“Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is the tree of life.” Proverbs 13:12
What is hope? According to Webster’s dictionary, it is “desire with expectation.” We all have different hopes. They might center around our children, our future, our desire to serve the Lord, our health, our finances or numerous other possibilities.
The one thing these hopes have in common is that heartfelt desire that they happen. Some of our hopes are merely carnal, but many hopes have been embedded in our hearts by the Lord.
So we pray – sometimes for years – and often it seems as if the Lord has not heard those prayers. Discouragement creeps in and we start to believe that what we hope for will never happen. We wonder if the situation will ever change.
However, change does occur. As we pray the Lord is changing us! Fervent prayer enables us to focus on His goodness, faithfulness and trustworthiness. Christ focused prayer empowers us – through it we can jettison self.
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We each have gates in our own lives. One of my favorite gates is in the book, 
One day He asked the little girl if she would like to go on an adventure with Him. She enthusiastically responded and asked where they would go. He told the little girl to trust Him, took her hand and said, “Follow me.” 
exquisiteness. It is the exact same web seen from two different perspectives. Webs can be a protection or they can lead to destruction.
Each of us travels through many seasons throughout our lives. Sometimes the seasons are very long and at other times they are short. Often they change even without our awareness of the start of a new season.
As we talked, that young man was able to openly confess and release to the Lord years of hurts and regrets that he had suffered. The pain he carried from the wrongs he experienced as a boy contributed to addictions and emotional enslavement, which had been destroying his life. As he began to expose and gave them to the Lord, Jesus met him in a very personal way.
The Lord knows how to give good gifts. If a son asks for bread, he will not give him a stone.
Martin Luther is credited with saying “in essentials, unity”.
Until White America understands the pent-up frustration of Black America over the suspicion, marginalization and humiliation they are forced to endure from predominately White power structures…
Cynicism and lazy seem to go hand in hand.
Fortunately, following my heart operation and extended hospital stay two weeks ago, several brothers in a couple of fellowships we relate to stepped forward and organized things – including a great cookout.
I felt something stir in my spirit, looked him straight in the eye, and said that was a lie. He didn’t love his son, he loved his drugs more – and thus had not cared enough to be part of his son’s life as his son was growing up. This deeply wounded his son, who felt unloved and worthless because of it – and was now acting out.
This afternoon, I’m driving to Richmond, Virginia, to attend the graduation of a young man I first met in jail years ago. He’s receiving his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, with honors, from Virginia Commonwealth University. From jail to now has been an intense journey as Marianne and I stood with him during the hard times and refused to let him fall through the cracks. Now, we get to rejoice with him as he achieves this major milestone.
Crossroad Junction 