Hope

This morning as my custom is I got up opened my bible and started my daily conversation with the biblical counselors that God has assigned to us. I have in the last year through the help of Wayne Cordeiro seen the writers of the word of God as counselors the Lord has assigned to each of us for our daily strength, comfort and direction. I will write more about that later, but back to today.

I started reading in Isaiah 60
"Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you."

and later I read in Isaiah 61
" 1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, ^[a]

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations."

and today I read these words from John 1

48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

What comfort. What encouraging words. What HOPE! Why? Because these are not just words on paper. These are not just God speaking to Holy men of old. These are not just prophecies that relate to the end times. These are not just the words of Jesus to a man who was about to become his disciple in biblical times.

These were the words of the Holy Spirit to one man today. This man. Steve Lambert had a conversation with people God sent to encourage him today. They were directed to me to come and bring me a powerful dose of HOPE.

God loves me. He will go to great ends to express that love to me if I cooperate with him. One of the ways I engage Him is by listening every day to what He has to say to me.

I cannot put into words the incredible, overwhelming sense I have when I engage God's word as a word to "me". It is not just the bible. It's not just "the good book". It is life. It is HOPE.