Hope...Go Ahead!

Happy Friday Friends!!!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day dawns! I am truly awestruck by the glorious beauty as the sun begins to slowly rise each morning...so inspiring!

This morning I want to share a few things with you.

1. This one is probably more for me than it is for you as God placed it on my heart this morning; today is a new day. It is up to us as to what we do with this day. Faults, failures, disappointments, etc., they all belong to yesterday. They are gone. They are in the past. You  & I can no longer influence those moments and those moments do not define us. Lamentations 3:22-23 says, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." whatchristianswanttoknow.com says it beautifully, "You know that God loves you, but still [you] struggle every day with feeling unworthy. Every morning the love and mercy of God hovers over you waiting for the first moment of wakefulness. Trust in his faithfulness to restore every hurtful word and action in your life." Drink deeply from the truth of God's word Friends...every morning the love and mercy of God hovers over you.

2. My Beautiful Bride gave me Joyce Meyer's new book Get Your Hopes Up! Expect Something Good to Happen to You Every Day for Father's day. I want to a) encourage you to get this book...it is awesome! and b) I want to share some excerpts with you.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and those who come to Him must believe that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (see Hebrews 11:6).

...hope precedes and is connected with faith. We cannot have one without the other.

...a man or woman of faith does more than trust that God is alive; they also believe that He is good, and that He rewards those who seek Him. They wait for and expect the goodness of God, not because they deserve it, but because God promises to give it.

Hope is only as strong as its source. That's why the foundation of our hope must be God and the promises found in His word.

The believer's hope is in the unshakable, all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

...get your hopes up! Do it on purpose...grab hold passionately and refuse to live without hope!

Experience tells you that nothing is ever going to change, but God's Word tells us something better. It say that all things are possible with God!

In John 10:10, Jesus said, "I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."

It's the catalyst that sparks ideas and imagination (see Proverbs 24;14), the anchor that steadies us when the storms of life rage (see Hebrews 6:19), the confidence that dares us to build a better life (see Proverbs 23:18), and the comfort of knowing we're never alone (see Romans 5:5).

While it is true that we should always be content and satisfied with what we have, that certainly doesn't mean that desiring more of the right things is wrong as long as we desire them for the right reasons.

I actually believe those who are content with anything less than all God can do for them are hindering God's greatness. He wants to show Himself strong in each of our lives. He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever dare to ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams (see Ephesians 3:20).

...but for many people, low expectations keep them from enjoying their lives.

...any degree of hopelessness has a devastating effect on our lives. Why not believe the best and open the door to see what God will do?

...hope in God and positive expectations are very closely related to faith.

...the level of your expectation is the level of your faith. Show me a person with low expectations, and I'll show you a person using very little faith. But show me a person with big expectations, and I'll show you a person acting with bold faith.

If you don't expect God to do anything great in your life, He won't. But if you dare to raise your level of expectation and begin anticipating that God wants t do something great in your life, you'll begin to dream, believe, ask, and act with a confident boldness, knowing God is for you and has a great plan for your life.

And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! - Isaiah 30:18

Your life will go only as high as the level of your expectations. It's not that your expectations immediately change the environment or the circumstances around you, but your expectations change the way you react to that environment and those circumstances. Your expectations change you. They cause you to be able to wait for a change in your circumstances with a happy attitude. They cause you to be a bold, confident, joy-filled believer who trusts that God has a great plan for your life.

It doesn't matter what the situation looks like around you; God is greater than any obstacle you may be facing.

3. I was greatly saddened to hear of the shooting last week at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. As politicians and the media began chiming in with their thoughts, ideas, etc. about what is the cause, what should be done, etc., my thoughts went to something different. We, as a society, keep reacting to the fruit and we are not addressing the root. The fruit is the outcome, the root is the cause. What is the cause? I would offer it is the failure of men, of father's to be specific, to lead, guide & direct those we have been given the honor & privilege of being responsible for. We have a society, a world, full of men refusing to accept responsibility for the precious souls they father and yet we wonder why we now have a society of irresponsible people. Racism, like any other -ism, is a learned belief. Who is called, called by God, to be the teacher of their children? Fathers. As long as men fail to be men, to be fathers, we will have a society filled with hurt, broken, misguided individuals who hurt, break and mislead others. Why don't we talk about that? Why don't we hold men accountable? There are both sins of commission and of omission. Sins of commission are the things we do - what we teach our children. Sins of omission are the things we allow - what or who are we allowing to fill their hearts & minds? Father's are responsible for both.

I know there are many men out there who are striving daily to be a good father to their children. I celebrate & praise. To the boys who want the privileges of manhood without the responsibility, I encourage you to rise up and be the man you were created to become. If we want to begin to repair the problems we face nationally, globally, we must begin there...with men.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev