Being people of hope in the middle of darkness

The definition of hope according to the dictionary is a “feeling of expectation and desire for a
particular thing to happen” or “a feeling of trust”.

One of the most famous quotes on hope from the movie Shawshank Redemption is from Red, a man that has been in prison a long time, not knowing if it will be for life. He says

“Hope is a dangerous thing, my friend, it can kill a man…”

but also that

“Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things. And good things never die.”

I’ve heard it being said that hope is the last thing that dies, that simply hoping can keep a
human being alive. The hope to see loved ones again, the hope to beat the disease and the
hope of a better future.

Maybe this is true, but my question is more what is this hope connected to? What are we hoping for?

And as Christians, what is the real meaning of hope?

Let’s take a quick look in the Bible:

Bible Verses About The Real Meaning Of Hope

“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my
salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”
Psalm 62:5-6

“That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is
the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
1 Tim 4:10

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like
eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary
behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.”
Heb 6:19-20

So what can we see here? We see that our hope comes from the Lord, and because of that we
will not be shaken. We see that we can work hard because our hope is in the living God.

If we put our hope in Him, He will renew our strength. We also see that the hope that we have in Him is an anchor for our soul, because of what Jesus has done for us. These are just some examples, the Bible is filled with verses that speak about the hope we have in God.

And that’s the thing; human beings need to have hope, but what God offers us is not just empty hope or wishful thinking. It’s hoping for something that is stronger than any darkness we might face, it’s understanding that in the end it’s about what is eternal, what will remain after this earth fades away.

Hope is not necessarily connected to give us a good and happy life here on earth, even though God is a good father and wants to give us good things. It’s about something so much bigger. Our hope is that we are not doomed to the death that we deserve, but that we have eternal life through Jesus.

This means that there are no circumstances that can steal our hope.

How To Hold On To Hope

Even though we may know these truths we also have an enemy that wants to do anything for us to lose hope, for us to feel like the circumstances we or someone else is in are too dark and the darkness around us finds its way in and we start to feel like we’ve lost hope.

Maybe the lie that God is not good after all finds its way in, maybe it’s that he has forgotten about us and that he simply doesn’t care. The spiritual realm is very real, and not just an abstract thought.

Sometimes it will feel really difficult to hold on to truth and to find hope. What has helped me a lot in these situations is to hold on to the words in the beginning of the gospel of John, that the light shines in the darkness and that the darkness will not overcome it.

I declare this, and sometimes maybe my mind and my heart are not convinced but I know just declaring
the truth is powerful. There is no darkness that is stronger than the light we have in God and that’s the truth.

When we carry conviction of hope in our hearts we can also become communicators of hope in a world that needs it so desperately. To communicate what hope we have in God and to be people that speak life in difficult situations.

We Get To Be A Part Of Spreading The Real Meaning Of Hope

The thing is, we are called to cooperate with God here, on this earth, not just wait until Jesus comes back and fixes it all. To be people that bring light and love and hope wherever we go.

We live in the tension of seeing the kingdom of God being expressed here on earth, we can see people encounter Him, to be healed and set free and have their lives transformed. But we also live in a world that is broken and that will also express itself in different ways.

In the middle of this we are called to be as ambassadors of Christ and the eternal hope we have in Him, to not just hide in a corner and wait for it to be over but to actually try to be an influence.

The world is in desperate need of hope. We have one of the unshakable kind. Sometimes it will take effort to communicate it, but it’s worth doing it even when it’s not received. Jesus is and will always be the name above all names.

We are not promised an easy life, but we are promised an eternal one together with Him.

Prayer:
Father, we thank you for the eternal hope we have because of what Jesus did on the
cross. Thank you that there is something that can be a firm foundation for us in our lives,
that we remain through any circumstance. Help us to communicate that to a broken world,
help us to bring hope into dark places and to never lose the hope we have in doing so. We
want to serve you forever. Amen.

Want To Read More?

We publish new blog posts every week. If you want to read more you can follow this link to see the other blog posts that we have published: https://underbartskapad.com/category/encouraging-bible-verses-en/

Hope to see you again soon!

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Lessons From The Garden

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the garden – cleaning, weeding,
cutting the grass, planting, and watering. As I’ve been diving into all these different tasks with
the goal to have a garden that is both beautiful and functional this summer, I’ve had a couple
of revelations that I wanted to share with you all.

