About a year ago Dan Bohi spoke some words that I will never forget.  If you don’t know who Dan Bohi is, I can simply say that he is a man called to live a life of service as an evangelist; a lay person who God anointed and sent.  A man who I call ordinary and uneducated, just like the Peter and John were called by the Pharisees (Acts 4:13).  You just can’t deny the power of the Holy Spirit; whom was on Peter and John, whom is also on display through this one man, Dan Bohi.

On this particular occasion Dan was speaking to only the pastoral staff of our Sandusky Nazarene church.  He was led to speak to us on the topic of hope out of Job 14:7-9.  As Dan made a statement about when our reality seems to be without hope, it is here in God’s kingdom where most of the hope is.  It is in these dire circumstances where the only possible solution is God; it is where God gets all the glory.  Dan went on to say, “I think hope is the most powerful force on the planet.  If you have hope, nothing can stop us.  Faith without hope is powerless.” 

As I was seeking to listen to His voice today I was led to Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (NASB).  We often talk about the importance of having faith, but we must not neglect the importance of first having hope.  If faith is the assurance of things hoped for, then hope must come first.  Let us learn this lesson of having a steadfast hope from the writer of Hebrews, as our God and Father is faithful.  Don’t let the circumstances of life diminish or steal your hope.  Accept the circumstances as your weakness and praise God through them; maintaining the fullness of hope.  It is in this weakness where you should have the most hope as it is here in this weakness where God does His greatest work, for His glory alone.  Let hope arise and your faith increase to the glory of God.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life in hope without wavering.    

There are scores of examples of obedience to the voice of God in Scripture, but one that I have always loved is about a man named Ananias.  What I love about this example is that we really do not know anything at all about Ananias.  We find Ananias first mentioned in Acts 9 and then Paul refers to him again in Acts 22.  This is the only time he is mentioned, but his impact is so important.

We are introduced to Ananias by Luke mentioning in Acts 9 that there was a certain man, a disciple, in Damascus.  Somehow Ananias became part of the larger sect of believers in Jesus in these early years of the church.  Damascus was approximately 150 miles from Jerusalem, so it wasn’t just a day’s walk.  We do not know who he was or what he did as a way of living.  All we know is what really matters; he was a believer, he was a man of prayer full of the Holy Spirit. 

The Lord told Ananias to go to Saul, who Ananias only knew to be a persecutor and enemy of the cross.  In obedience, Ananias goes at once to Saul to heal him and fill him with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17).  You can’t give away what you don’t already have!  Not just that, but we also read that Ananias spoke these words to Saul, “The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth.  For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:14-15, NASB).

We don’t know about Ananias’ life before this instruction to prepare Saul to become Paul, and we know nothing about Ananias life after this moment.  What we do know is that it was Ananias’s obedience to the voice of God that opened up the ministry of the one who would be responsible for writing a great portion of what we call the New Testament and preparing the way for gentiles (us) to receive salvation for sins; for us gentiles to be grafted into Christ to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

My prayer is that you and I be ready and available for that one moment of impact like Ananias.  Be men and women of prayer, seeking to hear the voice of God and then be obedient to what you hear!  I desire to live a faith-full life in obedience to His voice, His word!

Another passage has caught my attention a few times over the past couple weeks.  This passage happens to come from Luke 11:27-28.  This passage takes place while Jesus is instructing a particular crowd about the Kingdom of God being in their midst.

“While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.’ But He said, ‘On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it’” (Luke 11:27-28, NASB).

Often we want to acknowledge and bless individuals based on association.  Typically this is also united to an agenda as we desire also to be blessed by some sort of association.  As we know that Mary was blessed richly for her obedience to God, Jesus’ response to the statement must’ve been as a result of an unspoken agenda.  Jesus didn’t agree that His mother was blessed and then offer correction, but He said, “on the contrary” in response.  It was the direct statement of the most important part of our lives, our obedience to God and His word.  Mary wasn’t blessed because she bore Jesus or because she nursed him.  Mary was blessed because she heard the voice of God and was obedient to what she heard.

This wasn’t the first time Jesus shared these words about obedience when it came to His mother.  Word was reported to Jesus that his mother and brothers were waiting to see Him.  Jesus responded to them by saying, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21, NASB).  It is not about who we know or who we are associated with.  Who your family is doesn’t matter.  What church you attend or what small group you are a part of doesn’t matter.  These all have their place in building us up, but it is not most important.  What is most important is that you hear the voice of God and are obedient to what you hear!  I desire to live a faith-full life in obedience to His voice, His word!