Living hope.
I love that phrase. The thought that our hope is alive and vibrant and free.
Living.
We sang the song “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham at church on Easter. We’ve sung it at other times, but I love when I can connect the living hope who is Jesus Christ with His resurrection day. The plan for mankind since the beginning has been to bring us to a place where we could be united again after being disconnected in the Garden of Eden.
Hallelujah, praise the One who set me freeHallelujah, death has lost its grip on meYou have broken every chainThere’s salvation in Your nameJesus Christ, my living hope
Jesus is our living hope. When I feel I have no hope, I can knock down those feelings as a lie. Because Jesus lives in my heart, I always have hope within. Hope can be covered up by:
- negative thinking
- complaining
- focusing on problems too much
- believing lies
- associating with negative people
- busyness
These are a few things that negate our hope, at times. I like what I heard John Eldredge say in a video when asked, “How do I fit more of Jesus into my already busy life?” He said, “The counter-intuitive answer is we have to start with Jesus, and everything else in our day must bow to that.”
A simple, profound answer. Jesus first.
And I don’t always start my day in that fashion. I often get in the hurry and scurry, then stop for a break and breathe a ‘help me’ kind of prayer.
Instead of starting with Jesus. The night before, saying that prayer of how should I order my day tomorrow? Asking for help then, and again in the morning, first thing, before I’m caught up in the chaos that often is my life.
So, I’m taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly. I’m lifting my hands at my computer desk and asking, seeking, finding.
His grace.
His mercy.
His almighty love.
As simple as that.
How about you? What do you do to try and put Jesus in the center of it all at the beginning? I’d love to know …
I try to do twenty minutes of prayer and hymn singing in the morning. If I can’t do it after my kids leave for school, I try to work it in during the day. I pray throughout the day too. A lot of thank you.