Hope City

Struggling with anxiety? Check your LOVE gauge! 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in love because perfect (full, complete) love eradicates fear. Importantly, fear is not some measure of the enemy’s “power” rising like floodwaters against you. It is simply a measure of the reduction of love in your life. So if there’s no decrease of love in your tank, there is no fear because a “full" tank (by definition) has no emptiness.

Think of it this way... darkness in itself has no power. It is only a unit of measure. You can’t add darkness to a room to make it any darker. You can only keep removing light until the end result is total darkness. It is exactly the same with fear.

In fact, the first recorded instance of fear in the Bible occurred because Adam & Eve believed the serpent’s lie and chose to trust his word instead of God's. When Love’s influence was decreased (because God IS Love) fear was experienced, so they hid themselves. It is the same for us today. To the degree we don’t trust any area of our life to God is the degree we will experience fear in that area.

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Once, when Jesus was teaching his sermon on the Mount, he made an important distinction between those who are His true disciples and those who are not after talking about good trees not bearing bad fruit and vice versa. He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Those last couple of sentences are sobering! He labeled some who prophesied, drove out demons, and did other miracles in His name as “evildoers”. That seems like some pretty harsh criticism of those supposedly doing “the Lord’s work.” But I think that’s the point…they were NOT doing the Lord’s work. Jesus established that those things must be done within the “will of my Father”. Otherwise, they are dangerous things, causing those who do them apart from God’s will to become evildoers.

For those who seek to prophesy, or to drive out demons, or perform any other kind of miracle, it must be solely for the purpose of serving God’s will. If we seek those things to create a platform or gain recognition and influence or build our own little kingdoms then doing those things will actually lead us down a very dark path.

If you think of power and authority like a policeman with a gun (power) and a badge (authority), then you recognize how dangerous the abuse of those things can be when a police officer steps outside the law to become a law unto himself. Jesus illustrated this by effectively saying “Don’t look at the powerful, miraculous things a person does. Look at the fruit of their life. It tells a far better story of their obedience to the Father than any great things they may appear to do.”

May you be far more concerned about producing good fruit in your life than appearing to be great and powerful. May you also be discerning of those who seemingly display these ‘powers' so you may observe the fruit of their lives to know the truth. And may you grow in your maturity with Christ to walk in ever-increasing power AND producing great fruit for the kingdom of God!

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Have you ever stopped to think about the impact of the decisions in your life? Do they seem inconsequential? What if you could see the impact of your life like the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”? What would it show? Think about some of these “little” decisions made by people throughout history that turned out to have much more impact then they thought:

An abusive and controlling father pushed his children to the breaking point of bitterness, anger and rebellion. What might have been different had they been shown love and taught to love others growing up? That father’s name was Alois Hi**er and his son, Adolph, became one of the most genocidal dictators of all time.

In the Bible, the patriarch, Abraham, slept with his wife’s maidservant—ignorantly thinking he was somehow helping God fulfill the promise He made to Abraham. But that wasn’t what God wanted and the maidservant (now pregnant) was sent away. The descendants of her child, Ishmael, include Mohammed (founder of Islam) and the Arab nations who vehemently hate and fight against Israel to this day over what they claim is “their" rightful homeland as the “firstborn” of Abraham.

A woman named Esther made a personally life-threatening choice to barge in on the king to plead on behalf of her people. Her actions saved all of her people, the Jews.

I could go on and on listing decisions—good and bad—that had far greater and longer-lasting impact than the person making the decisions ever thought possible. The point is, what decisions have you made? Whose destiny have you altered? How are the generations coming after you going to be affected by your choices today?

I want to challenge you to think from heaven’s eternal perspective. We are often so short-sighted in our decision making that we don’t even stop to consider the long-term effect. Do you even think there is one?

How about the decision to just keep buying what we can’t afford? That only affects you, right? What if we and millions of others share that same thinking and collectively we find our whole country buried in debt beyond our ability to repay? Oh wait...that’s really happened.

