Jesus states the human condition very simply, “you will have trouble”, I think we can all attest to the trouble that life can bring us right? But look at his next statement, “But, take heart”. Did you ever realize that heart is something you could take, and conversely, lose?
Several times when Jesus healed people, he said “Be of good cheer”, which essentially means, take heart! He told the paralyzed man in Matthew 9 to take heart, he told the woman with the issue of blood to take heart. See when Jesus is in the picture of our lives, we always have something to be passionate and enthusiastic about, with Jesus in the picture, we can all be of good cheer!
Whether you’ve been on a plane lately or not, I think we can all relate to having “cloudy moments” in our life journey. These are the times where we know exactly where we’re supposed to be going, but there are so many things that are obstructing our view. Those obstructions could be fear, it could be insecurity, it could be hurt…
Be sure of this today, that His promises are already laid out in front of you, they continue to be a resounding “Yes and Amen!” The question is, are we walking in the steps that He has ordered? You see, this is where that dreaded “A-word” comes into play in our lives….accountability.
In Jesus, you are the holder of freedom, the container of Jesus’ victory over the world. Knowing this powerful truth makes you an overcomer! Jesus didn’t say there wouldn’t be opposition, what he said is that he has given you the tools to overcome the opposition, Jesus called these the keys to the Kingdom:
The key really is to truly know Jesus, not just do things that look like we know Jesus or getting so busy doing things for Jesus that we forget to do things with him.
Unfortunately it is possible to be around Jesus, but not truly know him. Look at the dialogue between Jesus and his disciple Philip:
See the impact of this year and whether or not it is a good year is not going to be determined by things around you. If this year is to be your greatest year yet, it is up to you, as a matter of fact, it is in you already!
I still dare to hope! In this scripture the original translation of the word “dare” means to “stand, to rise, to get up”. Hope means to have positive expectation.
So we could say it this way: “my expectations of goodness stand and rise up when I remember…” So if regret is reminding you of your past…just remember…
We may not have a frozen Christmas in El Paso this year, but you can have Frozen attitude when you just LET IT GO! Seriously, time is too precious to stay mad!
“All is calm…” makes for great Christmas lyrics, but it doesn’t quite define our lives during the holiday season does it? Maybe “all is busier…” or “all is more expensive” and there doesn’t seem to be so much “joy to the world” does there?
