Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living in God’s Blessing

Genesis 39v20 “While Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him: he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden.”

Joseph, the favoured son of Jacob (also called Israel) was envied and hated by his brothers, he was sold as a slave, and then in slavery, he was falsely accused and put in prison. Looking at the external circumstances, you’ve got to think God was not showing Joseph much kindness!

However, as always, God was working with the long-term in view. Even in all the frustrations of injustice and false accusation, of being put down and even imprisoned, God was with him. It is not our circumstances that define God’s favour, but knowing his presence. God’s favour was not to be seen in worldly success, but in the facts that Joseph could do a work reliably, he could resist temptation, and he could see God’s hand in what was going on.

We can look back today at the story of Joseph and say, “Ah, but it was all part of the journey of God’s plan and purpose”. But Joseph did not know the end game, he could only go on the relationship he had with God and the prophetic dreams he had as a teenager.

So for us today, our circumstances may not be great – whether in terms of health, finances, relationships or other issues – but that does not mean God has withdrawn his blessing. God is working long-term.

Also, it would seem that Joseph was one to look out for those little blessings – the favour of the prison warden – as signs of God’s kindness. You belong to God and are a worker for him in this world, what little blessings can you turn back in praise to God with a thankful heart. And the blessings that we have in Christ Jesus are not very little at all! (Ephesians 1v3-10)

Spend time today thinking on those “little” blessings.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living as a Friend of God

James 2v23 “Abraham … was called God’s friend.”

We can easily imagine God as distant and high above us. Well, he is above us, but the Scriptures also tell us that he has people as friends. James writes that Abraham “was called God’s friend”. James is referring to 2 Chronicles 20v7 where Jehoshaphat (one of the later Kings of Judah) prays to God and refers to Abraham with the words, “Abraham your friend.”

Why was Abraham called “God’s friend”? Was it because he was perfect? Certainly not! He made his fair share of mistakes whether telling half-truths about his wife or sleeping with Hagar. Rather, I think it must be firstly because God had chosen him and secondly because the overall direction of Abraham’s life was one of faith and obedience despite the shortcomings.

Friends share time, thoughts and experiences together. Each is evident in God’s friendship with Abraham. God often appeared to Abraham, he visited for food, and told Abraham what he was thinking and planning whether for blessing or judgment. From the other side, Abraham was available to God and shared frankly how he was feeling and his worries and concerns. God was not someone for him to be afraid of, but to share with.

So that brings me to the question, “Am I a friend of God?”. Well if I am a believer, I am chosen just like Abraham was (see for example Ephesians 1v4). If I am allowing time to spend with God and am seeking to obedient to his direction, then it seems reasonable to conclude that God considers me His friend.

Spend time today meditating on the thought that God considers you His friend.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living in Truth

John 8v32 “the truth will set you free.”

I like to make decisions based on the truth. But often establishing the facts is difficult: I struggle to get to the bottom of truth. A mix of lies, half-truths, gloss, spin and dubious opinions makes the true facts hard to establish.

In fact, establishing truth is a spiritual battle. Jesus says “I am the … Truth”, “I came into the world to testify to the truth”, and “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 14v6, 18v37). On the other side, Satan is the one who “Deceives” (Revelation 20v8), is “the father of lies” and in whom there is “no truth” (John 8v44).

Jesus faced the reality that people did not believe him because he spoke the truth. “Yet because I tell the truth you do not believe me” (John 8v45), and after his death the Pharisees even called Jesus a deceiver as they said to Pilate, “We remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’” (Matthew 27v63). This again is the devil’s work as he “blinds the hearts of the unbeliever” (2 Cor 4v4), “accuses the brothers” (Revelation 12v10) and causes people to “falsely say all kinds of evil against you” (Matthew 5v11).

As Christians, we are called to the truth. But where and how do we find truth?