What about divorcing your spouse? It only affects you and your kids, right? Just think about what our culture looks like today compared to 50 years ago and the destruction of core family values because so many have thought that very same thing.

What about practicing “random acts of kindness”? You never know who you might be saving from su***de or hopelessness. You may be instilling a life-changing picture of compassion into a future world leader and their leadership will be forever affected by your one small deed.

God has you in this world for a very unique purpose. No one else can do exactly what you do in quite the way you do it. Nobody else will ever meet or know all the same people you will. No one else has gained the unique life perspective you have. So, if you don’t meet the need in front of you, it might never be met at all. Or, if it does, it will never be met in the same, unique way God intended for you to meet it.

May you seize every opportunity placed before you with an eye toward eternity. May you resist the urge to make choices only for your short-term benefit but rather ask yourself what God would have you do for the benefit of those coming behind you—perhaps even your great great grandchildren! And may your intentional choices today create blessings that ripple to a thousand generations!

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

The last several years has witnessed a decimation of our economy. The cost of living has skyrocketed and people’s money just isn’t going as far these days. It has brought great difficulty for sure. It can be downright terrifying for those whose hope has been in their bank accounts and in the strength of the economy to keep them above water.

Jesus said “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He went on to say, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” It means that what we treasure shows where our heart is and who or what we are serving and who or what we are serving will show exactly what we really treasure to everyone around us.

When God is our treasure, our trust lies in Him alone to meet our needs, to save us in a crisis, to bring us happiness, and to help us in our relationships. He teaches us to be lavishly generous because He has given us access to His infinite resources. However, when money is our treasure, we put our trust in the “Almighty” dollar to meet our needs, to save us in a crisis, to bring us happiness and to help us in our relationships. But it inherently makes us greedy and stingy because our resources are limited and we feel like we have to keep what we have to take care of ourselves.

Do you want the answer to not only surviving this current economy but thriving in it? Check your treasure by way of your heart. If you want to see the infinite resources of Heaven rain down upon your life, then serve God by imitating Him. Live generously! While everyone else around you is “buckling down” and giving less and less and turning their focus only inward on themselves, do the opposite! Increase your giving! Give more of your money to others in need! Give more of your time to those who need it! Give more of your attention to the things God wants to accomplish through you!

May you embrace the secret of prosperity by chasing God not money! May you experience the unending resources of Heaven as you do and may you see the increase as a flowing fountain of resources to become even more generous! And may you live the rest of your days in the generous blessings of God being your treasure in all you do!

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Freedom is a funny thing. It is an inherent drive existing within all of us and our deepest need. Every epiq story of the battle between good and evil hinges on that truth. Yet true freedom only ever manifests under one condition: self-control.

The apostle, Paul, wrote in Romans 6:16: “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” The underlying freedom in his statement that is always at work in each of our lives is our freedom to choose who or what we obey. We can choose to obey Christ’s teaching—which teaches us to be self-controlled—or we can choose to give ourselves over to our desires.

Choosing to restrict our behavior with self-control may seem very limiting and maybe even the opposite of freedom “on paper” but the reality is quite the opposite. Honestly, it’s the only way we can ever come into and live in freedom. The reason for that is because of the true axiom that says “You are free to make your own choices but not free from the consequences of those choices.”

When I choose to be honest on my taxes, the consequence is a clear conscience and no worries of going to jail. When I choose to budget my spending to less than what I make, the consequence is the peace of mind of still having enough left over. When I choose to eat right, the consequence is physical health. The point in all of these things is that if we live self-controlled, to limit ourselves to what is right, then we can enjoy the blessings (i.e. positive consequences) of our actions.

However, if I choose to cheat on my taxes, or bury myself in debt for short-term pleasures rather than waiting until I can afford what I want, or if I choose to eat poorly and/or excessively and/or drink bad things, I cannot escape the curses (i.e. negative consequences) of my actions either.

