Holidays and Faith

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

Holidays and Faith | Faith takes a back seat when you get busy, especially during the holidays. This episode explores holidays and faith, keeping God in the forefront—simple ways to get in the holiday mood without taking your focus off of the Lord | #christianpodcast #catholicpodcast #Godandmercy #mercifulGod #FaithfulChristian #HolidaysandFaithHolidays and Faith ~ Episode 278

Faith takes a back seat when you get busy, especially during the holidays. This episode explores holidays and faith, keeping God in the forefront—simple ways to get in the holiday mood without taking your focus off of the Lord.

Thanks to our sponsor, Media Angels, with books for parents and children.

Here are some great podcasts you will want to listen to.

Rejoice! The kingdom of God is at hand. Friends, this is a time for rejoicing even if we don’t feel it. We are being bombarded from every side with personal, spiritual, and financial issues—some insurmountable. But nothing is too big for God, and during this time, when people turn their backs on him, we can still praise Him! When we get too busy, praise Him. When we don’t think we can go on, praise Him!

He is worthy of our praise.

Holidays and Faith Begins With The True God.

I was searching holidays and faith and was shocked by what I found on a popular search engine. The first one was a pagan holiday, and there were two other pagan holidays listed. I clicked the link to see what else I’d find and was sent to a website where I had to scroll almost to the bottom to find Christian/Catholic – Christmas. Seriously? Should I be surprised?  Probably not.

But you and I? We can make a difference, first in our own lives and then in the lives of others. If we were in charge of the search engine analytics, we would ensure Judaism, Christianity, and Catholicism were front and center.

Hebrews 11:1 (Read on air.)

What a wonderful encouragement. We have been blessed! We have been given the most incredible gift: faith in God. We see evidence of this in our lives and the lives of those holy men and women of God whom we respect and admire. For many of us, faith is something we live daily. But when we get busy, we sometimes forget to prioritize the most important thing: our relationship with the Almighty God.

Christian holidays are focused on the essentials of our faith—Christmas centers on the birth of Jesus, and Easter, his death and resurrection. Whatever the holiday, even if it is Thanksgiving or Valentine’s Day we can still pull in the Christian elements. Our faith transcends secular holidays, and we are reminded of the Divine. Especially since we know God is the way, the truth, and the life. He has given us a gift, a priceless gift, and that is faith.

In Romans 21:21-22 (Read on air.)

So, any time we get too busy or overwhelmed, we pray. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.” Right? The key is in prayer with faith. God will hear us always; the answer isn’t always “yes.”

Our state of mind is in direct proportion to our spiritual life. I had to take myself to task about this recently. I was feeling down, overwhelmed and really couldn’t handle the least little thing without extreme worry. I began an internal evaluation.

Checklist of Faith:

  1. Praying? Check.
  2. Attending church regularly? Check.
  3. Thanking God during the day? Check.
  4. Praise and worship music. No.
  5. Spending time with the Lord. No.

I had plenty of excuses, and as I shared on the last podcast, “All in For God,” we need to be done with our excuses. We need to say, “Here I am, Lord!” Amen? I started staying a little later at Mass, praying yes–but spending time in quiet. My mind may wander, but I bring it back to God out of determination. The evil one doesn’t want us to spend any time with God and will put all kinds of thoughts in our heads, even good ones. Yet, we need to be strong, determined, and focused.

During the holidays, things seem to ramp up on our time and emotional well-being. People are either happy or sad during the holidays. People are lonely, or they’ve lost loved ones, and people are overwhelmed and worried about the money they don’t have to spend on gifts. But, if we give some time in prayer to the Lord and spend it with him, enjoying the beauty of the outdoors and seeing the glory of God in the landscape, it is all a way to realize this world is so much bigger than just us.

How do we get to a place to celebrate the holidays and ensure our prayer life is not overlooked? That, dear friends, is up to you. Spend some time and think about what you have to do, how you will do it in the time you have, and what you can cut out. That is one of the most significant dilemmas we have.

