Ev's Oils and More

12/28/2024

Day 3: Hurting with Hope

All of us experience times of grief and suffering.

Believing in Jesus doesn’t exempt us from emotional hardship, and being a Christian doesn’t mean we won’t shed tears during our time on earth. However, it does mean that when we do hurt, we do so with the knowledge that our best days are ahead of us and a time is coming when all sadness will come to an end.

Hope is a word that gets thrown around a lot in our vocabulary. It’s not uncommon to hear someone say, “I hope things work out.” Or, “I hope it doesn’t rain on Saturday.” In this context, hope is passive and carries no more punch than wishful thinking. But biblical hope is different than secular hope. Biblical hope means we can have confidence in the future based on God’s promises found in the Scriptures. Biblical hope carries a connotation of confident expectation based on the fact that the God of the Bible is faithful to keep His Word. The writer of Hebrews said:

This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil (Hebrews 6:19).

Each morning, we decide to focus on our circumstances or fix our gaze on Jesus and the promises God has revealed to us in the Scriptures. Of course, from time to time we all get down, and it’s easy to shift our gaze and lose hope. But when we do, we can quickly realign our thoughts and shift our focus back to the truth that Jesus is for us and with us in our troubles.

Where are some places in which you are tempted to place your hope? What changes do you need to make to anchor your hope in Jesus?

06/19/2023

06/19/2023

You know who you are. You have a beautiful heart. It takes strength to allow oneself to feel deeply and love wildly in the world today. Don't ever stop. ~ Gloria* Allure x Alchemy

//📷picturesource Stacey Peters //

11/01/2022

Worry About the Camels, Not the Gnats

It's hard to believe how many denominations and independent churches there are today, yet there's only one Bible, one message. It's evident that God has one thing to say to all people, a single plan for our conduct and relationship with Him.

But over the years, because of our pride and narrow-mindedness, we've felt the need to develop a myriad of churches and church groups, even different versions of the Bible, to suit our own strict interpretations of what we believe the Bible says.

I've come to realize that none of us are 100 percent correct. Most of the things we fight over are petty. In Matthew 23:24, Jesus told the Pharisees that they strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel. They had gotten so picky about the little things, it prevented them from dealing with the things that were truly important.

As long as we allow prejudice, hatred and division to continue to have a place in our lives, we'll be powerless to stop it. Only agreement and unity in the love of Christ will bring the power to defeat prejudice. We can defeat hatred by allowing love to overcome our critical, divisive attitudes toward others.

Prayer Starter: Holy Spirit, help me to not waste my time worrying about gnats. I realize that I must defeat hatred and prejudice with Your love and be unified with others in the body of Christ.

Start or end your day with practical and powerful insights based on God's Word with Joyce Meyer. In as little as 10 minutes a day, this 365-day devotional will help you renew your mind and discover that a life of purpose and passion really is possible - every day!