Paul urged the Galatians: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear which will drive us back into slavery. Instead, He has given us a spirit of power, and love, and self-control. And we have the freedom to reach out and receive His gifts!

May you choose to receive Christ’s power. May you choose to dwell in His love. May you choose to walk in self-control, which He has freely given to you. And may you live in the glorious freedom of blessings that come when you choose to limit yourself to stay within the healthy boundaries God has set before you.

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Jesus taught us that “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called ‘children of God.’” Over the last decade the Lord has challenged my thinking in regard to that radical statement. At what point does it cease to be true? Are we to be peacemakers until peace just isn’t practical any longer? I had an interesting conversation recently regarding this subject. Inevitably, one particular question came up: “What if someone was threatening your family?”

I used to respond emphatically to this question. “God wants me to protect my family so I would absolutely fight and even kill if I had to in order to protect them!” But I’ve since had to wrestle with who I was actually trusting to protect my family and through what means. I’ve had to meditate on the humble teachings of a peaceful King who overcame death and violence through dying on a cross rather than killing enemies and who commands us to do the same. How could I reconcile “love your enemies” and lay down violence to become like Jesus when it doesn’t seem realistically possible in our world?

Well, for starters… we have to renew our thinking (repent!) to even imagine that there IS perhaps another solution available to us when threatened by violence. Can the Lord rescue us without us having to resort to violence? That’s what I love about Jesus… He literally modeled it for us! I encourage you to read the following Bible passages: Luke 4:28-30, John 10:31-39, John 18:3-8. In each passage, people intent on committing great physical violence against Jesus were simply unsuccessful—and he never lifted a finger against them! Why? Because Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit worked supernaturally on His behalf! The same power of the Holy Spirit is available to us today if we obediently follow His leading!

The problem lies within our thinking. We hold violence in the back of our mind as some kind of backup plan, just like we often view credit cards for our finances, or doctors for our health. We create our own backup plans that we can “count on" if God doesn’t come through “in time” and, in the case of personal protection, violence is our backup plan. The problem with backup plans is we tend to quickly become impatient and turn to our own solutions only to lose out on the miracle God wants to reveal in His way and His timing. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus rebuked Peter for choosing violence in the face of a violent threat. He told him that those who choose violence will die in violence. (“All those who draw the sword will die by the sword.”)

Living supernaturally as peacemakers means we choose to beat our swords into plowshares and trust that the Holy Spirit will provide a peaceful way through whatever dangerous situation we face. Then we must actually believe that, if and when that moment ever comes, Jesus will indeed protect us like his Word promises over and over again. For example, I’ve seen a video on social media of an elderly lady who was carjacked at gunpoint. The Holy Spirit guided her to speak to the young man and he ended up giving his life to Christ in that car.

As our world inches ever closer to violence in these crazy days may you be set apart and known as a child of God—as a peacemaker! May you remove any kind of violence as a backup option and trust Jesus to guide you and keep you safe. May you live in the supernatural blessing of His peace because of your faith! (Knowing full well it is faith, not ignorance!) And may you, like Jesus, model to the world around you what living with the reality of the Kingdom of God truly looks like.

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

How powerful are our words? The Bible tells us that the power of life and death are literally in the tongue. So our worlds are extremely powerful. As we enter the new year, I’d like to submit to you that perhaps it’s time for Christians to be more careful with the use of some commonplace “Christianese” word phrases that I believe actually declare negative things—even though we mean to be positive. I believe these common phrases have the power to subconsciously distort our view of God in a negative, way over time—both to us as Christians and to non-believers who hear these words spoken.

The first phrase I believe Christians routinely misuse is when we say we need to “surrender to God”. Though I know the heart behind the message (because I’ve been a Christian most of my life and speak “Christianese” fluently), the word “surrender” in any other context is a term most often used where a battle occurs between combatants and the “loser” surrenders to the “winner”.