Matthew 15:13 (read on air.)

There, we claim hope in the precious Name of God. We ask the Lord to fill us with his joy and peace. We pray that this holiday, whether a major calendar holiday, a birthday, or an anniversary, is filled with joy. You see, joy is a decision. Faith is a decision to accept what is freely given. There are so few things we have control over, yet we do control our minds and faith.

This leads me to our challenge for this week: to be aware if we find ourselves leaving God out of our family celebrations, no matter what the time or the season. Let’s put God first, and everything else will follow.

 

Scriptures of Hope

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

For this last episode of the series on Hope, we turn to God’s Word. His word guides and sustains us like nothing else. I’ve chosen three passages to ponder and I highly recommend you read the entire passage, not just the one verse to get the full meaning.

The Verses

He set me free in the open; he rescued me because he loves me. Psalm 18:20

Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Isaiah 34:4

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:38-39

What is God telling us?

He loves us. And in that love, there is the certain hope that he saves us, protects us, and is close to us. In Isaiah when it says that God comes with divine recompense, this means that our restoration will be beyond our expectations. It is divine and what GOd gives is always more than we expect.
In Romans, St. Paul reminds us that we cannot be separated from he love of God in Christ Jesus.
There is our HOPE!!!!! And, to quote a priest’s homily, Hope has a name. It is Jesus Christ.
I encourage you to pray with Psalm 18, Isaiah 35, and Romans 8:31-39. From those passages, choose at least one verse that reminds you to have hope.
Learn 4 Ways to Pray with Scripture and join the Live Not Lukewarm community!

 

Christian Hope

A Production of the Ultimate Christian Podcast Network.

Christian Hope | What is the difference between hope and Christian hope? Do we hope in what we want, or do we hope in God's will for our life? We explore this theme today. | #podcast #christianpodcastChristian Hope – Episode 109

What is the difference between hope and Christian hope? Do we hope in what we want, or do we hope in God’s will for our life? We explore this theme today.

Hope in Christ – it is already accomplished – God’s will has been done, it is finished. So we can go on with our lives and not worry about anything. Don’t you wish it were that easy?

Our hope is that our “will be done” that God answers our prayers the way we want our outcome to be. Just think about this – it is humbling. We “hope” things go our way.

The Garden of Gethsemane – Matthew 26:36-46

How do we hope in a seemingly hopeless world? How do we hope when we are depressed – lonely – or feel abandoned?

Some pastors teach that if we pray it – believe it – it will come. And if the prayers are not answered, we then lose hope and think the Lord has abandoned us!

Christian Hope – is different. While we hope for the Lord’s will in my life – yet not as I will, but as You will.”  We still hope for the best possible outcome.

As I record this it is 9-11 and it is a horrific time in American history when we had a terrorist attack on American soil. As I listened to reports of what was expected in the death toll from the Twin Towers, the estimates for 14-15K because of the number of people believed to be in the building.

One death is too many, but the numbers were way, way less than was predicted. We read so many miracle stories. We see the hand of God, we see that even those who went to rescue the fallen were never the same.

Yet we continue to believe. We continue to hope.

We read in Psalm 121. 

Romans 8:24-25

We don’t know the answers, but … we read in Isaiah 38:18 New International Version (NIV)

For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

Yet then we read in Lamentations 3:17-20 New International Version (NIV)

Romans 8:23-30

Christian hope is when we read about what God has promised within the pages of the Bible—within the knowledge that God is never changing, within the trust that God never lies—His word is inspired, true and without error.

1 Peter 1:13-16

Let’s Pray!

Lord thank you for Christian hope and the knowledge that when we trust in you our trust is secure, we are confident you hear our prayers and you will answer them according to Your will for our lives. We know we will mess up and only you are holy and worthy of every good thing, yet we love you Lord and we do hope in you. where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth and I am glad and praise Your Name for this promise. Dear Lord, please hear the prayers we ask now and those in our hearts… and I pray this in the hope that is in Christ. Amen.