Faith Filled Friday Blog Link Up

I'm so glad you are here! I hope during your visit you get a glimpse of God's heart for we become what we are gazing at. Currently I am writing my way through Judges sharing glimpses of God's heart and character for a weekday devotional. To check out the entire series so far head on over the the Judges Devotional.  

Hope in the Lord

We often have the tightest grip on what we are hoping in. But our grip strangles if misplaced. Only God is able to withstand our grip of hope. And not only does a grip on anything other than the Lord destroy the beauty of the thing we are hoping in, it also pierces and wounds us. When God gives gifts, they are not meant to be tight fisted. They are meant to be held with open hands so others can enjoy the beauty as well.

And when our hope is misplaced, God, who is rich in mercy and grace, abounding in love and faithfulness steps in to rescue. Sometimes that means having the thing we are hoping in, the thing we are putting our confidence in, ripped from us. Sometimes the thing we are hoping in needs to be crushed and exposed for it's unworthiness of our full reliance. For our hope can not be placed in the Lord if it is placed elsewhere. Hope only has room for one. 

Micah's hope was in his idols and the young Levite and they were ripped out from under him.  
"When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, "What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?"  And he said, "You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, 'What is the matter with you?'" And the people of Dan said to him, "Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household." Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home." Judges 18:22-26 

I don't know about you, but hope seems like a hard thing to measure. It's hard to tell if we're fully hoping in the Lord or in success, stability, security, status or something else. So how can we tell? By doing a fist check. Are your hands open and willing to let go or is your heart wrapped so tightly around ________ that thought of not having it makes you angry? When you are open handed it manifests itself in a willingness to give, a willingness to share. Just like a kid with his candy.

So how do we transfer trust? How do we put our hope in the Lord? It's a choice to remember what's true about the Lord and let go of the grip on that other thing and lay it at His feet. It's a choice to cling to Jesus instead. "It's not mine, it's yours." 

Then when hard things come our way, we wont be shaken because our hope is in the Lord. We will be a people willing to follow the Lord where He leads, not squishing the life out of something not meant to be gripped.

Have you had a chance to read Strategic Eternal Living? It's super practical on helping you figure out what to do with the time the Lord gave you here on earth.

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Faith Filled Friday Blog Hop

We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, devotionals, ministry as well as art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage and more if they tie into or display the the Lord somehow. 

So go ahead and link up below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. I just humbly ask that you please let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or put my button code (found on my side bar or the Faith Filled Friday Tab) so they can find these other great people glorifying God and we can continue to grow as a community. Thanks!    

In effort to encourage others in their writing by faith, please take a minute to comment on the two posts linked up before you. 


I'm linking up with Spiritual Sundays   

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