Try this exercise… search an online Bible (BLB.org, biblegateway.com, etc) for the word “surrender”. You won’t find it much at all in the Bible and will NEVER find it applied to our relationship with God. What you will find over and over again is a call for us to “submit ourselves to God”. The difference may seem like semantics but “submission” is a voluntary yielding to another’s authority. Unlike surrender, submission doesn’t imply being foes where one wins while the other loses. Does a wife “surrender” to her husband? Not in a healthy relationship! Does the Church “surrender” to a conquering Christ? No, when you swap the words in these verses it becomes clear how offensive the word ‘surrender' can actually be when used—especially to non-believers who are repeatedly told to “surrender to God”. What does that tell them about God?

God does not come at us as an enemy to defeat us. No, He calls to us, as a loving Father, to submit ourselves under His authority so He can train us to be like Him and to be the best version of ourselves. Doubt that? Read Hebrews 12! God wins not by defeating us but by helping us win at life! That happens in a loving relationship not a battle! Jesus said, “Come to me… and I will give you rest!” The words we choose to speak are important and we can unintentionally communicate a wrong view of our loving Father if we continue to speak out negative things to try to have positive meaning.

The other phrase I believe subtly distorts people’s view of a loving Father is to “be used by God.” Again, I understand the intent but to “be used” by someone in any other context is never a good thing. The subconscious connection made, not to mention what this phrase speaks to non-believers who don’t understand “Christianese”, is purely negative. To be “used by” somebody means to be manipulated by that person. Do you like it when people use you? What do you think of when you hear someone else say, “I feel like they were using me”?

Once again, I encourage you do a search for the words “use” or “used by” (or variants) and “God” together in Scripture and you won’t find it. God doesn’t use us or manipulate us. Though we DO want to be useful to the Lord (think… “noble vessels”), we see throughout Scripture that the Lord actually desires to partner with us. He empowers us to do the impossible when we voluntarily submit ourselves under His authority and work together with the Holy Spirit. Again, I know it may seem like purely semantics, but our words are far too powerful to keep using negative declarations for positive purposes.

May you be intentional in 2024 to “partner with” God as you “submit yourself” under His loving authority. May your declarations be something like, “I’m excited that the Lord has invited me to partner with Him in His Kingdom work because I’ve disciplined myself and made myself useful to the plans He has for my city.”
May the Holy Spirit show you any other ways you may be subtly undermining your relationship with Him and may you draw closer than ever to Jesus in this upcoming year. I pray that every powerful word your mouth speaks will bring the atmosphere and authority of Heaven into this realm.

BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 150 versions and 50 languages. Read, hear, and study Scripture at the world's most-visited Christian website. Grow your faith with devotionals, Bible reading plans, and mobile apps.

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

As we remember and celebrate that moment long ago when Jesus stepped into humanity as a baby, I can’t help but hear the religious slogan ringing through my ears: “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Well frankly, He is. But he’s not just the reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus is the reason we mark time the way we do and call this year “2023”.

In fact, all of recorded history is centered around Jesus because everything that came before him is noted as the years “Before Christ” (B.C.) and everything that has come after His birth is noted in Latin as “Anno Domino” (A.D.) which means “in the year of our Lord”. We’ve literally split recorded human history into two eras of time because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us 2023 years ago (give or take a few years).

I am grateful for the words the angel announced when Jesus was born: “Peace on earth to those on whom God’s favor rests.” God’s peace is freely available to all of us because the Prince of Peace came into our world. There’s a kicker though…we can choose to receive or reject His peace.

For my part, I’ve chosen to receive and live daily in His peace. But it requires me to lay down my desire for war, my desire to fight and argue and demand to be “right”. I also have to choose daily to lay down the things that destroy the peace He offers—things like worry and fear and anger. The Prince of Peace has come into the world for our sake. But He will not force His peace upon us through coercion.

As you celebrate the truth that “Unto us a child is born” and that He is, indeed, our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace”, may you let go of your cares and relax into His peace. May you lean in to His wise Counsel and embrace the love of the Father. And may you know there is nothing too difficult for our Mighty God to achieve in your life. In fact, you are so loved that God gave you His only begotten son that you may believe and live forever!