How important it is to see the big picture.

The first step to do when it’s time to tend to the garden in the spring, at least up here in the north where we have snowy and cold winters, is cleaning. Cleaning out what was hidden under the snow. Clearing out the old leaves from the fall, and also taking a look at if there was any damage done by the winter or spring storms.

This task is not my personal favorite, but it helps to remember that this is a necessary step that will give fruit in beauty and order later on.

Sometimes it’s maybe easy for us to forget why we do things and how it connects to something bigger, something that we really want. Let’s say for example doing laundry.

Laundry is something that feels like it’s never-ending but the fruits of doing it are many – you save
money, you are more healthy, you feel and look better in clean clothes. In the end, doing laundry is an important step in having a functional life, and a life that can honor God.

It’s essential to keep the big picture in mind no matter what we do. To remember the why
in the middle of the mundane. It’s all connected!

It’s important to prepare the ground before the seeds are planted.

It would be tempting to just walk into the garden, place some seeds in the ground, and then just wait, but that is rarely how it works. The soil needs to be turned, and softened, weeds and rocks need to be removed, we need to add fertilizer, and so on.

In reality, we usually spend maybe ninety percent of our time preparing the ground and ten percent actually planting the seeds. If the ground is well prepared the seed will be able to bear much more fruit.

Sometimes in our lives and our walks with God, we enter seasons where we would like to speed things up and see fruit in different areas of our lives. But for the fruit to be good and also lasting it’s key that we allow God to prepare us for what is to come.

Maybe there are some rocks and some weeds in our lives that need to be removed. Maybe we have a hard heart in some area and it needs to be softened for the seed to be able to go deeper and also
grow strong roots.

The time of preparation might be long, but then it’s good to remember that the time of planting and bearing fruit will be a lot easier and most likely faster.

Trust God in all times and seasons. He created nature to function in this way, and He created us to function in this way.

Different plants need different things to flourish

Some plants like the sun, and some will grow better in the shade. Some plants need some time indoors before they go out in the ground, and some don’t. The times of planting are also different for different plants, some go in the ground in the fall, some in early spring or later towards the summer.

If all plants were treated the same some would flourish well, some not at all. The Bible talks about us being the body of Christ, and that we are all different. We all have different gifts and talents and therefore we also need different things to be able to flourish.

Some need more time until you can see growth, but then they bear fruit year after year. Some people respond quickly to change, others need time.

God has created each one of us differently and comparison is a big killer of joy. Maybe the different plants and trees this year can serve as a reminder that we are actually not made to be exactly the same, but the ones God has created us to be.

Cutting things off so they can bear more fruit later

Cutting off branches of a tree or a bush seems counterproductive at the moment when you do it, the plant becomes smaller and often looks quite ugly after it has been pruned. In reality, it does need to happen, so the fruit or the flowers will be bigger and stronger later on. Pruning is necessary.

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he
prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”

John 15:2

Jesus also takes the example of pruning in John chapter fifteen, and he says that even the branches that will bear fruit must be pruned so they later will be able to be even more fruitful.

Times of pruning in our lives are usually a bit painful, and we might look at our lives and feel like it’s worse than when we started. Maybe we also don’t fully understand that what is happening to us is that we are being pruned and it’s hard to see the purpose of what is going on.

It’s comforting to know that we are not the ones in charge of the fruit, we just need to remain in Him. Our heart posture towards God will always be more important than the amount of fruit we can see.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we
do not give up.”

Galatians 6:9

What Is God Speaking In This Season Of Gardening?

I encourage you, fellow gardeners, to be open to letting God speak to you in this season of gardening. These were just a few thoughts and revelations that I’ve had, but I’m convinced there is so much more truth to discover.

Taking care of creation is something that is very close to our original design and I believe it also helps us to ground ourselves, to stop, and to listen.

God wants to speak to you. And as your hands get dirtier and your mind is focused on a simple task and not racing you might find that it gets easier to hear what is on His mind.

We publish new blog posts every week so you are welcome back soon.

If you are interested in seeing the other blog posts that we have published about life with God, follow this link: https://underbartskapad.com/category/encouraging-bible-verses-en/

The post Ecclesiastes 3 – Everything Has Its Time appeared first on Underbart skapad.

