Hope is based on what God has already said in Scripture and done in your life.

Tu Bishvat, the festival of trees, was recently celebrated in Israel. Although it is not mentioned in Scripture, it is based on the biblical truth of tithing from your harvest. In this case, it was fruit from your trees.

Yet, this festival takes place in winter when there is no fruit on the trees! As one author put it, “We are not receiving everything here and now. We are investing in what will be.”

Pictured are my recently pruned apricot tree and grapevines. At this point, I am to take care of them through watering, protecting from insects that want to destroy them (I’ve lost trees because I didn’t recognize the signs soon enough!), fertilizing and rejoicing in the LORD.

Huh? Listen to what the LORD said through Habakkuk. “Though there is no fruit on the vines…I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places” (3:17-19).

The context of this passage is you have absolutely nothing physically, but you have everything – the LORD.

We all want results…yesterday. Life doesn’t work that way. It’s called deferred gratification, which the Father illustrates through fruit trees and grapevines.

Often times, when we believe our faith steps lead to nothing, we quit doing what we need to do to see the Spirit bring about Jesus like character in us. Instead of quitting, though, the Father tells us to rejoice and keep going.

God is faithful to the process He created. He is also faithful to the words He wrote. Therefore, rejoice over what He has already done (i.e. our Jesus story) and keep going despite seeing what appears to be only dead branches.

Our Father will change your life. He’s done it before and will do it again. So, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.”

Hope leads to rejoicing in Who God is and what only God can do. So, be still and get to know your God while waiting to eat tasty apricots and grapes.

“Don’t pray to be a better Christian, but to be more Christlike.” Excerpt from a letter from the Underground Church

I read this excerpt in the book, Tortured for Christ. I have never suffered for my faith like those who live in countries where they cannot openly worship or where others are hostile to our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah.

I do, though, understand the sentiment behind this prayer. I don’t ask the Lord to change my circumstances, but to change me in the midst of those circumstances. I may not have control over what others do to me, but I do have control over what I do in the midst of what others are doing to me.

This, I believe, is what the Psalmist was writing in 57:2, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me.” The word purpose is to be made complete. For Jesus believers, this means becoming more like Jesus (life transformation).

We don’t often cry out, however, in this manner when life is going well. Why? Because it’s going well! Therefore, the writers pain threshold has reached a level where they finally cry out for an encounter with the only One who could make them whole – the God Most High.

I don’t have to like pain, but I can embrace it to draw closer to Jesus. He not only loves me, but also suffered far more pain than I could ever imagine to bring me into contact with the God Most High – the life changer.

May we all draw closer to Jesus – no matter the kind of days we are having.  

“Discipline does not mean displeasure.”

Our heavenly Father does not want to discipline us. As our LORD, He’d rather enjoy uninterrupted being with us in the present in His presence.

He wants to talk-walk-talk with us throughout the day. This way we can experience life together with Him. To do this, He made us perfect through Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 10:14).

This verse also states that we are being made perfect at the same time. Perfect allows us to be in His presence in the present. Being made perfect (i.e. transformation) allows us to continue to enjoy His presence in the present when the present becomes tomorrow.

Yet, as humans, we tend to stay in the same spot because it is comfortable; and then, our tomorrows add up to months, years and decades in the same spot!

Our Father has so much to show us about Himself to let that happen. He disciplines to get us moving forward again with Him. A loving whack on our backside is not to hurt us, but to get our attention. “What? Where did that come from? Who did it; and more importantly, why?”

When we look into His loving face, we’ll hear Him say, “Well, you wouldn’t move closer. So, I got your attention in the way you understand best, a little pain. I’d rather you just kept walking with Me. But a little pain now is a whole lot better than a whole lot of pain later to get you moving forward!”

Therefore, discipline is not because He is mad at or displeased with, but because He loves us and has so much to show us about Himself.

Discipline, then, is a tool God uses to produce “a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Heb. 12:11) – a tool to transform our lives into Christlikeness.

“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31

We look forward to going home one day. This hope is based on what Jesus did on the cross and rising from the grave; and said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”

This is our hope, a hope that we have something unimaginably better to look forward to – a home with and being like Jesus.

Peter puts this hope into perspective, “Since you are looking forward to this (i.e. the hope of the Lord’s return), make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him” (3:14). Peace. Hmm.

So, I was talking with a brother in Christ of a different Christian flavor who not only reads through the Bible in a year, which I do as well, but also goes through a prayer book based on the Psalms in the morning and at night.

This got me thinking. I know, dangerous, right? Why not pray and praise my way through my Bible reading? Peace. Hmm. My wife and I read a Psalm each night before sleep. Why not pray and praise our way through it? Peace. Hmm.

We will praise Him for whatever the passage talks about Him. And, we will ask Him to transform our lives using whatever truths were in the passage.

Hmm. Peace is increasing. Why? More of Jesuz. This is not a typo. I spelled it this way to remind myself that Jesus is the Aleph and Tav (Hebrew – 1^st half of the Bible), the Alpha and Omega (Greek – 2^nd half of the Bible), and the A and Z (English versions of the Bible). He is the Beginning and the End.

As I’ve done this, it’s amazing how many days I wake up in the morning worshiping Jesus with a song in my head. Hmm. Peace.

It’s all based on the hope Jesuz gives. The more life becomes about Jesus, the more our lives will be transformed, which means the more peace we will experience.

“It’s not that God is silent. It’s just that sometimes our distractions are too loud.”

The Lord led me on a prayer walk this morning to finish a dedicated time of meditation on and with Him. I’m having a great time praying/talking with the Him through Proverbs.  

Yet, it was definitely brisk outside. And if you know me, I really hate being cold. Mud puddles had to be navigated around due to recent rains. Dogs barked, even one who tried to chew through a chain link fence to get at me. Houses were upgraded. Cars came and went. Signs needed to be read.

All were distractions that lead my attention away from talking with the Lord. Want to know what distraction I didn’t have? My phone. I purposefully left it at home. I know me. If a text or call came in, I’d probably answer it. How rude, right?

Question, how important were those activities going on around me that I allowed them to take my focus off the Lord, even for 15 minutes?

I gave those distractions power. I choose to divert my attention away from the Lord to them.

Jesus had me take that walk for a reason. I had just read 1 Peter 2. It states that the world will be full of activities that can divert our attention from Jesus (“fleshly lusts”) that will “wage war against our soul” (vs. 11).

What in your life are you giving power to that wages war on your loving Jesus? That distracts you from making the choice to follow Him in the moment, a choice that leads to life transformation?

Use the 2% rule. Focus on just one distraction today. Choose to replace it with the choice to follow Jesus in the moment, which could just mean going on a prayer walk.