Tag Archive | Nikki Jordan

Having Hope by: Nikki Hodson

Apr5

 

As a Christian, I’ve read about hope and heard it            mentioned many times. We say we HOPE in The Lord,    but what is hope really? What’s the difference between hoping to obtain something and wishing for it? Why does the Bible so often talk of the believer as someone who has hope as opposed to wishing to go to Heaven or obtain favour from God?? Well, here’s the difference.

The original 1828 dictionary by Noah Webster tells us that hope is defined as:

Confidence in a future event; the highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God’s gracious promises; a scriptural sense.

As a believer, God doesn’t want us to WISH He would answer our requests or that He would allow us to make Heaven our home. He wants us to have HOPE in those things. According to the Webster definition of hope, we don’t have to blindly wish it would happen, but we can truly EXPECT it to become a reality with a great degree of certainty! How reassuring is that?!

The Greek word, ἐλπίς or elpis simply means that the word hope as used in 1 Peter 1:3  is derived from the primary word ἔλπω or elpo which is defined as:

(to anticipate usually with pleasure);
expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence: – faith hope.

So, in order to hope for something, we must have confidence in that thing or the materialization of that occurrence.  I like that Webster defines this anticipation as being one with pleasure. Why would we hope in something that wouldn’t be pleasurable?

The truth is that we wouldn’t. By definition, if we hope for something, then that something is by definition something that we want. So, when we hope in God, that means that we desire God and believe that He is good and will give us good things.

Now, we can read 1 Peter 1:3 in a whole new light and with even greater anticipation of all that The Father has for us!

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

So, let’s revel in that hope!!!  Let’s praise Our God for His goodness! He REALLY IS a GREAT GREAT God!!!!

Until next time, God bless and be sure to put your trust in Him!

All my love,

Nikki

 

Wisdom: So Much More Than Just Knowing What To Do

Mar15

Proverbs 4:7

“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!
And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation].”

We, often, fall into the trap of thinking that just to know something is enough.  Well, knowing something is GREAT, but with knowledge comes responsibility for what you do with what you’ve learned.

Ecclesiastes 1:18  tells us, “18 For in much [human] wisdom there is much displeasure and exasperation; increasing knowledge increases sorrow.”

We, often, want to acquire great knowledge and understanding, but those two things can be very dangerous without wisdom! Wisdom is what allows us to utilize the new knowledge and understanding. Without wisdom, we are likely to take what we know and do something really stupid. Not a one of us is above making that mistake without wisdom. In her article “Putting God First in Your Priorities”, Joyce Meyer tells us, “ The key to having God’s ‘abundant life’ is keeping Him in His rightful place in our priorities. ”  How many of us are consistently successful in achieving this goal?

Well, in order to gain the wisdom that God so desperately longs to impart upon us, we must put Him in His rightful place in our life priorities. If He is not first, then we are opening ourselves up to all kinds of errors and grief. The reason for this is that all things in this life are intended for God’s glory. This is what mandates that He and His will MUST be first in our lives for things to work properly.

Romans 11:36Amplified Bible (AMP)

36 For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

According to this verse, all things STARTED with Him and, without Him, nothing would exist. Because of this fact, it makes sense that the only way to live life in the order that it was MEANT to be lived would mean that God HAS to be FIRST in the list of priorities. It makes absolutely NO sense to place the CREATION before the CREATOR. Even using the phrase, “…place the CREATION before the CREATOR.” should leave a HORRIBLE taste in our mouths as believers! Without Him we are NOTHING. So, isn’t it time to bring to Him the glory that, so rightfully, belongs to Him? I think so!

Now, I’m not going to try to kid you. The devil will do EVERYTHING in his power to try to stop us from putting God first. That’s his job. He can be very good at that job if we aren’t focused on Jesus Christ. You see, when Christ isn’t first in our lives, then everything else in our lives suffer. This includes family, friendships, finances, careers, and a myriad of other things. To NOT have Him first in our lives puts our very existence in a completely imbalanced mess! We’ve all experienced the consequences of doing this.  Let’s not keep repeating the same mistake over and over again! Let’s get God right where He belongs. He belongs FIRST. Everything in our lives should be run by Him and His wisdom and advice should be heeded. God isn’t looking to squash our dreams. He’s looking to help us to cut out the middle man and get right to the good stuff. We can do this too, but only if we are willing to PUT GOD FIRST!

I’d love to hear what you have to say in response to what I’ve presented here. You are important to this ministry.  Please, feel free to leave your comments and responses to this post and, until next time, may our God bless and keep you as you remain faithful to Him!!!

All my love!

Nikki