There is a saying that time is the money of our time, the thing we feel like we don’t have
enough of, the thing we struggle to manage and feel like it’s a big sacrifice for us to give up
any of. We want to use our time well, but I think most of us feel like time management is a
challenge. I pray that this text can be of inspiration for both me writing in and you reading it
to take some extra time with the Father this week. I think we all know that things tend to flow
better when we actually take that time.

I will not touch so much on Bible verses on spending time with God in general, we will mainly
look at the life of Jesus, but for some more resources you can read these texts:

Bible verses on spending time with God or Making time for God.

For now, let’s look at how Jesus did it.

Early in the morning

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to
a solitary place, where he prayed.
Mark 1:35

Here is an example of Jesus getting up early in the morning to pray. It says that He left the
house to find a solitary place for prayer.
Not all of us are morning people, I’m definitely not one of them, but there is something both
beautiful and powerful about starting the day with God before the day gets busy. To get a
good start and foundation to the day. It’s also a time to seek God’s guidance for the day and
be prepared spiritually for what is to come. For the ones who are not a big fan or early
mornings; maybe try to take one morning the upcoming week to get up a bit earlier, and
maybe that will be the start of a new routine, to do it at least once a week.

Before making a big decision

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying toGod. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them.”
Luke 6:12-13

Just before making one of his most important decisions, who should be his disciples Jesus prayed all night. If Jesus needed to seek the father like this, how much more are we in need of the same? So often we make quick decisions or we spend hours and hours trying to figure out what we should do.

Let’s not forget that we have access to God, that has promised to be with us and guide us.
We don’t need to make decisions alone, we can seek Him. Let’s follow the example of Jesus in this.

Together with His disciples

“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them,
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”
Mark 6:31-32

Our time with God and time of rest doesn’t always need to be alone, it can also be with a closer group of friends or family. To rest in His presence together and to recover strength.

Maybe this could be something similar to a weekend retreat for your church, your small group or even your family?

To not just spend time with God as an individual but also as a group and make that maybe a yearly habit to do.

In difficult times

In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus had one of His most difficult times of his time on earth. He knew what was about to happen, he was going to the cross and at the same time take the sin of the whole world upon Him. This moment gave him so much anxiety so he was sweating blood.

Jesus went to the Father for strength, He knew he needed it. He showed us an example of depending on the Father. Sometimes we think we need to have it all figured out before we go to God, but He doesn’t need our ready made plans, He is the one that can strengthen, comfort and bring light into the darkest moments. We can run to Him in the most difficult moments of our lives. He can take our honesty, He took the honesty of Jesus.

In the body of Christ

Jesus lived a life surrounded by people and by doing that He showed us that if he did that, we should probably be doing the same. One way of spending time with God is in the simple company of other believers, maybe sharing a meal together. We are not meant to go through life alone, but we are also not meant to keep our faith as something that is only personal. We are part of the body of Christ and where two or three are gathered He is also there.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Matthew 18:20

What can we learn from this?

If we want to spend time with God – be where His people are
gathered! Together we can build each other up and share the joy it is to spend time with the
Father, as one big family in Christ.

I hope that these examples can be of inspiration in spending time with God. I know it’s not
always easy to find the time or the moment, or to be motivated to. In those times it’s also
good to remember that a little is better than none – maybe this week it’s one early morning
and next week a worship session in the car on the way to work.

Prayer:

Father, I need you. Thank you for the example Jesus gave me in seeking you. I want to seek
you and live guided by you. Help me find ways to do it in my daily life. I want to prioritize you
and to have you in the center. I also thank you for the family in Christ you have given me,
help me to find good people to share life with. Thank you for guiding me every day! Amen.

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“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” 
Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart” Here we have maybe one of the most well known and quoted Bible verses. It encourages us to trust in God, not sometimes or when it feels good, but with all our hearts. It also calls us to a life of not trusting only in what makes sense, what we can figure out with our own understanding, but to anchor our heart to God and trust Him to direct our paths. 

In the Bible we can clearly see that God is someone we can trust. He promises big things, that maybe in the moment feel impossible but we can also see that He is faithful to complete what He has promised. One example of this is when God promises to Abraham that his descendants will be many, we can read this story in Genesis chapter 12.

“I will make you into a great nation,  and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing!”

Genesis 12:2

At this moment both Abraham and his wife are already old and have not had children yet, so when God speaks this it seems impossible, but He is a God that keeps His promises and a couple chapters later Isaac, their son is born. 

