TSP DAILY DEVOTIONAL
LOOKING TO JESUS
21st June 2020
Dr. Phil Ransom-Bello
KEY SCRIPTURE/MEMORY VERSE: Hebrews 12:2(NKJV)
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Yesterday we talked about the intentional role the believer needs to play about hope. We saw the passage of scripture in Colossians 3:2 that instructs us to set our hope above, on the joys of heaven not on the things here on earth.
In fact, we must deliberately move our hope to Christ. This is so important because even Jesus our example, at some point needed to have the focus of His hope shifted back to the father.
Using palliative measures when you are sad to get over the feeling or crying it out are just coping mechanisms. How can that be if you know the gospel?
I had to begin training myself that whenever I feel overwhelmed or sad or depressed or dejected that things are not working, I need to just look at Jesus.
That’s how to do it as a believer.
What if you call that confidant and they are not available or aggravate the sadness by the way they respond to you?
To some believers, what makes you have hope is the fact that you have money. How can that be your hope? If funds were to finish now, it will show on your face.
It means you don’t understand the gospel because what the gospel gives is hope of a guaranteed future.
Whether or not there’s money in your account, the joy of the Lord is your strength. You shouldn’t act differently when there’s money in your account from when there isn’t.
Think about it, if all your hope were in money and material possessions, what would happen to them if you were to die? How many things can you go with? Remember the story of the rich man who recorded a bumper harvest to the point of an overflowing barn? He was feeling like the harvest, the barn was all his own and the wealth and plenty crops was His hope. But in Luke 12:20, the Bible recorded that his soul was required of him that night.
And you know, this focus of where your hope is, affects every area of life. Even in your home, put the object of your hope on the joys of heaven, on Christ.
Look, what you are looking for is not what people are looking for.
Someone once asked me, “How are you able to stay content whether you have or not?” and that was my answer. What I’m looking for is not what everyone else is looking for. It’s not the same things.
I can tell what a person is looking for by where he/she puts their emphasis in life. And if it’s not on things above, it means the revelation of the hope of the gospel has not seeped into your heart.
What you are looking for has to be Christ.
Dear believer, let the fruits of the gospel be expressed in you. Let your love be a public fruit for all the saints. Break out from your small clique and let the hope of heaven be what produces your love. It is the objective hope that produces the subjective feeling of hope.
In other words, hope begets hope so let yours do the same.
REFLECTION
Am I looking for Christ or getting carried away by what other people are looking for?
DECLARATION
-I believe in the gospel, therefore the seed of the gospel produces fruit in my life.
-I don’t just know the gospel, I live the gospel. I am transformed by the gospel. The gospel is working through me.
-This gospel produces the genuine markers of authentic believers; of Faith, Love and Hope in me.
-I am constantly thinking about the hope that is ahead of me. I set my affection on things above not on the earth.
-I am looking at Jesus. I am not carried away by what other people are looking for.
-I am deliberate about moving the object of my hope from people and material things to Christ alone.
-The revelation of the hope of the gospel has seeped into my heart. It’s my default response to down times not coping mechanisms.
-I have the guaranteed hope of experiencing the joys of heaven.
Hallelujah!
HEARING BY THE WORD
(Recommended Listening)
Listen to Fruits of the Gospel 2 >> Dr. Phil by The StandPoint Church on #SoundCloud
