Real Hope Conversations

Share real hope with your family, friends and community!  - Hope 103.2 (hope1032.com.au)

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again… HEBREWS 11:32–35a (NIV)

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HISTORY MAKERS

 History is a story written by the finger of God. - CS Lewis

The message of the Gospel is one that has impacted generations throughout history, transforming the lives of individuals, families, communities and nations.

History is being written even today, through the message of the Gospel, a message we all play a part in.

As we journey through the next series of devotionals, we pray you’ll see that your life is a part of the story being written by God’s own hand. A story that tells the history of Christian faith and proclaims the saving grace of God offered to all who come.

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Share real hope with your family, friends and community!  - Hope 103.2 (hope1032.com.au)

The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them. EXODUS 39:42–43 (NIV)

 

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AND… END SCENE

The end to our study of Exodus

 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. EXODUS 14:14 (NIV)

The final chapters of Exodus are the final scenes of an epic story of freedom, promise, covenant, details and ultimately God’s unconditional love for His people.

As we finish our study on Exodus (see previous editions of the Real Hope devotional) our hope is that you will not only reflect on all you have learnt as we have journeyed through this amazing book of the Bible, but that you will also see God’s heart for His people, and His heart for you.

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You [God] have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? PSALM 56:8 (ESV)

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GRIEF

A series by Kath Henry

We grieve deeply because we have cared deeply.

Grief is something we will all experience in this lifetime. The word grief is often used to describe the emotion of deep sorrow felt when someone we love has died. However, grief can also be a response to the loss of anything that has held meaning and significance in our life.

The emotions of grief are often complex and varied and are also likely to impact many other dimensions of an individual’s sense of being. These might include physical, behavioural, social and spiritual to name a few.

So how can we find our way in our own times of grief and how can we walk as a compassionate friend alongside others who are grieving?

I hope these five devotions may be a starting point for you as we look at some verses from the Bible and share some reflections. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that you can reach out for help for yourself and others. Your community of support may already include friends and family. Remember you can also connect with well-trained people who have learned how to listen and how to help the grieving.

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. EPHESIANS 2:8–9 (NIV)

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EARTHEN VESSELS

‘Take me, mold me,
Use me, fill me,
I give my life to the Potter’s hand.’ - Darlene Zschech

We all have flaws. Not a single one of us is perfect and many of us have cracks and breaks that are evidence of seasons of wilderness, loss, grief and confusion. But despite these cracks and flaws God, in His love, puts us back together in His only perfect way, and uses us to continue to bring Him glory and share experiences of His love with those around us.

As you navigate the next five days of readings, may you be filled anew with comfort and hope that your flaws, cracks and breaks have been made perfect through His sacrifice.

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Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ROMANS 12:1–5 (NIV)

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THE TEMPLE

The body is God’s temple, but we are to worship God, not the temple. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

The temple. Throughout the Bible, it is a location where God’s desire to meet and be with His people is realised. However, with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, a new temple was established within us, His people.

What does it mean to be God’s temple? How are we then to live our lives? How does that mean we are to commune together as brothers and sisters in Christ?

We trust that, as you explore the temple both old and new, the desire of God to be in a relationship with you is not an afterthought but a desire that was born in the garden of Eden and still continues now.

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The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. PSALM 23:1–2 (NKJV)

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PSALM 23

 I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. - PSALM 23:6 (NIV)

Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known psalms. If you grew up in Sunday school, every verse was a memory verse and when you hear the start of verse 1 – ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ – for some, the rest of the psalm just rolls off the tongue because it’s so familiar.

However, we all know that familiarity sometimes brings loss of meaning – a rote recitation of a passage that contains a message of hope and comfort in a season of wilderness and loss.

As we dissect this psalm verse by verse over the next five days, we pray that it won’t just be familiar but that it will take on new depth and new meaning in your life.

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Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 CORINTHIANS 9:14–17 (NIV)

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SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

‘God has given us the disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving His grace. The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.’ - RICHARD FOSTER

For so many of us, when we hear the word discipline, we automatically associate it with punishment or a negative experience.

However, the word ‘discipline’ also refers to training, activity, or a regime that improves a skill. 

When we talk about spiritual disciplines, this training or learning that improves a skill is the discipline we’re referring to – disciplines and practices that develop our relationship with God and draw us closer to Him.

As you read through these next devotionals, we hope you start to cultivate new disciplines in your life. Disciplines that bring you life and deepen your relationship with our creator God.  

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And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. 1 SAMUEL 30:6 (ESV)

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DISCOVERING HOPE IN THE LIFE OF DAVID

A Series by Heidi Wysman

David is one of the most referenced people in the Bible with sixty-six chapters dedicated to him. His encounter with Goliath is probably the best-known Bible account of all time. A shepherd boy who puts his trust in God and defeats a huge, experienced warrior with only his faith, a sling and a stone. David’s story is not only inspiring but very human. David was the youngest of eight sons of Jesse, a farmer and sheep breeder of the Israelite tribe of Judah, and became the second king of ancient Israel. David began his career as a court musician of King Saul, the first king in Israel. But as he grew, David began to write down his inspired songs, or psalms . His compositions inspire readers today, filling nearly half of the Book of Psalms.

David was a mighty warrior who learned to trust God in the depths of depression and the extremes of danger. He also knew how to offer the high praises of God as he saw God in all his victories. But like all of us, David had his flaws. In his life’s story, we watch a man who falls very low, but repents to take hold of God’s grace and forgiveness and is ultimately restored and redeemed. By studying David’s life, we discover that God is writing the story of our salvation. We may feel like we have very little to offer God, but that’s based on our limited perspective. When God calls, He empowers us. David’s story points us to hope in God’s mercy and His unfailing love.

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I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. HABAKKUK 2:1 (NIV)

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WHEN GOD SAYS NO

The key is you have to trust that God only has the best in store for you. If God says no to something, He says yes to something even greater. It is when you fully surrender all of your desires to His will that His perfect will is done. - NICK VUJICIC

God saying ‘No’. It’s not something we really want to think about God saying to us. Even a ‘Not yet’ is better than a ‘No’. But the reality is sometimes God says ‘No’, but it’s what we do in these moments and our response to this answer that will guide our next step.

As we wrestle with this topic over the next five days, we hope you’ll see how our sovereign God is writing a story on our lives that is far greater than we can even think, dream or imagine. However, sometimes God needs to say ‘No’ in order for us to get to the greater.

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This week Neri Morris joins us to chat about a practice that we all know is essential, but for many people can fall a bit lower on the priority list. 

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MEETING WITH GOD

What is amazing is how we treat a meeting with God as ordinary or burdensome. FRANCIS CHAN

 God desires to be with His people. We read it time and time again in the Bible. However, the question that always remains is, are we desiring to be with God in the same way He desires to be with us? Do we want to be with Him? Is that important to us?

On the other side is the question about how we meet with God. How do we intentionally set up time and moments to spend with Him throughout the seasons of life?

This week, we’ll be discussing all these questions and more as we seek to understand the heart of our amazing God for us, our personal motivations to spend time with Him, and ways for us to practically start meeting with Him throughout our daily rhythms.

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