Click here to purchase: Devotional Prayers of Hope - Volume One

Click here to purchase: Devotional Prayers of Hope - Volume One

Wednesday

What Are You Building?

Noah was given instructions from God to build an Ark, on dry land, over a period of 100 hundred years in order to save his family. He had to listen to God’s instructions, really listen to the details and continue believing no matter what it looked like. We can only image what was said to him and how he was treated through the years as he kept up with the notion that God was going to flood the earth. (Genesis 6:13-21)

Nowadays, many of us struggle just to listen to His daily instructions, let alone any greater purpose. Busyness of our own plans keep us from hearing all that God would have us hear. Some may even start out listening, begin “doing”, but something happens along the way. All too often it’s the weariness and fear life brings that holds us back. Besides reminding ourselves that we were not created to be bound by a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), we must also remember to not be weary in the things we do for God’s purposes because He made the promise of a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

Are you building a chair only to find a leg missing?
Or a boat, only to find a plank missing from the bottom?
Or a house only to find that you’ve built it on a sandy slope?

Are you listening for ALL God’s instructions, or have you grown weary and submitted to fear?

What are you building?
Posted by Town Hope at 6:36 PM
Labels: , , , , ,

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Wake Up!

October contribution by CF


Hear Ye! Hear Ye! All who are taking in air and are awake… It is time; time for change - time for connecting and obedience.

We walk around in our nice little bubbles, free from all the things we don’t want to let in. We position people in and out of our bubble according to who they are or how they act, or even where they can benefit us.

It is time for all of that to STOP!!

God has placed all of us in His bubble and he has chosen the ones we will be in touch with. People reach for us, yet we turn away. We do not recognize that they were put in our lives by God and we do not get to choose if we want to live the life He gives us. We have a hunger in our spirits for things we do not understand, but God does. He will feed this hunger with the dreams he puts in your spirit and with the people He sends. Still, you may be turning them away without realizing they could be part of His plan.

We need to be in God’s word every day, listening to His voice. He has made a light for us; His Word will direct our path. Let’s turn to all people and see them the way God does, bring them in. Let us place no judgments, no prejudice and no one beneath us. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:105, Luke 6:37; 1Timothy 5:21; John 8:23)

I will open up my world into the bubble God has put me. I know my vision will only get bigger and stronger. I know I was put here to serve all people for God. The Word says, “…all of you must serve each other with humility, because God opposes the arrogant but favors the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 GW

Whoever is first will be last and whoever is last will be first… (Matthew 20:16)

I WILL SERVE WITH JOY!!

A Heart to Obey

By Moriah VanWinkle – Age 12

The act of honoring someone contains many things that aren’t always so easy but we must learn to obey God and do it. In Exodus 20:12, we are told to honor our Father and our Mother. The act of obeying means: obeying, respecting, treating well, not talking back, and the list goes on. Even if doing these things seems like the whole world is going to end, it won’t. When we are being disciplined, we know that somewhere deep inside of our hearts. It’s just hard to remember it at the time. While writing this, I have learned about some of the many things the devil gladly gives us to make it hard to honor my parents. One is rebellion, another is simply our flesh (or human nature), and a third one is temptation.

Rebellion hurts us all. When we have rebellion, we don’t realize it. In Hebrew they call it transgression or “pasha” (peh’-shah). It means to rebel or to sin-to resist or defy authority. First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This tells us that if we repent on us having rebellion or any other sin, Jesus will forgive us. So listen when you parent tells you that you have rebellion and just bite your tongue. Especially when you are thinking, what are you talking about? I don’t have rebellion!” (or any other feeling) You will be fine-just try to say, “Yes sir” or “Yes ma’am”, making sure that you are saying it in a voice that is not a bad attitude.

Temptation is hard to get over if you don’t really have the motivation or thought that it’s wrong in your mind. First Corinthians 10:13 says that there is nothing we will ever be tempted by that someone else has not come across before. One of the ways God shows his faithfulness is by not letting us be tempted beyond what we can handle, also he will provide a way so we can actually say no when we are tempted. James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” See right here in this verse that it tells us that if we stay away from temptation that we will be rewarded with the crown of life.

Our flesh is seriously one of the hardest things to get over, but with the help of God, you can. First Peter 4:1-2, “Therefore, Christ having suffered for us in the flesh, also you arm yourselves with the same thought, that he suffering in the flesh has been made to rest from sin, in order no longer to live in the lusts of men, but in the will of God the remaining time in the flesh.” If we listen to what God has been telling us in the word, and act upon those words, we will become conquerors of the flesh. (James 1:21-22 & Romans 12:21)

If you get sent to your room because of one or more of these things shove your face into the bible and read what God has to say about these things. Learn how God says to obey and do it. Learn how he says to get over these things and start practicing them. These are all the Devil’s things to get you away from God and the things of Holiness. Pray that God give you a heart to obey.

(All scripture references were taken from the Modern King James Version of the Bible)


Photo by T. Price
 

Additional Stories:

.

Photo by T. Price
"I will stand on my watch and set myself on
the tower, and will watch to see what
He will say to me, and what I shall
answer when I am reproved.
And Jehovah answered me and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain on the tablets,
that he who reads it may run.
For the vision is still for an appointed time,
but it speaks to the end, and it does not lie.
Though it lingers, wait for it;
because it will surely come.
It will not tarry."
Habakkuk 2:1-3 (MKJV)

"O Jehovah, I have heard Your report;
I am afraid. O Jehovah, give new life to
Your work in the midst of years;
in the midst of the years make known;
in wrath remember mercy...
yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Jehovah the Lord is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hinds' feet,
and He will make me to walk on my high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments."
Habakkuk 3:2, 18-19 (MKJV)

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honor and power:
for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
Revelation 4:11 (KJV)

"If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9 (ESV)

"Faith assures us of things we expect and
convinces us of the existence
of things we cannot see."
Hebrews 11:1 (GWV)

River Front Park - Downtown Spokane

River Front Park - Downtown Spokane
Photo by Hanalore' VanWinkle

About Town Hope

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…” 1 Peter 3:15

Are you prepared to give an answer for the hope you have?

The vision for Town Hope has to begin with the testimony of the hope we have in Christ. Hope for the broken rests on His body; through the unity of Christ, the common hope we have through Christ our Lord and Savior.

“You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, Lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'” Isaiah 40:9

We may say, “I am only one, God.” And God reminds us in His special way, He only needs a willing vessel and a heart to believe Him, and He’ll move mountains for His cause.

Many things God asks us to do bring us to a place where we must step out in faith, then He will bring others along side.

Habakkuk declares that he will wait for an answer from God…

“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

“Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; It speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” Habakkuk 2:1-3

God tells him to write it down…

So are you one who will share your testimony?

Town Hope