Hope For Today

What do we know?  Who can we trust? In what way can we be assured that something is what is claimed and someone will do for us what they promise in the moment? These are significant questions and we hear stories that challenge us in the area of trust almost every day on the news.  I suppose that’s why I find the words from the Bible we will look at today comforting, particularly since there are many people through the centuries who have found them to be true.

We live in a culture and time that focuses on the needs and conveniences of the individual first.  It's something we are probably not often even that aware of but it's there. We check first if something fits into our schedule, our budget, our plans for what we want to do. We also live in a world of great need and human suffering, so much of it that we hit the "off" button because it seems overwhelming to us especially in light of the resources we think we have. God is inviting us today to look with His eyes, consider with His compassionate heart, and ask Him what we should do.

We can all feel pretty good about things when we are doing well or someone around us is doing well and our circumstances are okay but today we look at the kind of encouragement that is there for us through thick and thin, through our successes and our failures, through our times of well-being in relationships and when things are seemingly hopeless messed up.

The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. Isaiah 50:4 How do these words inform my choices and behaviours today?

Is there anything that we've been holding against another person for a while? Maybe it's time to release the person from the resentment or grudge and unforgiveness we've been holding and let a fresh start happen for them and us.

Something fundamental happens to us when we invite Jesus Christ to forgive our sins and turn our will and our life over to the care of God.  Things that were dead in us come alive and we are able to desire new things, think new thoughts, understand life in a new way, and actually behave differently. 

Within each personal story of the journey from bondage to freedom is the power of our amazing God to save those who are lost. When we tell our story, our lives are simply giving witness to God’s amazing grace and mercy for us and through our own experiences, we get to point others to the pathway of their own healing journey with Jesus.  This is the “carrying the message” part of Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Today we want to think about what it means to awakened spiritually.  That’s the purpose of all the steps that have come before this one, but it is still important, at this stage to recognize what is awake and alive in us now that was not before.  This is what is referred to in Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

We know that some friendships grow in closeness as two individuals come to a place where they realize they know some things about the other person but now desire to have a more intimate relationship so they move down one path together going forward. This is what we seek as we put Step 11 into practice in our lives. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.

The God who knew us before we were even formed in our mother’s womb watches over us and draws us to Himself.  The choice of coming close to God rests with us. In Step 11 we purpose to improve our conscious contact with God so we can understand more about God and how He interacts with us. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

It’s a useful practice to take regular inventory of our lives and to continue to make any needed adjustments to our thoughts, motives, or actions.  This helps us maintain spiritual, emotional, and relational health.  That’s the purpose of Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Our life with God should be one of continual learning and growing.  We need to be diligent as we reflect on our motives and behaviour in situations that arise. We are reminded of this in Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.