Got hope? Need a hope to hang onto? What do you place your hope in? Hope for a better future? If we place our hope in people, we usually get disappointed. What hope can we hang onto in 2021?  Who can we truly trust?  If we entrust our hope in the one true God, we can count on His faithfulness.  The living hope in us begs us to live with daily joy! The Holy Spirit is everpresent, He abides supernaturally “in us” regardless of our present circumstances.  Who is that?    Truth awakens a radical hope for our eternal future. A stealth joy comes that enables us to persevere knowing that we are God’s greatest treasure!  Jesus left His kingdom in heaven to arrive on earth in the flesh, to walk and talk with us, to be personally known by us.

Happiness depends on goals achieved, events, and our cultural environment. Joy is always in us.  Jesus did not come down from heaven to acquire stuff, more territory, or gold. He came because of the joy set before Him. His greatest treasure, His motivation to suffer was us! The rich inheritance of Christ is you and me. WOW, just let that sink in so that you can understand or grasp the VALUE God places on you. Allow His love letter to you, the Word of God … to become so powerful, so filled with Light, that it supernaturally invades your soul to overflowing with His hope! Greet this day as if it were your last on earth!  Rejoice that soon you will join Him in heaven for all eternity.

Let His love shine through and spill out in words and deeds that honor His name.  Love all people as God loves them. Call out God’s original plan for them with words that convey His love for them. Water the seed of Truth that exists in every soul you meet with kindness, mercy and grace. When God taps you on the shoulder, when you are moved by the Spirit to Speak the Truth in His love, be emboldened knowing you are being used by God.

Our living hope Jesus could see the father’s original intention over those God placed in His presence, can you? “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” Hebrews 6:19 Jesus knew He was being invited into the heavenly scenario of restoring us to where we were meant to be according to the Father’s heart, His unfailing love, His good plans for all. Jesus valued the fisherman, the tax collector, the prostitute, the Pharisee.  Jesus treated them as though they were fully WORTHY even before they read a bible, went to seminary, or believed in Him.

Jesus was the first person in history who modeled this kind of value.  He treated people with a pure value of their created soul. He modeled something in the Gospels that was so beautiful. He demonstrated a love that demolishes the lie that life is a battle of between us-and-them.   The lie that is believed today is that God only loves those who love Jesus, as if  everybody who is not saved, is not worthy of God’s love. God has an  original plan for all, regardless if they believe in Jesus first. The Truth is God loves us since before He created the earth. (Pictures of life well lived through Him)

When Jesus met Matthew, Mark, Peter, Luke and Saul He did NOT focus on the original sin and He did NOT constantly warn them about Hell. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Jesus told Peter that the Holy Spirit gave him the revelation that Jesus was the Messiah.  He focused on the Holy Spirit’s work to restore His friends into God’s original plan.  Jesus was the great reconciler of people to God. His unsurpassing vision and affection for them was spoken as prophetic words. To become more like Jesus we are to look at people, saved or unsaved and speak to them as if they are fully valued by us and God.  We are to treat  all people as equal in capacity to be hear from God. The Truth is that all people have the same access to God, our heavenly Father.  Let us seek to see people with God’s eyes, and His original intention for them.  There is a measure of holiness that is hardwired into humanity and it causes people to desire to be known by God.  ““God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!” John 3:17  He was not thinking this person might be too much trouble, to hardened to be restored, redeemed, renewed.  We have all met someone we perceive as hopeless. We need to change the conversation in our heads to agree with God and validate the good by thinking “all have value to God”  What if we could discern the pure love God has for people and actually treat them with great value regardless of education, knowledge of God, or how they dress?  The Truth is that the disciples thought they knew Jesus before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. This guy sells fruit in front of the church in Chapala, does he know Jesus? Dios es Grande! The Holy Spirit has names, He is our friend, Teacher, Counselor, Teleprompter and Comforter.  Our awareness of His constant guidance should prompt us to stream courage and confidence that He will pit apt words in our mouth. Just trusting and believing that He can use us to the glory of God – makes us responsible to obey His nudge.  We were made in His image, drawn to Jesus, miraculously changed to do His will.

Tune into the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show you some of the things He values about you?  Even when we do not believe a person is saved, let us engage with them to give them hope and a sense of value to God. Validate them in a positive way with a sincere smile.  Lord Jesus take away and sense of elitism, any superiority, and any pressure to perform perfectly. Lord just remove it off and out of us. Lord let us be part of the good conversation that You want to speak into the lives of others. In Jesus name Amen

A nearby Country Road

Cornfield out front gate

An understanding of 1 Peter 1:3-7  God our Father according to His abundant and boundless mercy has caused us to be born again.  That is, to be reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose. WOW, we have been transformed to BE His — as an ever-living hope of confident assurance through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hallelujah! We have been born into God’s inheritance which is imperishable.  An inheritance beyond the reach of change, our inheritance is undefiled, and reserved without dispute for us in heaven. Amen ❤️  Count your blessings every day as you share HOPE in Jesus Christ. Photos taken Aug 8, 2021