This. Is. It.

Here are just a few thoughts from my time with the Lord this morning :) 

Let's start in the best place to start, the Word. 

1 Peter 1:3-5

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 

Wow. 

I read this this morning and realized how much TRUTH was in these three verses. I wanted to dig deeper. Here is what I found...

- First, the glory goes to God. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..."

- "Our" indicates an intimate relationship.

- The Lord's great mercy recognizes our sinful nature and offers us glorious salvation REGARDLESS! The Lord truly is merciful. 

- A living hope = eternal life. Beautiful.

- "Hope" means confidant optimism. 

1. Hope comes from God 

(Psalm 43:5 - "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.")

2. Hope is a gift of grace 

(2 Thessalonians 2:16 - "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace...")

3. Hope is defined by Scripture 

(Romans 15:4 - "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of Scriptures we might have hope.")

4. Hope is a reasonable reality 

(1 Peter 3:15 - "...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence...") 

5. Hope is secured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ

(John 11:25-26 - "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"  

John 14:19 - "After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also."

 1 Corinthians 15:17 - "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.")

6. Hope is confirmed in the Christian by the Holy Spirit

 (Romans 15:13 - "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.")

7. Hope defends the Christian against Satan's attacks 

(1 Thessalonians 5:8 - "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.")

8. Hope is confirmed through trials 

(Romans 5:3-4 - "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.")

9. Hope produces joy. 

(Psalm 146:5 - "How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.")

10. Hope is fulfilled in Christ's return. 

(Titus 2:13 - "Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.")

-The living hope means nothing without the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

- Eternal inheritance is...

1. Imperishable- something not subject to passing away, nor liable to decay. 

2. Undefiled- unpolluted, unstained by evil. The undefiled inheritance of the Christian is in contrast to an earthly inheritance, all of which is corrupted and defiled. 

3. Will not fade away- "fading" is the image of a withering flower. Eternal inheritance has NO decaying elements. 

- Our inheritance is reserved!

- "Protected by the power of God" - this is a supreme power. Omniscience. Omnipotence. sovereignty. This not only keeps the inheritance, but also keeps the believer secure! 

-Faith- this is our response to God! The saving faith is permanent and it will never die. 

To me, This is it. This is truth. This is the central message of the Gospel! Do you see it? There is something so beautiful about all of this. I am secure! I am rooted in the Lord's hand and will not be removed. I am here only because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without that, I have nothing. Because of that, I have everything. I am promised eternal life with the Lord. Eternal life that is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away. I have that living hope of eternal life. I have a confidant optimism, which means SO much. And this is all because of the Lord. He is merciful. And ALL the glory goes to Him. 

Do you see the truth? 

This. Is. It.

I'm Back!

Obviously I have been terrible at blogging for the past... oh, 3 months or so. Mostly since I've been back at school. Any of you who have been around me lately or have talked to me frequently know that school has been controlling my life. Well, I am happy to say that I'm done. (Okay... I still have four finals and a portfolio to assemble. But other than that, I'm DONE!) 

Yesterday I was talking to Matt and my best friend Michele about how when I was in Haiti over the summer I thrived on spending time with the Lord first thing in the morning on the balcony outside the room. There was something about being outside with a cup of coffee (in the heat) surrounded by mountains and beautiful trees saturating my heart with the Word. I loved it. I recently saw an email I had sent to Matt on one of those beautiful mornings saying that wherever we end up living, we have to have a balcony. And sure enough, our apartment (his until were married) has a large, beautiful balcony overlooking a lake/canal. Lovely. 

I've struggled so much recently to start my mornings digging into the Word. It's been a challenge because in the profession of education, early mornings are mandatory for work, which doesn't leave too much time for anything in the mornings. I can handle waking up early, but in all honesty, this semester I've completely neglected waking up an extra hour or so early to spend time with the Lord. If it fits in my day, great! If not, tomorrow will make up for it. Oh how sinful my heart is. 

Well, all of this to say, I'm back. I realized how much more I thrived on the Word when I could be away from my roommates (I love you guys, but there's something about being ALONE with the Lord... kinda hard to do with 4 other roommates. I know you all feel the same :) haha). I realized how much I grew when I could dig into the Word, surrounded by Creation, and how much I LOVED blogging about what the Lord was teaching me. I've always had a journal. I've always written out Scripture, prayers, thoughts, whatnot. But there is something about blogging that hits home in my heart. My thoughts come easier, I can type much faster than handwriting. I've missed it. Truly missed it. This morning I spent time digging into just a few verses, I wrote everything down in my journal. But then I decided I wanted to transfer it to my blog. I want to start this again.

My heart is so excited for what will happen in two months and two days. Yes, my wedding. I am going to marry a man who's heart is after God and who longs to see the Kingdom multiply and grow. I truly believe that through our marriage, we will be able to reach the Kingdom so much more effectively than alone. :) That's the beauty of marriage. But something I'm looking forward to (not quite as much) is living at our apartment and being able to spend the mornings on the balcony digging into the Word. I'm SO excited. It will be absolutely lovely. 

So now, I will say, I am back :) 

Originally I was going to write about what the Lord showed me this morning and share some truth with you all, but this post is long enough. So I will end this post and then post Scripture along with some thoughts next. :)