Merry Christmas!

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Just as “the truth will set you free”, the lie “will enslave you.” When we blow it, fear lies to us in order to keep us bound in guilt and shame. It mocks the truth so the lie seems more believable. It is spiritual extortion, causing us to do things out of fear to keep from being exposed. Love rejoices with the truth because it knows you can’t be held prisoner to fear and lies when you expose them. Don’t pay the fear extortioner's demands any more—he’s not called the “father of lies” for nothing!

How can we spot a lie when it has us deceived? Well… does it lead you TO Jesus or away from Him? Does it create peace in your life or anxiety? Does it fill you with hope or rob you of hope? Does it tell you that you can’t change or does it tell you that you can do anything through Christ? If you’re not sure you’re believing a lie then test it against the love of Jesus for you. He doesn’t give us a spirit of fear. He gives us a spirit of power and love and self-control. He doesn’t bring chaos and anxiety into our lives because He is the God of order who puts everything, including us, in order.

May you constantly test your beliefs and your behaviors. If you’re not feeling more secure in your relationship with Christ, more powerful in the authority He’s given you and more free than ever, then it’s time to expose and remove some lies in your life. The truth is if anyone is “in Christ” then we are seated in heavenly places with him, we have been given spiritual authority, and we are more than conquerors. May you adjust your beliefs accordingly and begin experiencing the “life to the fullest” that Jesus came to give all of us.

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

The apostle, Paul, asked a simple, but profound question in his letter to the Romans (8:31): “If God is for us, who can be against us?” It was a rhetorical question because he was stating the truth in spite of his present suffering. This is a truth that the Lord settled squarely in my own mind and spirit 15 years ago. There is nothing life can throw at me now that can make me waver from the truth that God is ALWAYS for me!

Unfortunately, I know far too many Christians who are still living spiritually “paycheck to paycheck.” It only takes one painful life event to come their way to spiritually bankrupt them. I’ve seen it too many times—people I thought were rock solid in their relationship with Jesus who start questioning His very existence because of their difficult circumstances.

Of all people, Paul knew overwhelmingly tough times! However, he went on to say, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He acknowledged life can get very difficult but that has nothing to do with God’s goodness or His desire to “give us all things”. The Holy Spirit is there to guide us OUT of our tough circumstances, not leave us wallowing in them. But we must take a deep breath, slow down, and listen to His voice for our next steps back toward blessing.

May you fill your spiritual bank with gratitude of God’s goodness so that you do not find yourself living “paycheck to paycheck” (or circumstance to circumstance). May you settle this truth in your heart that “God IS for you so who (or what) can be against you?” And may this renewed thinking transform you into a conduit of God’s blessing so you may be a bold carrier of His kingdom!

SUNDAY THOUGHTS…

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why the Christmas story? Why did Jesus come as a baby? Why the virgin? The manger?” Of all the ways for God to deal with sin, why THIS way? How was that event “good news of great joy for all mankind?” Think about it… he could have just been sacrificed as a baby if it was only about providing a sinless “sacrificial lamb” to atone for sin. But Jesus came to deal with more than sin!

Jesus could also have come as an adult and gone straight into ministry. But that wouldn’t have allowed him to experience all the same things we experience throughout life. He literally spent the first thirty years of his life specifically to grow and experience everything we all do—pain, rejection, loss, joy, disappointment, victory and all the emotions we experience.

The writer of Hebrews said it this way: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14-18)

So the Christmas story allowed Jesus to do more than just deal with sin. It allowed him to empathize with our plight. He knows what the human experience is like. “Surely he bore our sorrows.” The King of the universe stepped into our world to lead us into life!

As you celebrate Jesus’ birth this season may you stop and reflect on those thirty years He lived in obscurity just for us. He’s been where you’ve been. He’s felt what you feel. And He will never leave you alone and hopeless. That's why a little baby born of a virgin was such good news of great joy for all mankind!