I Wish You Jesus

Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

This morning, sitting here at my computer with the rain and wind outside, I see so many faces.
Faces that have gone on....
Faces that are still here....
Good stories...
Sad stories...
Some that ended with a "they lived happily ever after"....
Some that ended with a phone call or a knock on the door to tell me that a death had occurred. 
Such is life.

But this morning, when I awoke, I had Scott Brown's song "I wish you Jesus" on my heart. I mean the moment my eyes opened, that song was playing. I haven't thought about it since the early 80's. Kind of one of those things that you file away, thinking it might be useful later on. Well, I guess today is "later on".

How interesting is the way the verse from Romans starts off. Referring to God as the "God of hope."  God doesn't possess hope. God doesn't dispense hope. God is hope. God created it. He defined it. He alone is sole possessor of hope, and when we need it most (which is pretty much anytime) He pours out freely His hope. 

The verse goes on to reveal a double punch of the ingredients of hope. Kind of like a divine recipe for a life in need of recovery. May the God of hope fill us with the two main ingredients: (1.) Joy, and (2) Peace. But did you notice that it said that God would fill us with "ALL" joy and "ALL" peace. Two things sorely lacking in a life devoted to drugs, alcohol and everything dark.  These two wonderful gifts from God actually plug up the spiritual holes in our life so that we don't run after the high. When you have joy and you have peace, you don't need anything else. That is why I wish you Jesus. Because with Him the emptiness goes away. There is a contentment and a satisfaction inside that doesn't need chemicals to alter reality. The sheer presence of Christ in us has causes us to see life as it should be viewed. Through HIS eyes!

This interaction of living with and for Christ teaches us how to trust Him. Needless to say, trust issues are major among people in addiction. We don't trust anyone. Why? Because we don't trust ourselves if you want to get to the bottom of it. We simply do not trust ourselves. So with the interaction and communication going on between us and God, we learn how to walk out the simple things of a daily life without running back to our old ways. We learn that God is worthy to be trusted.

I love the next part. God, who is the God of hope, then causes us to overflow. Isn't that a great mind-image? Us, once empty and dark, now overflowing with hope? That's my God! He never does anything in dribbles and drabs...He is the God who overflows....spills over....splashes on everything and everyone around us. He is not the God of the half-way. He is not the God of the little portion...He is the abundant, give-you-more-than-you-think-you-can-hold-GOD!

And how does God accomplish this? Wait for it......................
By the POWER of the Holy Spirit. God does for us what we could not do for ourselves. He accomplishes it with POWER. How so? Because God IS the POWER greater than our own ability, who can restore us to sanity.

So today....
Saturday, January 11, 2014....
I am wishing Jesus to you....
That you see Him with fresh vision...
You hear Him with restored hearing....
You catch and smell the fragrance of Christ as He comes to you....
That you lay hold of Him, as He has laid hold of you.....

God on you.....
mb