• In Jesus – his words are true, his actions are filled with integrity, his love if faithful. If you want the security of truth turn to Jesus. If you want the light of truth for direction, turn to Jesus.
• Hard work – Unfortunately in this world, there are what this world perceives as “many truths”. In reality these are mainly “half-truths” and outright lies. We have to discern what is right and what is wrong, and that is not always easy. There will be areas we will need to remain uncertain.
• Holy Spirit – Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of Truth”, and “He will guide you into all truth” (John 16v13). Does that mean that as a Spirit-filled believer I am always right? Unfortunately, not. We need to bounce things off the community of faith, but ultimately, the Spirit will “remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14v26)

Let’s base our thinking and actions on the truth, for the “truth will set us free”.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living in Holiness

1 Peter 1v16 “Be holy because I am holy.”

Holiness is not a popular idea today. Many consider it antiquated, fit to be replaced by words such as freedom and love. The word may create images in our minds of a list of “Do not”s .

Did you know that “holy” and related words occur nearly twice as often in the New Testament as in the Old? Far from Jesus doing away with holiness, he brings it in! Hence, he says to his disciples “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees … you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 6v20) The Pharisees were seen as the super-holy people of the day: they had all sorts of rules about right behavior.

Jesus went on to give the “Sermon on the Mount” where Jesus typically takes an Old Testament saying about behavior and applies it to our whole way of thinking. So for example, “If you even lust, you have committed adultery in your heart.” (Matthew 6v28).

This is a disaster for us if we are looking to get into heaven by our own efforts. We cannot. But Jesus has brought us holiness by taking all our unholiness on the cross. He took it all so that we could be set free. And he did this because he loved us. So to receive holiness is to receive freedom from guilt and to receive the most amazing love. Yes, freedom, love and holiness are linked.

But the New Testament goes further, because it says we are now “saints” (literally, “Holy Ones”). Our new identity in Christ is “holy”, and God calls us to live according to that new identity. “Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with. … count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6v6 & 11.

True holiness begins from within. It begins from a heart set free from sin and filled with God’s love instead. It means that true freedom and true love are not opposites of holiness, but actually lead to holiness. Just as “God is Love” and “God is Holy”, so we as his children are called to be full of both love and holiness.

May the Lord keep you in his paths of righteousness.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living with Mercy

1 Timothy 1v13 & 16 “I was shown mercy.”

This is Paul’s testimony, “I was shown mercy”. This experience is so central to his life-story that he repeats it twice in four verses!

Mercy is defined as “compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm” (Oxford Languages Dictionary).

Here is the reality: God offers us his compassion and forgiveness when he could have punished us. For those of us who are born again, we have received that compassion and forgiveness. As the Psalmist says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve,” Psalm 103v10. God is able to justly do this because Jesus took all my sin on the cross. He bore the punishment in my place. Now, my heavenly Father turns to me and welcomes me with a smile and arms stretched out. Where Jesus said “My God, why have you forsaken me”, my Father says “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This is not just good news, it is “unbelievably” good news. Maybe a better word is “ridiculously” good news! Where God could have punished me, he chose to rescue me. Why? Was it because I was great or able to achieve some great thing for him? No, it was simply because “The LORD loved you” (Deuteronomy 7v8). There is nothing that merited his favour, but he has shown it.

What does this mean for me today? Well, first of all there is every reason to rejoice, celebrate and be glad! But there is also a consequence in our daily lives: Paul says “In view of God’s mercy…” as he introduces how we should live in Romans 12v1, and Jesus tells us the same in a parable in Luke 18. In Jesus’ parable a person owes millions, yet the master forgives the debt; but afterwards the person goes away and demands payment from someone who owes them a few notes. Jesus outright condemns such lack of mercy when we have been shown such mercy.

In the natural, we want some justice, and we want it now. But in Christ, we have been shown mercy and we are called to follow in His way of showing mercy too. We “do not pay back evil with evil” (Romans 12v17), but rather return evil with good. Why can we do this? Because we now live in the kingdom of mercy and we can leave any avenging to God (Romans 12v19).

Lord, help me to understand and appreciate your mercy towards me, fill me with the joy of your salvation, and enable me to show mercy to all those around me.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living in Patience

2 Corinthians 6v6 “We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path … Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in … patience.”

