The last blog I wrote was…well pretty hopeless. I’ve honestly been having a tough time with my faith lately. If you assumed that just because I’m doing mission work for the year, my faith is automatically awesome..WRONG. I’ve had a real dry spell with God, my prayer life was stinking, I never wanted to spend time with God, reading the Bible lasted for two minutes before a daydream took over, and overall I just completely lacked intimacy with Him.
So amongst all this I started wondering: What does God even promise me anyways? I mean, I know He promises eternity with Him (…as if that’s not enough!)…but I just kept wondering….what else does He promise us?
Well I don’t know all of the promises, but I do know a few things. First off, God used Candelaria, Nicaragua to somehow snap me back into my desire for His presence. And boy is it good! Like the song says…
The winter has passed
And the springtime has come.
Won’t you dance with me,
Oh lover of my soul?
Not only this but God showed me a promise that overcomes all the hopelessness mentioned in my last blog. It’s not a frilly-easy-pretty sounding promise, but man-oh-man is it a good one.
To him who OVERCOMES, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life,
Which is in the paradise of God.
I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich…
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer…
Be FAITHFUL even to the point of DEATH and I will give you the crown of LIFE.
Revelations 2:7-10
My last blog talked about NOT putting our hope in things of this world, but putting your hope in God. I've come to find that He doesn't promise us many things in our lifetime. After all…
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:14
So then, we can’t live for promises in THIS life
when we should be LIVING for our life in paradise with Christ!
Someone mentioned to me that Revelation was his favorite book in the Bible because it is all about worshiping the Lord. And as I re-read this book with that perspective and a longing for the presence of God, I’m hooked! It’s no longer a bunch of confusing prophecies, but about the best promise of all. The promise for an eternity of worshiping the Creator. Hopelessness in anything of this life, doesn’t compare to the LOVE that He promises us NOW, and the LIFE that He promises by our faithfulness.
So which are we living for…hope now, or eternally? If we are truly living for eternity, how different would our lives look?
Thank you God for showing me where my hope lies, in You.
