Our family motto for 2016 is HAVE HOPE. WORK HARD. BE OBEDIENT.

We’ve had a crazy year and are heading into a new year with what seems like some cards stacked against us.  However, we’ve chosen to look at these blessings, big decisions, and tribulations as opportunities to glorify God in our growth.  I have to continually remind myself: it’s not about me or my comfort.  We are praying BIG things, with expectant hearts from a God who loves us and loves to move in BIG ways.

HOPE

The biblical definition of hope is “confident expectation.” Hope is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown.

The righteous, who have this trustful hope in God, have a general confidence in God’s protection and help (Jeremiah 29:11) and are free from fear and anxiety (Psalm 46:2-3).  Christian hope is rooted in faith in the divine salvation in Christ.  Hope is produced by endurance through suffering (Romans 5:2-5)

Romans 15:13, “I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 5:2-5 “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
Hebrews 6:19″We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. ..”
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

WORK HARD

Thankfully we don’t have to earn our salvation. (whew! what a relief!) But God gives us dreams and ideas so that we can use our gifts to while glorifying Him in the process of pursing these somewhat unbelievable/unattainable goals. God moves BIG when we pray BIG.

DREAMS DON’T WORK UNLESS WE DO.

Colossians 3:23-25 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

We are accountable to God and stewards of the gifts He has given us. Our work flows out of our gratefulness to Him. We can work cheerfully and without complaint because we are working for the Lord who loves us and has redeemed us.

BE OBEDIENT

It’s more than just talking about doing something. Actually DO it.

Obedience to God proves our love for Him (1 John 5:2-3), demonstrates our faithfulness to Him (1 John 2:3-6), glorifies Him in the world (1 Peter 2:12), and opens avenues of blessing for us (John 13:17).

“Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him” (Psalm 128:1). The Bible often tells us that God blesses and rewards obedience. James 1:22-25 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. . . . Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” Also: Psalm 119:1-2.

John 15:5-8 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.