God seems to me to be extraordinarily patient! As I have recently reflected on the accounts of Elijah and Ahab (1 Kings 16-22), following into the sequel accounts of Elisha and Ahab’s children (2 Kings 1-13), I am amazed at the patience of God. God delays reasonable retribution and repeatedly gives miraculous signs to provoke a change of heart and direction. The patience of God is shown as he does not give what is deserved, but shows grace instead.

This is precisely what is meant when we read the classic Old Testament description of God. It is repeated 9 times from Exodus 34 through to Nahum 1 “The LORD is slow to anger”.

So, when God calls us to be “slow to anger” (a mere 5 times from Proverbs to James), he is only calling us to model his patience.

I can testify that God has been patient with me. Unfortunately, I am slow to learn, slow to respond, slow to change. Must drive him nuts! But it doesn’t. He responds with grace, discipline, reminders, forgiveness and new chances.

So “living in patience” firstly means, living in the patience of God – wow, how blessed we are! Then, and only then, it also means showing patience to the people and situations around me. Afterall, if I do not appreciate the character of God, how am I supposed to copy it?

O Father God, cause us to appreciate your patience towards us, and so to model your patience with the people and situations we face.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living out Wisdom

James 3v13 “Who is wise and understanding among you?”

We might say someone is ‘street-wise’ or ‘money-wise’. When we do, we mean that the person knows how to operate successfully in that environment. Wisdom in the Bible is not an academic type of wisdom, but a very practical living-well-in-our-situation kind of wisdom.

God sees two types of wisdom operating amongst us: worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. Worldly wisdom is explained in James 3v16 “Such wisdom … is earthly … where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” Worldly wisdom is based on getting good results for me and my group. It is a wisdom based on comparison (that is ‘envy’). It is a wisdom which seeks to maintain my/our rights in each situation and advance my/our benefit (that is ‘selfish ambition’). It results in disorders such as falling out and war.

On the other hand, heavenly wisdom is explained in James 3v17, “The wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” Heavenly wisdom is based on seeking the good of the other person/group. It is a wisdom that seeks to exercise my responsibilities towards others – even those outside my circle. This is very different to the worldly wisdom. Each of the descriptions in James 3v17 is a challenge to us. Godly wisdom is straightforward (“pure”, “sincere”), it is returning evil with good rather than evil (“mercy”), it is seeks mutual interest (“impartial”), it listens and takes account of the others person’s needs (“considerate”, “submissive”), it seeks harmony rather than division (“peace-loving”, “good fruit”). These are of course most supremely demonstrated in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the Proverbs of Solomon, we are advised, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.” (Proverbs 4v7). But how are we to get wisdom? Paul prays for wisdom in the church in Ephesus, “I keep asking that … the glorious Father may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.” (1v17)  This ties in exactly with James who has said “the wisdom that comes from above …”. You and I cannot manufacture wisdom by clever thinking or erudite reading. We can only receive true good, godly wisdom from above. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom. Let’s turn to God and ask for wisdom.

O Father God, give us this wisdom, we pray. We pray too for godly wisdom among the leaders of this world in all the situations we face today.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living for Love

1 Timothy 1v5 “The goal of this command is love.”

Many people are seeking love. Some seek it in relationships. Some seek it in projecting an image they feel will attract love from others. Some accomplish dangerous pursuits in the name of love. It is all very well to think about what others are doing, but in the words of Jesus, “What about you?”.

In the above passage in Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul has commanded him  to ensure that only sound doctrine is taught and now states that his goal is love. This may be surprising to some in our modern age where a false dichotomy is presented between “sound doctrine” and “love”. For Paul and the New Testament, love and sound doctrine go intimately together. How can this be?

1. The first key doctrine Paul states in this letter is “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” 1v15. This is the vital doctrine of God’s love for us while we were still sinners and the demonstration of that love in sending Jesus to death on a cross. Appreciating this truth enables us to understand the extent to which we ourselves are loved. Whether I am the worst of sinners or the best of saints, Jesus loves me so much that he died for me. Appreciating this, leads me to the position where I do not need to pursue the receipt of love in the same way from others. Rather, we allow and even cry out to God for him to “pour out his love in our hearts.”