“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.” Genesis 21:1-2

God proves his faithful character again and again in the Bible, and we can clearly see that even in shaky times, He can be trusted.

But why is it then sometimes hard for us to trust in the Lord?

We established in the previous paragraph that God is trustworthy, and that is true. What is also true is that we at times struggle to trust Him, and I think that’s something we’ve all experienced. 

It can be that our circumstances have been difficult, an example could be that we are in a season of financial difficulty and we have not seen the breakthrough that we had hoped for. This situation can easily create a belief in our hearts that God doesn’t keep His promises and that He can’t be trusted, and understandably so. 

If we have many situations like this in our lives this belief that God can’t be trusted can become more and more like a stronghold in our mind and put a filter on the view of God that we have. What is important in these situations is to not just try to force ourselves to trust in God, but to ask for help – from God or from other people. To let God and the truth He has touch those parts of our lives where things got twisted, to let Him heal us and re-establish truth in our lives. 

The enemy wants more than anything to stop our relationship with God and will do everything in his power to destroy the trust we have in God. He will also attack us when he sees that we are weak, and help build the lie about God that a situation can teach us. 

This is why it’s especially important for us to stay close to God in difficult seasons and spend a lot of time with Him and His word that leads us into truth. He is close to the brokenhearted. 

And what about trusting people?

So God is worthy of our trust, but what about people? Can we trust people and is that even something we are supposed to be doing? People, even though they are created in the image of God, and not a perfect reflection of Him and will, contrary to God, again and again prove to us that they are not trustworthy. 

We are not supposed to be doing life alone and we belong together with the body of Christ, which means that we need to have relationships with other people and relationships require trust. 

How to trust people

But how can we trust people when they prove to us that they aren’t worthy of our trust?

This question can be answered in many ways, but this time I will choose a simple answer; because God trusts us. He has every reason not to, but he trusts us to represent Him on this earth and to share about Him to other people. Or maybe it’s like this: When we become saved God himself starts to live in us, through the Holy Spirit. So maybe He is not trusting us but Himself in us and that is enough.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20

Not the people, but God in them. Through the hurt and the times of forgiveness. We are created to be together, and then it has to be not just possible, but also something that is good for us and something He will guide us through. Isolation and mistrust because of past hurt is not going to help us, and through choosing forgiveness and letting God heal us we can ask God to renew our ability to trust the people we have in our lives. 

Remember, God trusts you, Himself in you. What a crazy thought that is. Let’s mirror Him in this area as well! To trust other people yes, but also to trust the Lord.

Prayer:

God, help us to trust you with all our hearts. Remove anything that hinders us to do that, every lie and experience that speaks against this truth. Renew our trust in you. Help us also to trust people, and to choose to forgive and keep loving also when it’s difficult. We commit to not isolate ourselves, but to remain close to the body of Christ. Keep renewing our hearts and minds in this area. We love you. Amen! 

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Jochebed, the mother of Moses

Moses is one of the main people in the Bible, but his life could have ended quickly. 

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was scared that the Israelites would become too many and powerful and ordered for all male Hebrew babies to be killed. Moses’ mother however decides to hide him for 3 months and later she places him in a basket and lets the basket travel down the river of Nile and he ends up being found by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the palace. Moses is the one that is chosen to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. 

What we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Jochebed wasn’t the one that led the Israelites out of Egypt, but her decision to first save the life of her son and later to let him go and send him down the Nile enabled for that to happen. Her part was not the most visible one, but without her the rest would not have happened. If we are faithful in what God calls us to do the consequences of that are sometimes bigger than we could ever imagine.

Rahab, the one that hid the spies. 

When the Israelites had made it to the borders of the promised land they came to a city called Jericho. Joshua sent out two spies to the city and when the spies got in trouble with the people in the city they are helped by Rahab, a prostitute. 

Later when the walls of Jericho fall, the house of Rahab remains standing, because she helped the people of God. Rahab is also the mother of Boaz, who later marries Ruth that we will read about in the next paragraph, and she is also mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus. 

What can we learn from this woman in the Bible: Rahab, being a prostitute, was not a likely person to be in the family tree of Jesus, but the book of Hebrew teaches us that God saw the heart of Rahab, and she was a woman of faith. We might not feel good enough to do what God is calling us to do, but from this story we can learn that it’s not about us, but about believing in Him!

