Way of the Cross or Ffordd y Groes

Way of the Cross: Die Daily; Rise Daily

“. . . unless a grain . . . dies. . .” (John 12:24)

I’ve said this before, but it really has been such a blessing to drive across America. I’ve seen and experienced many things. Most dramatic is the cross, and how I’ve changed in my view of it. It has taken 80,000 miles/125,000 km to develop a love for this incredible symbol of our relationship with our Messiah, our Savior, Y’shuaJesus.

I’ve seen crosses on the sides of mountains, atop church steeples, on the sides of churches, on houses, on advertising billboards, and even on trucks and cars. The tallest crosses I’ve ever seen, perhaps 300 feet/100 meters, are being placed in strategically visible places across America by a non-profit organization. In a country with modern Sodom on one coast and modern Gomorra on another, we have crosses nearly everywhere in between.

Let me briefly share how I viewed the cross before my trucking/evangelistic odyssey. Years ago, in a museum, I stared long and even photographed a sculpture of a First-Century victim being crucified. He we as suspended upon a pole. I’d heard before the talk of the cross as an vision of Constantine. I knew about the Egyptian life sign, which is a form of a cross. Most damaging to my view of the traditional cross is the translation of the Greek word for cross:

σταυρός stow-ros,’ a stake or post (as set upright), that is, (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively exposure to death, that is, self denial; by implication the atonement of Christ: – cross.

Oh, to be sure I valued the Celtic cross, being Welsh-American and proud of my heritage. But as a symbol of Christianity I choose the sign of the fish. Its origin is with the persecuted First-Century church. It seemed to speak of faith. Yet seeing the traditional Twenty-First Century cross displayed across America, I am reaching toward it as a truer symbol of faith. The symbol is now universally recognized as Christian, universally identified with our Messiah. In fact, I’ve heard the symbol of the cross is offensive to many of the American “churches” who have fallen away from Christ as the only way to G-d. It is considered horrid by some for it symbolizes death.

Death. Precisely the point. We are to accept the death of our old way of living, believing, being. We are to accept a new life in Messiah. Thank You Lord, for the old way really wasn’t working anyway.

So the cross is not just a symbol of death, but of life. Following death on the cross, Y’shuaJesus rose to a resurrected life. We, too, baptized in His death, rise to new life. We are to life a resurrected life. We are here, on Earth, in old bodies, but our soul is resurrected. Our true life is a resurrected life.

The cross, then, is a symbol of overcoming death, of rising from the ashes of the fire and living beyond reproach, beyond approach by the enemy of G-d. If we are, as I’ve heard us described, a broken people, we better view ourselves as once broken, now mended by the Holy Spirit living within. Like a China teacup shattered upon a stone pathway, G-d puts us back together and holds us that way. We are His people. We have our new life in Him.

In my kindled love for the symbol of the cross, I look for it upon churches that I pass. I notice it more, and pray more for those institutions and people who display it. My pray is us all to live the way of the cross. To live the powerful new life the cross symbolizes.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

The Righteous are Bold as a Lion

“The wicked flee when no man pursues; but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
(Proverbs 28:1 MKJV)

In Daniel chapter three we learn of Daniel’s disobedient friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had the audacity to defy King Nebuchadnezzar, to disregard the command to fall down before the gold image which the king had set up (v.7). When singled out and given the opportunity to do as commanded, they said to the king, “O, King Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to return a word to you on this matter. If it is so that our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, then He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up” (Daniel 3:16-18 MKJV).

Now there’s bold. Like so many of our Biblical heroes, Daniels friends are almost larger than life. Bold. Moses faced the Pharaoh. Bold. David faced the giant. Bold. Deborah (Judges 4:4) a prophetess and judge of Israel battled against the enemies of G-d.

From where comes this boldness? A boldness from our G-d came to all these men and women, these Biblical heroes. It is a boldness that grew within them. It was nurtured like a mother would nurture her infant. G-d, as our Father, nurtured the boldness throughout their lives. They were once young, but they grew.

When thinking of King David, we need to remember he was once a small boy tending a herd of sheep. Remember that he learned to sling rocks to drive away the natural enemies of his sheep. Remember that he spent hours in the evening, alone and on watch, gazing at G-d’s handiwork in the sky—the splendor of the evening stars. He learned to trust G-d and what G-d had taught him. He spent hours praising G-d. He developed a relationship with G-d. David was bold, after being nurtured by G-d.
We, too, can be bold. But h0w? The Proverb says “the righteous are bold as a lion.” I don’t feel righteous. I’m just me, struggling to stay afloat in the waves of life’s sea, a stormy sea.

