Spring of Hope

The book of Daniel is full of stories about how God's servants showed radiance on their face in desolate circumstances. Desolation means a state of bleak and dismal emptiness. Radiance on a person's face brings a ray of hope and purpose in such situations. Daniel prayed to God, “Let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary” (Dan 9:17). Jesus said, "When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains." (Matthew 24:15). The 'abomination of desolation' is mentioned three times in the book of Daniel, 9:27, 11:31 and 12:11. Jews are a group that was persecuted and scattered through history. They were taken as slaves many times to Egypt, Babylon, Syria and Rome. Over one millon Jews were killed by Emperor Titus who invaded in 70 AD. They were scattered all over the earth without a land to call their own. During the second world war, under Hitler's h...

A man went to see a psychiatrist because he was extremely depressed. The psychiatrist just could not get him to snap out of it. So he said to the man, “Tonight I want you to go to the circus in town because they have a clown named the Great Rinaldi, he is the funniest clown I have ever seen. Whenever I go to see the Great Rinaldi it always lifts my spirits.” The man responded. “You don’t understand doctor, I am the Great Rinaldi.” Life is made of joys and sorrows. The saying is that misery loves company and, if that’s true, there’s plenty of company. But the Bible teaches that you don’t have to be a victim. God wants you to have victory over them. We read in all the synoptic gospels about Jesus healing a woman with the issue of bleeding (Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48). She had been in pain for a long 12 years, physially, emotionally and spiritually. She must have been under a lot of physical pain with the loss of blood feeling pale and tired. She definitely had a lo...

A father was hiking a mountain with his 3 year old son on his shoulders. After some time the dad said he was tired and asked the son to get down, to which the boy replied, “You can’t be tired. You’re my daddy!” We all have stories to tell about our fathers, or about being fathers. Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years." Our famiies are facing a great crisis today. More and more fathers are disappearing from the scenes. It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them. Statistics show 1 in 4 children live without a father figure in the household in t...

All synoptic gospels tell the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man who made his way through the roof to get to Jesus (Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke 5). Four unnamed friends convinced the paralytic man that they were determined to take him to Jesus. Imagine how their hearts must have sunk when they saw that the house Jesus stayed was packed with people. Lots of people in town had come there with their sick people and there is no way to get into house, not to mention a man on a stretcher. The men decided to climb up on the roof, break it open, and lower the paralytic down. You can only imagine the reaction of the people in the room below when the pieces and debris started falling on them. Many Christians are oblivious to the damage they cause and the barriers they build. They refuse to think or admit the traffic jam they cause at the doorway blocking others to come to church. Many churches are very supportive to each other and work together shoulder to shoulder and interlocked so t...

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘"Be moved into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says, it will be done for him." (Mark 11:22). Jesus talked to inanimate things like a fig tree, water, waves and wind and they all responded. He wants us to speak to the mountains that may come across in our journey of life. It is not speaking about your mountain, but it is about speaking to your mountain. Speaking about your mountain will magnify the problem in your thoughts and minds. The problem will begin to look bigger and bigger in your sight as you continue to dwell on it. But speaking to your mountain keeps things in proper perspective. Sir Edmund Hilary who was the first man to climb the Mount Everest said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” The statement is a game changer when we approach mountains. Mountains are real and there is no way to hide them or hide from them. Running away from a pr...