Ruth, the Moabite

We encounter this woman in the book of Ruth that starts with the sad story of a woman named Naomi that loses both her husband and her two sons in the span of 10 years. One of Naomi’s sons was married to a woman named Ruth, a moabite. At this time they were living in the country of Moab, but there was a famine and Naomi found out that there was food in Judah, where she was originally from, so she chooses to move back. Ruth decides to follow her with the famous words: “Your people will be my people and your God my God”. 

Ruth and Naomi move to Judah and much is uncertain, but the Lord is faithful to them. They find favor with a man named Boaz and he allows Ruth to gather food in his fields. Later in the story Boaz and Ruth end up getting married and they have a son named Obed, who is the grandfather of no one less than King David. 

Lesson we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Ruth risked her future when she chose to follow Naomi, but God saw her and was faithful to her. God can be trusted even when we take difficult steps of obedience, He has a bigger plan than what we can figure out!

Esther, queen of Persia

Esther was a jew living in the Persian Empire. She entered the beauty pageant arranged by the king to choose a new queen and ended up winning the competition and therefore became queen of Persia. During this time there was a decree made that all the jewish people would be killed during a specific date and Esther together with Mordecai, another jew living in Persia, ended up coming up with a plan that in the end saved the jewish people from being killed. 

The famous phrase in the book of Esther is “for such a time as this”, when Mordecai tells Esther that perhaps the very reason that she became queen right at this time was that she could play a role in saving her own people from being killed. 

Lesson we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Esther was chosen to be queen, but her real calling for this time was not to be just queen, but her position enabled her to be part of the rescue plan for her people. God can use people in positions of influence to release blessing and His purposes over people. Maybe you are where you are right now for something more than just what you do?

Mary, mother of Jesus

Lastly of our lessons from 5 women in the Bible, we will meet Mary. Mary is chosen to become pregnant with Jesus and she gets these news through a visit from the angel Gabriel. This puts her in a difficult position since she is not married yet, and it’s unsure how the people around her will react, but Mary says yes to this task and ends up giving birth to Jesus in a stable. She also ends up having to flee to Egypt to save his life and later she has to see him be crucified. 

Mary got to be part of the most central story in human history; the birth of Jesus Christ. She said yes to this task, a great honor, but it also came with a price. 

What we can learn from this woman in the Bible: Mary said yes and it enabled Jesus to be born. Are we ready to do the same so Jesus can be born into situations and the lives of people? To say yes to discomfort and ready to take risks? It’s a great honor to serve Him, the King of Kings, but at times it also comes with a price. 

These were lessons from 5 women in the Bible, all so different, but they all said yes to what God had for them and through that ended up leaving their mark in history. It wasn’t easy, but God made it possible, sometimes through impossible circumstances. He is still writing His great story and He is still involving people ready to say yes to Him. Does He have your yes?

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The words of prophet Micah

So why was Jesus born in Betlehem? Around 700 years before Jesus was born there was a prophet named Micah that was active in Judah. He prophesied the words about the birth of Jesus and he also mentioned the location. He said the ruler over Israel with origin from the ancient times would be born in Betlehem Ephrathah. The name Betlehem means “House of bread” and Ephrathah means “fruitfulness”.

Right here in the “house of bread” Jesus, who later calls himself the bread of life, is born. He was the one that would give mankind the answer to the deep hunger of this world.

The birthplace of king David

Betlehem wasn’t only the birthplace of Jesus, but also of king David. The Bible clearly speaks of that the Saviour they all were waiting for was to come from the family of David, we can among other places see this in 2 Sam 7:12-16.

“When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands.  But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.  Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.“

How perfect isn’t in that the story would bring us back to Betlehem for the long awaited Messiah?

The Census of the entire Roman world – how Jesus ended up going to Bethlehem.

Ceasar Augustus issued a decree of a census for the whole Roman world. Joseph and Mary, pregnant with Jesus at this point, needed to travel from Nazareth, where they lived, to go Bethlehem. When they were in Bethlehem Jesus was born, and the prophesy of Micah ended up being fulfilled. Here we see the hand of God in the events of history as well, for Joseph and Mary to be moved to Bethlehem just in the right time.

Oh, little town of Bethlehem

This year is a special year for the city of Bethlehem, it’s a city in a country of conflict and unlike the years before the hotels are empty. It’s looking to be a silent Christmas, quite the opposite of how it was the first Christmas. Jesus was born in a stable because the city was so full of people.

