Praise God. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.
Friends, we are all Pilgrims of Hope. As pilgrims on our journey towards eternity sometimes we need a little help. There is nothing shameful in asking the right one for help.
For our journey, God has given us all the help we need. He gives us scripture as our map, prayer as our guide, and Jesus as our compass. Jesus points us to our goal.
But most of us don’t think we need a map. We don’t need a guide. And fewer and fewer people are looking to Jesus as our compass.
It’s the same in everyday life. Just ask a married couple.
A man is never going to ask for directions. A man feels he doesn’t need a map. Every married couple knows that in a good marriage a man’s wife is his guide and always with him. Most of the time he does not listen to her.
It is the same way for people in their life of faith.
People will not study scripture. If they study scripture, they find it confusing. They won’t ask for help. Instead, they go into the world lost and confused.
Others take their ideas, thoughts, and circumstance to the map of Holy Scripture. Still, they can get lost, because it doesn’t show them to where they think they should be. Their minds are full of earthly things.
Applying scripture to your live is not wrong. There is nothing like Holy Scriptures to guide us. Scripture feeds us, comforts us, and encourages us. Scripture is alive even in the modern world. It is the inspired word of God.
Like Abram, God’s will is part of our life. The OT prophets gave the earliest maps to those seeking the love and action of God. The NT writer show us to the one who is the compass point of this map, Jesus Christ.
Holy scripture is a map for our spiritual growth so what we say and do is in relation to God’s will. Scripture reveals our sin to us. It calls us to confess it and turn away from it.
But, it is God’s will not ours. God’s will is not whatever we make it. It is the love of God in this real world, saving God’s real people.
It is not wrong to apply scripture to our thoughts, life, and circumstances if we have a guide. That guide is prayer. Through our prayer, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, comes upon us so we can follow God’s will.
As Jesus prayed, He showed the power of faithful prayer.“Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying, his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.”
Transfiguration is a powerful image of how prayer can transform us. Jesus, on the mountain, praying, is transfigured in the glory of God. The Transfiguration marks a turning point in Jesus’s ministry.
Prayer is the turning point in our lives. Prayer changes things! Prayer doesn’t change God. Prayer changes the one who prays. Through our prayer, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, comes upon us so that we can follow God’s will.
Through our prayers, we are changed. Our prayers are the beginning of an understanding of the map of truth for our lives found in the Holy Scriptures. Our prayers are the ultimate realization of the compass that points us to eternal life, who is Jesus Christ.
Jesus, dressed in dazzling white. Emmanuel, God is with us.
Friends, our future and the future of others depend on our prayers and the decisions we make. Reach out to God through Christ in prayer. Prayer changes our lives and the lives of others. Prayer can change the world through the change that comes to us.
God has given us a map in Holy Scripture. He has given us the guide of prayer and Holy Spirit. He points us in the right direction through his Son, Jesus Christ.
When we pray with holy scripture, God reveals his will for our lives. “What God says to us is full of living power….” (Heb 4:12).
Pilgrims of Hope stand firm in your journey. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. Pilgrims of Hope changed to more fully reflect the image of Jesus Christ himself.
Through scripture, prayer and Jesus Christ, God never stops leading Pilgrims of Hope on their journey towards eternity.
Be good, be holy, and proclaim the Hope of the Gospel by the way we live our life and love one another.
Praise God, praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever. Amen.
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