"May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing �?through the experience of your faith �?that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope."
(Romans 15:13)
I had a brother share this verse with me the other morning and he was asking the Lord to give us a heart of belief that we might be filled with joy and peace. I am now praying that for us all together. Lord grant us your heart in believing so that we truly might be filled with your joy and peace. Cause us to stand out in the crowd because we are so joyful. In the previous chapter of Romans the Apostle tells us that the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Joy and Peace.
I have given a great deal of thought in the past week concerning the birth of our King and what God's heart was in deciding to come and live among His creation for thirty three years. We are told that Moses knew the ways of God after the Lord declared to Moses His loving kindness. Remember that Moses was pretty put out with the children of God because they had made a molten calf to worship while Moses had been gone for forty days waiting on God on Mount Sinai. Let us take to heart today what God's response was to Moses as he spent another forty days with God.
"And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! The Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 14:5-7)
For the past six years we have spent a great deal of our time in Israel. We just smile at each other as we realize just how little we knew about the Jewish people along with the Arabs. We are both grateful to the Lord for allowing us to live among His people in the Mideast and come to a better understanding of how they feel about life on a daily basis. Our prayer for the mini golf from the beginning is that it would be a place of peace for people living in constant turmoil and that our joy might be catching. One of the sweetest complements from the folks in Ariel is when they tell us that we have created a safe and peaceful place for them and that they just love to see the joy that we have. Glory!
In Texas we grew up smiling and waving at folks and we purposed to do this in Israel. A wave and a smile doesn't cost much and yet it has the possibility of paying great dividends. We find in the epistle to the Hebrews that Jesus was anointed with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond His companions. (Hebrews 1:9) I once again pray for each of us that He will anoint us with this same oil of joy and gladness that He had. Glory!
"For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a fellow feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning. Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace �?the throne of God's unmerited favor (to us sinners); that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need �?appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it." (Hebrews 4:15-16)
Yes, this is why He came to live among us. He has come to be our fellow companion and is able to give us all grace and peace and joy by the power of His Spirit. May He be with you this week as you go about doing good and proclaiming His name in all goodness and mercy. Thanks for remembering our soap.
Blessings, Homer Owen
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