From where comes this righteousness? Let’s look at Abraham. “And he believed in the LORD. And He counted it to him for righteousness”(Genesis 15:6 MKJV). But that was Abraham, another larger-than-life hero of the Bible. Abraham, like David, was nurtured by G-d, raised to believe. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews, inspired by G-d, tells us to look “to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2 MKJV).

Think about this: 1) Our boldness comes from our faith, which comes to us from Y’shuaJesus. 2) Our righteousness comes from our faith, which comes to us from Y’shuaJesus.

And our faith grows daily as we submit to our Heavenly Father, the mediation of His Son, our Savior Y’shuaJesus, through His Holy Spirit. Our faith is nurtured with loving care through that which we experience, through the many situations into which we are placed. We grow in faith. Like a child learning to walk, we crawl, we stand, we stumble forward, we fall, we rise again. It is a process. G-d nurtures our faith.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Search Me. . .

“Search me, O G-d, and know my heart.”
Psalm 139:23

We’ve considered the cost, agreed to it, and are building the house of our lives upon The Rock. As we build, we continue to work with G-d that our building is soundly constructed. The Lord tells us through the writer of the letter to the Hebrews (ch. 6 v.9), there are things that accompany salvation. We must carefully work these things out with our Lord, in fear and trembling. “For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.” (Luke 6:44 MKJV)

We ought also look at Eph. 4:11,12, and consider that this house doesn’t need to look like all the other houses in the community of the Lord. Each of us receives different gifts—gifts for building up the church of our Lord Y’shuaJesus. In one sense we are responsible for the life we build, the life we build. But in another sense we are not only for ourselves; gifts we are given we use to help build another’s house. Perhaps I excel in building the frame of the house while you are best with the exterior. Can we not aid one another?

As we build this new house upon the rock, we must continue removing old things, things left from our old house, our old life. We ask our Lord to search us and know our hearts. Our Lord will show us areas of sin in need of repentance.
Bacteria that remains in a wound is like old sin that remains within us. Last winter I slipped on the ice in a parking lot. My knee was cut. I cleaned it and covered it. The surface healed, but beneath a festering began as the bacteria left behind grew. Eventually it erupted.

We are warned against a root of bitterness. Sin, left beneath the surface, erupts when we are least able to control ourselves. We sin again.

We move away from our old life, building a new life upon the foundation our Lord gives us in His word. We need to think, and think hard on “what manner of persons we ought to be. . .” (2 Peter 3:11). The writer M. Scott Peck, M.D., wrote that one of the great probles of our time is the lack of good thinking. We need to meditate upon the Word of our Lord, asking how we apply His Word to the lives we are building, the lives He wants to build in us.

The old buildinga and the new buildings of our lives are spoken of in Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

“For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to one another; lest whatever you may will, these things you do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become glory-seeking, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Galatians 5:17-26 MKJV)

We are not building this new house alone. G-d is building it with us, as we yield to Him, receive Him, know Him.

May our Lord continue shed His light into our lives, revealing our hearts, cleansing us from sin, that we might be build into holy dwelling places for G-d on Earth until the Lord returns.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon and through you all.

Peace of the Lord this and all seasons as we watch, wait, grow in Messiah’s Love.

Created to Worship

“Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.” Psalm 33:1-5

If we are “true-born believers,” as Matthew Henry calls the Saints of the Lord, then we are also “upright.” If we are upright, then praise is comely for us. Comely? It means that praise becomes us, it is fitting for us. Praise goes hand in hand with rejoicing. We rejoice not in the successes of this Earthly existence, and not despite failures and trials, either. We rejoice in the Lord, as Apostle Paul exhorted us to do. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”(Romans 12:12) It’s an attitude of looking upward, to Heaven, to our Father. We rejoice, not in what G-d gives us, but in Who He is.

When we rejoice in the LORD, when we offer praise for what He has done, we soon must move toward seeing Him and praising Him for who He is. This, then, is worship, true worship. Read Psalm 95:

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Once we rejoice, we offer praise, we worship, and we hear in this psalm the voice of the LORD our G-d.

Lord, help us rejoice in You, praising all you have done, praising You for Who You are; help us worship You. Amen.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

What did You and Adam talk about, LORD?

“Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.” (Genesis 2:19 ESV)

It’s been well over twenty years ago now that I met Rocky. No, not the fictitious fighter and movie character portrayed by Sylvester Stalone. Rocky owned a small barber shop in Northern California. Rocky’s love for the Lord shined in his eyes as he would excitedly talk to me about his conversations with the Lord. One day he told me how he’d asked Him what He and Adam talked about when they walked together in the Garden of Eden.

What a beautiful question. “What did You and Adam talk about, LORD?” I’ve thought about it many times over the years since I last saw Rocky. By now I’m sure G-d has declared to Rocky all about His conversations with Adam. What a wonderful fellowship G-d had with Adam. It is this fellowship, I think, that Rocky desired to emulate. Like King David, who cried his desire to even be a doorkeeper in the Heavenly Temple, because it would be so much better than anything on Earth.

Our Father, Lord Y’shuaJesus, Holy Spirit. One G-d and Lord Who created us and desires this fellowship with us, too. Charles H. Spurgeon wrote “Let us note that Christ delights to think upon his Church, and to look upon her beauty. As the bird returneth often to its nest, and as the wayfarer hastens to his home, so doth the mind continually pursue the object of its choice. We cannot look too often upon that face which we love; we desire always to have our precious things in our sight.”

Like Rocky, we can begin with a question like “What did You and Adam talk about, LORD?” The answer isn’t as important as the conversation we will have if we just begin. Father G-d wants to be with us daily. He wants to be with us in our waking, in our mundane tasks, through our happiness and our sorrows. He desires us in our evenings and our nightly rests. Through The Son, He speaks through the Words He spoke recorded by His chosen Apostles, which we read daily. Through The Holy Spirit He wants to reveal Himself to us throughout our days and our nights. Through The Spirit He wants to guide us if we will allow Him to give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

We must respond in kind. We must desire G-d in His Oneness, in His Holiness.

Thank You, LORD, for desiring us, and opening our eyes that we might desire You.

“. . . Lord Jesus Christ . . . who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:14-16 ESV)

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

These are the Saints

Here’s another excerpt from my notebook, this one from December 6, 2006. It was Wednesday and I was on my way through Milan, NM, having a meal at the Kiva Cafe.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27 MKJV)

A man walked up to the restaurant with a tee shirt on which was a rodeo rider and his horse. Beneath the drawing it said, “No Scars, No Stories.”

Isn’t that true of our walk with Jesus. Look at Paul, and his many stories, his letters. He had many scars.

We are a people of stories. Some people have only one story: it’s a whining story of complaint. Others say few words, but when they do, their hearts are shared through their words. They have real scars. They’ve had real experiences with the Master, and they seek not themselves, but only to encourage or assist another. These are the saints.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

A Forward Look Behind

In looking back through notes written several years ago, this one stands out to me today. It was written on January 10, 2007. It was Tuesday in North Bend, WA, at Ken’s Restaurant in the Seattle East T/A truck stop.

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.'”
(Luke 23:43 MKJV)

This verse is used in the Our Daily Bread devotional for today. And in another devotional, a verse is used about Peter, who after walking and sinking into the water, calls out to Jesus and is helped.

This day I set out to ascend and descend Snowqualmie Summit, [it is snow covered, and I’d waited until early in the morning to leave, avoiding the worst of the snow storm that passed through on Monday] to go to Salt Lake City, then on to Las Vegas. Y’shua has been with me on this journey–this journey ‘Into the Highways.’ And this day I’m reminded that any day might be my last on Earth, and might be my first in Heaven.

It is a time to remember there are things undone, left undone, that are worth noting. And once noting [them], it is worth undertaking these things so that they can be things done. This takes me back to “Be Prepared.” [The previous year, I spent quite a bit of time reading through Y’shuaJesus’s teachings on being prepared, and thinking upon this idea, trying to practice it.]

I think about my life examined. Not an examination by The Judge, however. I think about people I don’t know going through my things scattered along the road, if I were to be in an accident. It reminds me of Randy Travis’s song, “Three Wooden Crosses.” And I think, “It’s not about me living, but what is left behind.” It’s about what good was there. Did I reach out and grasp the hand of another who struggles on the hike up the hill of life?