Still, even after over 2000 years, the story of Christmas is as relevant as ever, maybe more than ever before. In a world of chaos and conflict, we need a Saviour. Let the call to come and seek Him go over the whole world as we worship Him this Christmas. He is here and He is still the answer to the hunger pains of this world. Jesus, King of Kings, born in Bethlehem, the “house of bread”.

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We are in the middle of holiday season, Thanksgiving and very soon Christmas is also at the door. It’s a time of preparation and seeing family and friends, which can be both something to look forward to and something we are dreading in different ways, a time of great joy or maybe a time of sadness or stress. No matter what this time looks like for us, it’s also a time where we can take a moment to slow down and reflect over the things in life we are thankful for. And maybe when things are more difficult we need it more than ever, it’s like drops of medicine to our souls in harder times.  

These are some Bible verses for you looking to spend some time in thankfulness or want to encourage a friend or family member.  All Bible verses are from the New Living Translation, NLT.

Moments of praise and thanksgiving

In the psalms we find some amazing moments of thanksgiving to God, take a look at some of them and why not start the day by saying this out loud to God?

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.”

Psalm 100:4

“Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.”

Psalm 95:1-3

“Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.”

Psalm 106:1

Find thankfulness in moments of difficulty and worry

There will be times when it’s harder than usual to give thanks, and that’s okay. God knows that as well, which is why there are scriptures also for moments like that. Here are some verses that can be helpful in those times: 

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”

Phil 4:6

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

1 Thess 5:18

“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.”

Heb 12:28

To express personal thankfulness to God

We can give God thanks generally, but also sometimes it’s really powerful to take a moment to thank Him for what He has done for you and in your life. 

“With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever, for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death.”

Psalm 86:12-13

“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”

Psalm 28:7

“I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.”

Dan 2:23

Hopefully these verses could bring some encouragement into your life, in whatever season you find yourself in reading this today. He sees you and loves you so, so much! 

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Today we will take a look at how we can enjoy life in these seasons and how to find the beauty in the mundane in these times in our lives. 

Enjoying work and the fruit of our work is a gift from God 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.”    Ecclesiastes 3:11-13

We were made to work, this is not a consequence of the fall, already in the very beginning we were called to stewardship. At that time it was stewardship over the garden of Eden, in our lives it looks more like stewardship over our home, our family, our work or study or whatever God leads us into. Stewardship is a calling over our lives, and even though it many times is hard work we can enjoy it because God enables us to but also knowing that it’s not something we just have to do but something that is filled with purpose and very much goes in line with what God has called us to do since the beginning. Let’s pray that He helps us see our lives through His eternal perspective. 

Activate gratefulness daily

We have all heard many times how important it is to have an attitude of gratefulness, but sometimes we think we are grateful but in reality we are taking many things for granted, and this easily happens when we rarely are faced with the threat of these things being taken away from us. 

When is the last time you spent time thanking God for clean water, for a roof over your head, for dirty dishes because He gave you a family, for health, for relationships or simply for salvation? 

Sometimes our attitude of gratefulness needs to be activated to bear fruit in our thoughts and emotions. The same way a house plant needs light and water to continue living we need to nourish our hearts well to see good fruit in our lives. 

Make each day and moment beautiful 

It happens that days and weeks just fly by and we keep going through our to do lists without actually paying attention to what we are doing. As a person who tends to postpone things I don’t like doing I’ve learned that discipline is not always enough but that there is a way to bring beauty into each task I have. It can look like praying for the person that will sleep in the bed I’m making for our guests or for God to really meet the people in the room I’m cleaning. Sometimes it looks like taking my computer out to the local cafe to write a text or to put on a nice playlist and having a drink while making dinner.

To actually stop and appreciate each moment and not just rush through them to get to rest later. For me this has really been a life changer, and something that has really helped me enjoy and appreciate the days I previously would have called boring. 

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 

And finally, let’s remember that we do everything for God and not for ourselves. He is the one that calls us, He is the one that enables us and the one who gets the glory. Today and everyday or our lives until we see Him face to face. Until then, let’s do our best to enjoy the life He gives us!

