Hope-filled, Grateful, Flourishing hearts…

Read:

Romans 15:13 (AMP): “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises”.

Act:

Let us be determined this week to:

Open our ears to hear. We read from Jeremiah 33:3: “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known”. Do we know God’s voice? Are we intentional about getting into our quiet place, becoming still enough to hear His whisper? Or are we so distracted by the noise and busyness of our lives that we miss the His call? Let’s become intentionally aware of who and what we listen to. Let’s seek and listen only to the Voice of Truth – the voice of our Lord and Saviour – Jesus Christ. And let’s not only listen, but obey and TRUST Him as we stand on God’s Word and promises.
Fill our hearts with hope and thanksgiving. Zechariah 9:12 tells us the following: “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double”. How beautiful is the idea of becoming a prisoner of hope? To be imprisoned by hope we need to be found in Jesus – knowing and trusting Him in and through all circumstances. This means knowing that He is with us and for us. It’s an eager expectation to meet Him in every aspect of our lives. It’s a confident trust in the promises and plans He has for our lives. It’s about filling our hearts with gratitude and joy as we look upon the compassion and faithfulness of our loving Heavenly Father. It’s about fixing our eyes on Jesus, so that our hearts remain steadfast in hope, and our words resound with praise and thanksgiving!
Bloom where God has planted us. As we listen to God, obey His Word and allow Him to fill us afresh with His hope, peace and love; may we flourish and grow into all our Heavenly Father created us to be. May our lives be like a beautiful flower, blooming in every season, bringing joy and beauty into the world around us.

Pray:

Jesus, You know about the voices that compete for our attention. You are confident when You say that Your sheep will not follow the voice of a stranger but will flee from that voice. And so it is our prayer that we, as Your beloved sheep, would indeed reject and flee from any voice other than Your sweet, tender, loving voice that is always the truth. (Lucinda)

Lord, thank You for Your compassion towards our fragile hearts, and Your kindness when our courage seems so feeble, and our strength gives in. Lord we know that You are never far, and thank You for always picking us up – time and time again. When our hope seems to waiver, we ask that Your presence will warm us all over again. Open our eyes to Your joy and remind our hearts that this world is not our home. Holy Spirit we ask You to come and melt the ice of our heartache and disappointments – until even the barren is beautiful. (Rianca)

Lord Jesus, thank You so much that our gratitude is not positive thinking, and that it’s not ‘trying to be happy’ when something bad happens. We can always find You and we can see that there are so many things we can be grateful for. Thank You for Your salvation and for Your beautiful name; and for Your provision in every situation. Thank You for all the things that You have given us – people and gifts. Thank You that we can be obedient to You and find something to be grateful for in every situation that You let us face. (Viola)

Our Father, our Father in heaven. Lord we come to You in the precious and powerful name of Jesus – we come to You as Your humble creatures. We know from Your Word that You created each of us uniquely. You hand-picked each of us individually, with our own identity and with a plan unique to each one of us, for our lives. You chose us to bloom, to flower, to produce a fragrant smell for Your kingdom. We ask You to allow us to see things from Your perspective. Help us to see ourselves as the beautiful flowers that we are, even if we’re waiting to bloom. Help us to see ourselves and others through Your eyes. (Carina)

Father, thank You that we can confidently proclaim and declare that You are our trustworthy promise keeper. Sometimes our circumstances reveal anything but favour, and we become confused and bewildered. Lord, that does not shake who You are, and that does not shake what your promises say concerning us. Help us to trust You Father because You are faithful! We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. (Jackie)

Amen.

(This WRAP is with great appreciation towards Rianca, Viola, Lucinda, Jackie and Carina)

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