1. Secondly, Paul anticipates that God’s love in our hearts will flow out in love for God and for others. This means that the more we experience and appreciate God’s love, the more we will be able to love God and others. This is why we so often sing together of God’s love towards us. Jesus and Paul both have as the goal of their commands “love”. And so, Jesus can sum up all commands in “Love the Lord … and love your neighbour as yourself”, and further, his “new commandment” is “love one another as I have loved you.”  But, because our understanding of love is deficient, we need the other commands of the Bible to help us appreciate how to express godly love.

And so, we can say that the purpose of our lives here is love. But that is not so much to receive love as to give it, while recognising that the source of my love is not me, but God.

May God continue to “pour out his love in our hearts,” and our hearts be overflowing to others with love.

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living at peace

Proverbs 14v30 “A heart at peace gives life to the body.”

Most people are seeking peace. We also know that this proverb has much truth: our “mental health” impacts our “physical health”. The problem is that we often seek for peace in the wrong places.

Jesus does not paint a pretty picture when he is foretelling the future of this world: “Many will come … and deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places … Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death …” Matthew 24v5-10

In amongst all this, Jesus says “See to it that you are not alarmed,” and Luke records Jesus saying, “Make up your mind not to worry beforehand …” Luke 21v14. Do you notice the emphasis of responsibility? It is for me to “See to it” and to “Make up my mind”!

So how can I exercise this responsibility to live at peace?

• Recognise that peace is a gift of God
• Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14v27). This is not a peace we can generate, but one we receive.
• The peace the world offers is based on circumstances: maybe a quietness, or no interruptions, or no problems … The peace Jesus offers is the one that enabled him to sleep in the storm. It is based on the complete assurance that whatever happens around me and to me, “nothing will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 8v39). God’s gift of Jesus is a gift of peace – peace with God, peace with ourselves and peace with others.
• Receive God’s peace

In Philippians 4v4-9, Paul has three actions for us to take to receive God’s peace.

• Firstly: pray to God. Taking your burdens, worries, fears and anxieties as requests to him. In prayer, we express our dependence and trust in God and so Paul writes, “with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (4v6). Handing our concerns to God is the first step to receiving peace, but don’t stop here!
• Secondly: meditate on godly truth. Paul instructs us to think about what is “true … noble … right … pure … lovely … admirable” (4v8). Meditating on the truths of the love of God shown in Jesus Christ is the second step to receiving peace.
• Thirdly: put the truth of God into practice in our daily living: “Whatever you have learned … put it into practice” (4v9). Living the way that God calls us to live and being obedient to him brings us His peace. This is what Jesus means when he says, “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry …” (Matthew 6v33). If you are following God, of course he is going to provide for you!

I think we can often be inclined just to pray. We find release for a time and then the concerns bounce back. Let’s follow through with godly meditation and godly action, then, “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” And “the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4v7,9

With love and blessing,

Roland

Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Living in Joy

2 Corinthians 7v4 “In all our troubles, my joy knows no bounds.”

Joy is a phenomenal asset. It changes our attitude and our perception of our situation. The inner disposition of joy enables a very different approach to life’s problems.

Paul describes some of his troubles in the subsequent verses of 2 Corinthians 7v5: “this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn – conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God …”. Do you sense a weariness, a harassment (whether by people or events), a conflict or a fear? It is in these feelings that joy can “know no bounds”.

Nehemiah tells the Jews in 8v10, “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (NLT). Joy gives us the strength to push through with what we would otherwise struggle to do.

What is joy?

It is an inner disposition of gratitude. A gratitude for God’s love towards us, his care and compassion. It is also based on an inner disposition of hope that anticipates a positive ultimate outcome because we trust God.

How do we get joy?

• Firstly, by the Holy Spirit – Luke records “Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit” Luke 10v21; and Paul describes joy as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5v22)
• Secondly, by hearing the truth of what God is doing – The above passage in Luke shows that this joy from the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus as he received the news of the disciples success in mission. Paul often records his joy at hearing about what God is doing in the different churches.

So, if you are lacking in joy, ask God to fill you with his Spirit of joy, and seek out the good news story of what God is doing despite the evils of this world.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy” today.

With love and blessing,

Roland