sharing hope with those in need

It is Sunday night as I write this devotion and share it with you.  Most of you know that I am with a team from The Community Fellowship visiting the Los Angeles Dream Center.  This is an incredible place, and what I must say above all else is that God is speaking.

In the last year God has increased our vision and faith.  We have had the honor of serving maybe as many as 2 or 3,000 people through the ministry of The Community Fellowship.  I am not sure of the numbers, but at first glance that seems a fair guess.  But it is not about the numbers.  It is about the person that each of those numbers represent.

Matthew Barnett from the Dream Center said this today, "Inside our need is wrapped in helping others get their needs met."  I find significance in meeting needs.  I have found that it is easy to share Jesus with the people we are helping.  That is my heart and our call as a church.

But my question is how can we help more people?  I pray that.  I pray it often (will you pray that for our church?).

God speaks.  You know He does.  Sometimes in the Bible or in prayer or in a say or through a friend.  He speaks also with that voice inside us.  I heard that voice again today.  Maybe something like this, "don't tie my hands, don't dream small and watch what I will do through you."  Did yo hear that?  I heard someone say today as well that "if our dream or vision is doable on our own without God, than it is not a God given vision."

I am thinking through that one and humbled by it.  It is my heart cry to see our community and our region touched for Jesus.  He will do greater things than we can imagine.  Here are some of the thoughts that I run through my mind:

Isaiah 54:2 NASB
Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords And strengthen your pegs.

1 Chronicles 4:10 NASB
Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested.

James 1:6 NLT
But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

Ephesians 3:20 NASB
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

Do you hear what God is saying?  He is able.  Prepare to be blessed and to see God work.  Ask Him for big things to happen that will bless people.  Believe God and don't be divided by fear or not trusting God.  Let God work around you and through you.

The big thing for me is giving people something that many cannot give themselves.  It is hope.  Hope for the future like eternity in heaven with God.  Hope for today to live a blessed life.  All that hope is tied up in Jesus.  Often we can share hope when we lift people by serving them.  I have found that to be true.  Have you?  Serve someone today and watch God work.

I cannot wait to see what God does around us in the coming days.  It is going to be incredible.  Share His hope with someone today!

Jeremiah 29:11 NASB
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.