Lord, take me from today, where I am, and guide me to where I am to be, until the time I join you at The Feast. Amen.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Driver Training

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverb 22:6 (KJV)

Learning to drive isn’t easy these days. There are more cars and trucks on the roads today than when I learned to drive. People seem to be in a hurry every where they go, which throws patience out the window. So several years ago, I let my son drive off the highway, on a dirt road. He learned to basics. Finally, when he was nearing the age to apply for a permit to learn to drive, I gave him a book of basic traffic and driving regulations to study. To receive a learner permit, he would have to take a written test. And for one full year, he would need to operate a vehicle on the highway only with me riding along.

When the day arrived that my son could take his written test, he said some of his friends failed on their first attempts. He said he wasn’t worried, but I could tell he was. He took the test and passed. I said that his hard work studying paid off. He looked at me and declared that he really didn’t study the book I’d given him. I asked how he knew the answers. He said simply that he watched me drive, and the answers were just common sense.

He watched me drive? For how long? He watched my impatience at someone in front of me wouldn’t drive the way I wanted–faster? He watched my mistakes? And yet he did learn enought to be able to answer test questions. Something went right. Praise the Lord, for I didn’t know I’d been teaching my son to drive. Wow!

So, I had to ask myself, what else I have trained my son to do while being unaware of it? All the things I thought I was suppose to teach him, and not once did I intend to teach him to drive, yet. Oh, oh! This all makes me look very differently at the Lord’s injunction to: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverb 22:6 (KJV) I am a trainer, full time, in season and out. Hummmm. Sounds familiar, huh?

May the Lord grant my son remembrance of training that is proper, forgetfulness of things improper, that he may have learned from me and from others. Lord forgive me for not recognizing that all I do is observed and becomes training to others around me, especially my own children.

Lord grant us all wisdom to live righteously and centered upon Messiah.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Contend for the Faith

“Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write and exhort you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all. For certain men, who were designated for this judgment long ago, have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into promiscuity and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, though you know all these things: the Lord, having first of all saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.” (Jude 1:3-5 HCSB)

During the time I spent in my over-the-road truck ministry, I listened to the “Family Talk” channel on XM satellite radio. “Family Talk” programming is half-hour teachings by a variety of Christian ministers. I didn’t listen to all of the programs, however; some I know are not for me, others I find easy to discount after only a few minutes. And then there are those ministers that I’ve listened to but later come to totally discount. Those, I think, are the more dangerous to my faith and my walk.

Among the ministers I enjoy, and find wholesome, is Hank Hanegraaff, the “Bible Answer Man.” His program is similar in format to a talk show, in that he answers questions from people who call on the phone or send emails. His answers questions and explains Bible passages, doctrine, and on occasion exposes teaching he considers false. Often he says in his talks not to depend upon what he says, but to check it all out ourselves. He believes that all things should be tested against scripture, even his own teaching. Though I enjoy this program, and find useful, I am obligated to examine what I hear.
This is important!

Paul wrote: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.” (2 Corinthians 13:5 HCSB) And Jude says he wanted to write about “our common salvation but. . ..” Perhaps Jude wanted to write about the future, when we are all together with Y’shuaJesus, wanting to exclaim, “You got to be there!” Yet he felt the needs, the dangers, of this world encroaching upon those for whom he cared. He felt concerned about teachers stealing away the soul of those to whom he wrote—even us. (G-d is speaking through Jude to His chosen ones, is He not?) Jude is not the only follower of Y’shuaJesus to warn us, either. Paul wrote the Galations that he was amazed that they turned away. He wrote, “I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7 HCSB)

The author of Hebrews pointed out what we might call a worldliness, and a lack of progress in the faith. He wrote: “We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become slow to understand. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God’s revelation. You need milk, not solid food.”(Hebrews 5:11-12 HCSB)

Teaching must bring us closer to Messiah, whether through shedding light upon the scripture or convicting us that we might come into the Light of the Lord. There are several considerations regarding teachings, whether from the pulpit, heard on the radio, read in a book, or found on the internet. These might be formed as questions about the teaching. For instance, one might ask, “How does this teaching make me feel while I listen to it?” Do I feel encouraged, convicted, or drawn closer to Y’shuaJesus? Or am I feeling alienated, guilty, confused? “Does what I am being told coincide with scripture?” When I read the scripture for myself, though another read or write it in the teaching, does it come across the same as the teaching? It is important to read the scripture before and after that which is cited, to see if it is appropriately used, and in context. “What do teachers from the past say about the scripture and its current interpretation?” There are some great sources of study—so that we might show ourselves approved, right?—that are of great help to us. One source is the free software E-Sword to which may be added Matthew Henry’s Commentary, John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, and others. What we want to know is that what is being said today has stood the test of time, so to speak.