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Waking up

Waking up is hard sometimes, but very much necessary. Take a day and choose it to be your wake up day, get a good morning routine in, spend a good amount of time in the Word, go for a walk, hit the gym – whatever works for you. Remember that God wants to give you fullness of life and the enemy wants to see you beaten and not really wanting to do anything. The time has come to wake up!

“Wake up, sleeper,
    rise from the dead,
    and Christ will shine on you.”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,  making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.“

Eph 5:14-16

He is calling us to make the most of the days we get. This doesn’t of course mean that we can’t take rest days, but I think we all know the difference between resting and just feeling stuck, tired and unmotivated. It’s time to cast off the slumber and to rise up!

Vision

One thing that makes us lose motivation is if we have lost vision, if we don’t find purpose in what we are doing. Sometimes we need new vision, but many times we simply need to ask God to open our eyes and give us His vision for our lives.

EVERYTHING is connected to the greatest story of all – the story of The Kingdom. Your family, work friends, school mates, patients, customers and people working in the grocery store. We need to ask God to clean our eyes and hearts from all heaviness, tiredness and seeing it all as a routine and asking Him to help us to really see what He see.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.”

Eph 1:18

Ask for His vision for your family, for your relationship, for your workplace. What is He doing? How can you partner with it?

Something new

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”

Eccl 3:1

Do you remember what it felt like to go shopping before the new school year? To have new clothes, a new bag and new pens ready for the new year. It’s a great feeling.

Why did we stop? Sometimes what we need is something new, a change. It helps getting us unstuck.

Even though it’s always nice to have new things there are also other changes we can make. Maybe serving in a new team in church this season? Inviting friends over for dinner on Thursdays? Starting a prayer group at work?

Start dreaming with God! Getting out of a rut means a new path. What does this one look like?

Asking for help

If you have in the same rut for a long time, maybe years it’s a good idea to ask for help. It can be a counsellor, a pastor or someone else. Go for prayer at church next Sunday. Don’t accept that life will be like this forever. There is fullness of life. Maybe today is the day you need your hope for a good future restored and that can be the start of fighting for something new?

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. “

James 5:16

Don’t let the enemy get a win by choosing to fight alone. We have been given the body and fellowship for a reason. Be courageous, ask for help!

I hope these thoughts can help and inspire you you need to get out of a rut and find new motivation. Remember that God is always up to exciting things, let’s be His partners in His Kingdom!

With Him we can never fully know what to expect, but we can trust it to be good.

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Since we are small, we are thought to eat vegetables, brush our teeth, have good habits, behave well, and have good manners. Usually, we work hard to do that in front of other people. But what about when nobody sees us?

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” 

1 Timothy 4:8

In 1 Timothy 4:8, we find that the Bible highlights that physical training is of some value, and then the verse continues that godliness is profitable for all things.

You and I know that doing exercise is good for our bodies, maybe because we were taught so by our parents or teachers, or maybe we read so somewhere in a magazine or in a scientific article and we have even experienced better condition, more strength, more fit, less sickness when we have been physically active. 

I have experienced as a child and as a teenager that exercise is good for the body. Especially as a teenager, I spent a lot of time exercising but my motivation was not healthy. My motivation for doing exercise at that time was to look good and I was searching for some kind of acceptance from others. The focus was on the outside, I wanted to look fit.

At that time I wanted to be known as being athletic and fit. The Bible has been really eye-opening for me when it comes to the motivation behind what we do. The Bible highlights that exercise is good for us even before scientific articles were done. But it is said in the light that there is something even greater to aim for. 

The verse in 1 Timothy 4:8 talks about godliness. In dictionary.com it says about godliness that “To be wise is to live in godliness, reflecting the nature of the kingdom of God in the course of everyday life..”

We are called to reflect the kingdom of God in everyday life.

How to Start a Healthy Lifestyle

We see in the bible that the motivation behind what we do is so very important.

So my question to you is: Are there areas in your life where you are giving a lot of focus with motivations that are not giving God the glory?

My encouragement to you is to take some time to reflect on this.

God is interested in every area of your life. He longs to be with you through it all. He cares about all of you and everything that you do.

He wants to be with you through all the ups and downs of everyday life. He wants to help you form habits that are good for you!

God is your creator and knows you so well! You are so loved by him!

And also, if we decide to give God the glory. If we want to reflect his kingdom in our everyday life, we will live a healthier life.

God created us to be in a relationship with him. Praising God is part of our design!

Greetings from David Rodriguez

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