HOPE = FAITH

Happy Wednesday! Can you imagine even being one of the followers of CHRIST watching him being tortured, nailed and hung on the cross; dying (at least that was the way it looked to them at the time). Even though he foretold this to many, I would imagine that if I were standing there watching this I would have trouble understanding it. I would imagine doubt would creep in. If I were to be brutally honest, I may even be angry at the fact that my Savior is not saving himself. The implications surrounding that would be baffling to my small human mind. First, I would be heart-broken as I know I would be missing HIM. Secondly, I would start to think that perhaps this all was not real? Last, fear would set in; what is going to happen to me. There were pretty irate people who wanted nothing more than to put an end to the “Christ followers”!

Alas! three days later, HE is missing from the tomb. Scientifically and theoretically many logical answers can be found to explain that. However, JESUS is resurrected and then ascends and there are many accountings in the WORD of his time with HIS disciples and followers. Each perception very close in translation and accounted for. That in itself is a miracle. Why, even our superficial gossiping loses much of translation as it goes from one to another like a bad “whisper down the lane game”. Yet each account of JESUS’ is very similar.

Faith is not “when I see it I will believe it”. That would be proof. And there is a pretty good amount of proof of whom JESUS is/was; yet there are hugely supernatural occurrences as well. When I used to think of the word: supernatural, I would think of voodoo, magic and witchery. But it is defined as manifestations and events that occur beyond understanding. GOD’s power is amazing and way beyond anything we can fathom.

When we are ill, we see our illness from the perspective of perhaps the doctors. When we do not know where the money will come for the next mortgage payment, we see this from the balance in our checking account. When we want someone we love very much to accept the LORD, our hope lies in what we think is capable based on that person. How quickly we forget how BIG our LORD is! How fast we lose the impact of what JESUS did for us!

I have seen GOD’s supernatural power very often. I have seen and felt it in my heart. When I feel like throwing up my hands and throwing in the towel, GOD is there telling me to stop throwing and start holding onto HIM. When I am so tired of battling and feel that life keeps knocking me down, I was able to get back up. Not anything I am doing, it was all JESUS.
GOD took a high-school drop-out, divorced single mom of four young girls and made a life for us. Even when I strayed, HE stayed! I did not believe in myself but GOD believed in me. Opportunities kept presenting themselves and by grace we did not just survive, we thrived. GOD’s supernatural power combined with my hope and faith were bigger than any mistake I made or battle I faced, time and time again.
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By GOD’s grace, I did not watch my JESUS die on that cross on the day HE saved me. I did not have to sit for several days agonizing about the “what ifs”. At 17, GOD presented HIMSELF to me; a young and insecure girl who grew up in a Jewish home. When I say Jewish, it was more than a faith; it was a way of life, heavy in tradition and identity. However that certainly did not stop the LORD! JESUS gently opened HIS arms and I accepted HIS love. Even though I rebelled, and went my own way for a good while, HE never left me.  
What is ailing you right now? What keeps you stuck? If you have the tiniest bit of faith and hope in JESUS, build on it. When those voices of negativity and defeat are screaming in your ears, take a deep breath and pray. Look, JESUS is right there in front of you; waiting……. crying with you, hoping…. that you will finally accept HIM in so that you no longer are chained. Thank YOU JESUS!

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