The Spirit Living in Our Heart

I once signed up for something called a communications webinar. The focus was to help communicators condense their information to help listeners get the most benefit from the least amount of shared information.

I’ve always thought that to share information with a target audience, we must blast them from all angles. As a full-time youth director, I sent out mailings every week and emails sometimes twice a week. I placed articles in bulletins and newsletters, posted signs everywhere, and made public announcements. My audience knew who, what, when, where, and why we were doing what we were doing. Occasionally, a youth would say, “Well, I didn’t know,” but usually, the rest of the gang would mock them for their lame excuse.

One problem with communication is that those who don’t care will automatically tune us out, like people nodding during a sermon. Anyway, the biggest problem with church communications is that many people have numerous things to share. This can bombard and overwhelm listeners.

The Bible is one expansive communication hub. It’s full of information we need to know and takes all that is said and points it in one direction: toward Jesus. Repeatedly, the Bible summarizes the messages so that even the shortest message or story still declares the most important information for our edification.

So, take all that God has said and use it to concisely draw people to Christ and the church so that no one can say, “Well, I didn’t know.”

I could not wait for the end of 2017, although it started smoothly. Then came Easter Sunday, and I testified in church and danced like David.

The following day was Easter Monday and marked the beginning of my woes. Fire gutted our rented apartment in the city when the generator exploded. Three months later, my precious mother became sick and died. And if that was not enough, a month after my mother’s burial, fire razed our family house in the village.

I was so devasted. My mind was not settled, and I wondered why all these tragedies happened after I had testified and danced so well in church just months earlier. I asked the Lord what I should expect next. It seemed too much for me and my family to bear.

Many of us think because we are Christians that life should be rosy and fair for and to us. But we find ourselves or our loved ones in circumstances and situations that are unpleasant. Perhaps we or they have lost a loved one, property, or a job. We may have experienced a prolonged illness, wayward kids, or an unfaithful partner.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Ponder over the reassuring words given by Peter. After you have suffered a little while, God will restore, strengthen, and establish you.

One of my favorite hobbies is reading. I often joke that when I retire, I will spend my free time at the library, just helping everyone pick books as they come in. Because I have so many books in my collection, I often lend books to friends for weeks or months at a time.

I remember reading a book on building habits that I talked about to everyone I knew. I decided to loan it to a friend. The book was stained with ripped pages when they returned it to me. The book lover in me wanted to cry. I loaned it with the expectation that they would care for the book and return it to me in the same condition in which I loaned it. I trusted them to treat my book with care.

Sometimes, I can be the same way with the monetary resources God has given me. David marveled over how God has provided for us and how God’s provision blesses us.

All we have is because of God, and He expects us to handle our blessings with this understanding as our foundation. We should treat all He gives us with care and diligence because all we have belongs to Him. While God is generous, He also expects us to be wise and thoughtful when He blesses us. When we treat these gifts carelessly, we demonstrate that we aren’t prepared to handle His blessings.

Think about your favorite pair of shoes or even your car. If you loaned those items to someone and they destroyed your shoes or crashed your car, you likely wouldn’t lend to them again.

Demonstrate that you can manage your resources well. Show others that you are a good steward of God’s many provisions.

The Evans family lived with hope despite living in what appeared to be hopeless circumstances.

Good Times was a 1970s sitcom about a dad, mom, and three children who lived on Chicago’s bad side. Every trip carried the risk of being mugged or raped. They lived in a rickety apartment building owned by a man who cared little for his tenants. Mom stayed home, cared for the children, cleaned the house, and cooked while Dad worked—at least, most of the time. Job layoffs came regularly. But somehow, they always managed to scrape by—and with a smile on their faces. Their secret for happiness, despite their unwelcome circumstances, came through something the mom instilled in the family: hope. A hope built on a deep trust in God.

Paul reminded his readers that they once lived without hope. They had it presently only because they accepted the Jesus he preached.

Hopelessness is a terrible state of existence. Believing that nothing will ever improve or seeing a future that will never be any better than the present. Looking at the past and seeing that it wasn’t any better than the present. However, anyone can choose to live with hope instead of succumbing to hopelessness.

As Florida Evans discovered, hope is not built on circumstances. If that were the case, millions would have none on any given day. Regardless of our financial state, living consistently without anything going wrong isn’t the norm. Hope built on circumstances quickly materializes into hopelessness.

We have hope because we trust the one who controls the circumstances and believe he can take what appears, or is, evil and form good from it. Believing he is the creator and controller of all things instills confidence.

Living with hope is an inner attitude that leads to outward change. Florida Evans was able to transfer her hope to her family, even her unbelieving husband. Hope is transferable. If we live with hope, we can give it to those God puts in our paths. Our attitude will influence theirs.

Florida Evans’ hope was built on her belief in God. Ours must be, too. Nothing else will give us true, consistent hope. All other foundations will flounder.

Choose to live with hope, not merely survive with hopelessness.

Ten months passed after the vibrating twitch in his finger announced itself and quietly took a backseat in our lives. We were oblivious to the destruction this hitchhiker held as we crossed the plains of Wyoming—laughing and cutting up on a ten-day road trip.

April 2018 blew our life down. It came in with hurricane strength, scattering our dreams across life’s terrain. My husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. We had a million questions dumped into our laps. But one thing was awfully obvious: his disease was aggressive, and he was young. Within six months, tremors started in his right hand. As the months passed, he loaded up on medications. His right hand, arm, and shoulder flapped wildly like a bronc rider’s on an angry bull.

Our lives changed. We sold my husband’s motorcycle. Bitter tears welled up inside me as his BMW glided down the road without him. Standing in our driveway, I sucked in air to hold back hot, torturous tears. I couldn't take the pain of his dreams deflating. I hurt for him. We were life partners, and I had decided I would go down with him on this ship. I sold my motorcycle a few weeks later. But I was focusing on my losses, his losses, the whole neurological nightmare, not the daily portion of strength God had for me and the prayer required to access it.

I can't confront life all at once on my own. That's why this verse is crucial: My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. My daily portion strengthens my heart just like one meal at a time does my body. I certainly can’t eat all life’s meals in one day, hoping to nourish my body forever.

God wants me to know one prayer at a time is the focus of my strength. My daily prayers are equivalent to my daily meals. If I forget to eat, I am weak and ineffectual with myself and others. The same is true if I fail to pray.

Don’t let it take a crisis to lead you to pray and see God’s power. Make prayer a daily habit.