Does this seem like a lot of work? It should be. It must be. Jude says we must contend for the faith. Contend means struggle. We are engaged in a war—though won, we must continue to battle. It is a war for our Earthly victory. The enemy would like to destroy us, if that were possible. And if not totally destroyed, the enemy of our Lord, of our faith, would like to disable us, misdirect us, waylay us that we not progress with our faith, that we not bear the fruit of a life well lived.

You can check out this website http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/ for warnings and updates on various strange teaching that is running rampant around the globe. And as said above, take even this site to prayer and to your reading of the Word of G-d.

May the Lord rebuke His enemies, watch over us, give us His mind that we might examine all teaching to see if it is from G-d.

“They prepared a net for my steps; I was downcast. They dug a pit ahead of me, but they fell into it! Selah! My heart is confident, God, my heart is confident. I will sing; I will sing praises. Wake up, my soul! Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn. I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your faithful love is as high as the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.”(Psalms 57:6-10 HCSB)

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

All Hope Abandoned

Michigan City 2011 - Abandon all hope — Image by kevin dooley via Flickr

“Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3 HCSB)

All hope abandon ye who enter here (From Dante’s Divine Comedy)

What the World Needs Now Is Love, according to a popular song from 1965, with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. It was first recorded, and made popular by Jackie DeShannon. The song was later recorded by and made famous by Dionne Warwick. (Wikipedia)

Here we are, 45 years later, and as Y’shuaJesus warned, the love of the world continues to wax cold. It lacks hope, which is certainly what the world needs now. The closer we get to the gates of Hell, the more fearful the world becomes, realizing what Dante, in his Divine Comedy, describes as entering Hell: “All hope abandon ye who enter here.”

Playing to the needs of a world shedding its hope is a man from seeming obscurity, who became the president of the United States. Leading up to the presidential elections, a poster was produced that came to symbolize one party’s promise to America, and the entire world. The description of it from Wikipedia reads: “The Barack Obama hope poster is an image of Barack Obama designed by artist Shepard Fairey, which was widely described as iconic and became synonymous with the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. It consists of a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, white (actually beige) and (pastel and dark) blue, with the word “progress”, “hope”, or “change” below (and other things in some versions).”

Hope is defined as “Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God’s gracious promises; a scriptural sense.” In sharp contrast to hope, is wish or desire. We often say, “I hope it is nice tomorrow.” We assume the person we say this to defines nice in a similar manner as we do. But is this hope? Don’t we wish it were going to be nice? We don’t know what the weather will be like, do we? Even if we check with meteorologists, there is only a prediction about tomorrow’s weather. How many times has it rained when it was “suppose to be” nice?
Can a man or woman be hope itself? Or can a man or woman only help us achieve our wishes, or desires?

Perhaps it might be argued that a man or woman might be “That which gives hope; he or that which furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good,” as is one definitions of hope. Is this true hope? Is it not rather an opinion or belief not amounting to certainty? For it to be hope, it must be grounded on substantial evidence. Hope must have some expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. It must be based upon experience, whether our own or proven within the person in who we trust our hope. It involves confidence in, and trust in, someone or something.

So, for the scriptural point of view (is there any appropriate other viewpoint for a person who is said to be a Believer?), who is our hope? In whom do we hope? In whom do we trust? “. . .but set apart the Messiah as Lord in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15 HCSB)

Hope dwells within us, as Believers. The Spirit of the One and only G-d dwells within us. We have this hope, for we BELIEVE the Gospel. Y’shuaJesus died and rose from death to ascend into Heaven. Y’shuaJesus, summed up so well in the first letter of John, “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed, and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life– that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us– what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may have fellowship along with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3 HCSB)

What the world needs now is hope. And we are fallen humans who despair so easily. We need leaders, strong leaders, who will inspire hope within us, yes. Ought we look, though, to our leaders to be our hope, to send us hope? This question was answered long ago: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” (Psalms 121:1-8 ESV)

Our hope is in Y’shuaJesus. And upon Him shall we wait. “We wait for the LORD; He is our help and shield. For our hearts rejoice in Him, because we trust in His holy name. May Your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in You.” (Psalms 33:20-22 HCSB)

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .