’t ever change. He’s forever faithful and His mercies are new every morning.  There’s newness and freshness to each day and God’s love is available to us, not only at the break of day, but all through the day; not just in good times but in the most challenging of seasons.

Some of us wonder what IS coming in the middle of these still uncertain times of upheaval and war around the world.  We need to remind ourselves that along with the unknowns come the assured facts that  God’s promises and presence are 100% reliable.

Four Sundays before Christmas in homes and churches you can see an Advent wreath with 4 candles on the outside and one white one in the center. This is a reminder to open our hearts and minds to remember and celebrate that Jesus truly is the reason for the season and that we really do need to have Him work in our hearts to get us ready to see Him face to face and to spend eternity with Him.

God’s instructions, especially when they make no sense to us, truly can still be trusted. 

None of us have to look very deeply to find ways we’ve acted on our own character flaws.  And yet, why is it always so much easier to make a list of what others did to us than to admit our own painful mistakes, take responsibility, and seek forgiveness for harm we’ve caused.

What’s worth focusing on today? How about this? Just for today I will strengthen my mind. I will take a few minutes to read and meditate on God’s word, seeking God’s perspective for my life today.  I will take note of one helpful thing God is saying to me and seek to behave accordingly.

With signs of the autumn season all around us and the coolness of winter air more and more evident when we go outside, we open our hearts today to the God who set seasonal rhythms in place and who understands all that changes in us and around us as we move through each day.

A sincere person is one who is honest, who doesn’t create false impressions, and who doesn’t operate with selfish motives.  What you see is what you get.  They do the right thing for the right reasons.  They don’t have a hidden agenda.  Could this be said of us?

How many of us would feel like we were really giving the best advice to someone if we told them to think as we think, speak as we speak, and act as we act?