Amazing Grace

Towering introspection is often the product of failing to reach certain invisible but tangible expectations we have of ourselves, others and life in general. For Christians, many still live with 'Law Consciousness' as the means of measuring their worthiness without truly understanding that 'Christ was the end of the Law' and has opened up a 'new and living way' through the finished work of the cross!
Unhealthy degrees of introspection based on 'point scoring' (or 'own goals'!) against some performance code we imagine God to have, leads to a privatised outlook on life that is bereft of sowing ourselves into the 'field of the world' as the 'good seed' that Jesus the 'sower' has declared us to be! Dizzying degrees of self-analysis, God questioning and the vacuumous effect of introspection are right where satan 'the enemy of our souls' wants us to be! They produce man-consciousness rather than God-consciousness and narrow vistas of small thinking that renders faith like a box of wet matches.
The drive for 'success' has been instilled in us from infancy. Society is built upon it. From prize-givings to beauty pageants to the selection of teams in PE class, all of us have at times felt the need for affirmation and 'success' crushed, leaving us feeling like 'also-rans'
Until the last number of years, much of Christian ministry was also founded for me on the faulty foundation of worldly success psychologies, that is until God allowed me to experience a sense of 'failure' often enough and 'delay' long enough to know that something was not right here in my 'cause and effect' lens for the Kingdom of God. Surely if the inputs were high enough into the systemic nature of ministry that sub-consciously we had understood then the outputs would role down the production line. Not so.
It has only been experiencing the sheer power of God's Grace and love inspite of my weaknesses and sins that has taught me that its less about us than I had at first understood.
The connection between our achievements and perception of success can be a self-limiting factor that sets the barometer for our inner world. If we are accomplishing and doing great then we feel all the more loved, but when we aren't we can feel alone and unloved. Experiencing failure may seem like a horror show when it happens but on reflection I am learning to see that there is something much more precious at stake than the performance based litmus test. Failures in and through our lives can be the door to experiencing and dispensing new levels of God's mercy and Father's heart - and all that inspite of us!
When you experience a sense of failure, as I have often done, please understand that God does not reject you. Thats what puts the 'amazing' into Amazing Grace (how sweet the sound that saves a WRETCH like me!) So often we have thought if only I could be better, do more, have more to show for my effort THEN I would be valuable and significant. Dear friend, that is not so. The cracks in our squeeky clean and 'together' lives are testament to the fact that we are not the finished article nor should be spend our lives expecting to be either. That is too exhausting. Grace will lift you. Our need of God is based on humility. Humility deveops through failures and delays along the rough-road of life. As His light shines through those cracks in the armour of our not-so-perfect lives then let Him love you anyway, because that love was never based on your virtue in the first place. Its Amazing Grace.
JS

God's remedy for the worry and anxiety prone

Ireland in 2011 faces a huge uphill struggle on a few fronts. Unemployment, rising levels of debt, negative equity, marital disharmony and breakdown, depression, Governmental failures, to name but a few. However, even in good times it seems like circumstances are not the only factor that affects one's outlook on life.
Sniffing out as yet non-existant potential pitfalls or negative outcomes on the horizon is a common characteristic of perceived wisdom amongst some of types of people. Some make a career out of squashing almost any shred of hope or glimmer of possibilitarianism out of life. Even when things look bright and rosy its almost as if this mind-set refuses to enjoy the moment, seeing it as weakness given the looming dark shadows of expectation that always seem to overshadow the present. With this mind-set a constant restlessness exists from the uncanny knack of turning positive situations into a bitter struggle for survival, a 'battening down of hatches' approach in case we 'get ahead of ourselves' and end up more disappointed in the end. A sorry way to live life.
Not all the worry prone are so dramatically negative though! Others just live with a low grade and ongoing gnaw of stress and anxiety. In this type of mentality there is no deep-seated negativity just a deficit emotionally that comes from feeling overwhelmed by the barrage of plates that need spinning, bills that need paying and expectations we place upon ourselves (or live under) of how life is supposed to be, and the sinking sense that we are not quite 'making it' or must always be 'doing more' to succeed - a vacuumous demand upon the human soul.
The portion of Scripture below was spoken by Jesus to teach us that there is a Father in Heaven who is NOT detached and discompassionately removed from His children here on earth. God sees and knows whats going on in our hearts and the practicalities of our lives. Not only that but He wants to Father us through this situation as a God of immense love. He sees the pain of the mother with an autistic child, He is touched by the pain of a bereavement, the loneliness of a divorcee, the helplessness of the indebted and poverty stricken and the agony of the sick and infirm. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, having lived amongst us but now ascended to the Right Hand of the Father (a position of honour and authority) is also 'touched with the feelings of our infirmities'. He is touched by your pain, confusion, worry and whatever else that describes the turmoil of the human heart and mind at any given moment. Touched!
Jesus provides a simple but radical cure to the disease of worry, stress and anxiety. It involves getting to know God as your Father, not only as some 'Higher Power' amongst the clouds! Jesus was speaking to His disciples and interested parties about the key of logical thinking. He describes how His Father looks after the sparrow and clothes the lily of the field and rebukes them for their lack of understanding and TRUST for imagining that He would treat them, His children, any less than one of these. This was a common ploy of Jesus. He uses here an argument from the lesser (sparrow) to the greater (us) to show the folly of imagining that He as our Father would desert us or withhold the provision of a loving Father!
Worry and stress by and large comes from a lack of trust in God. It means we have not yet learnt about His faithfulness, or have perhaps forgotten it. In many of us there is a default setting that tends us toward worry and anxiety as part of a 'coping mechanism' Unfortunately this is a reversal of how God intended for us to cope, by relying upon him and letting Him achieve in us and through us what we could never do in our own strength. This is NOT a vote for laziness or carelessness, that is not what is intended here by me, or by Jesus. This is about really believing in and relying upon our Father in Heaven for our lives here on earth.
Why not test this out? Allow God to reset your worry default (if you have one) and learn to live by faith and not by mere natural instincts. That is the way of PEACE and the fruit of handing over the ultimate control and provision for our lives and hopes to the Father!
Any comments?

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Mathhew 6 (Jesus Christ)

Personal insights on 'Handling the emotional component of being involved in ministry'

* Its a Theological issue - What goes on in my head and heart is largely the key to walking in emotional freedom or stress. I have found that there is a large difference between truth we have heard and truth that resides in the inner sanctum of our lives. As a deeper Theology of Assurance and Inheritance has grounded me in a more profound trust there has been MUCH less room for worry and anxiety, the ugly sisters of leaking emotional tanks.

* Its a success issue - our whole view of 'success' has needed to change. Deep in the heart we need to make the transition from 'God writing our story' to 'us writing His story' and the journey into this is inevitably through trials and delay. Its the best thing that could ever happen to us. When we find our 'success' in God Himself and trust at a deeper level, joy and peace replace Arminian drivenness - a relentless inner unrest that is an emotional slave driver.

* Its a people issue - ministry is about people and building lives, team, reaching the lost and so on. For me knowing how to 'switch off' and relax, and rest in the perpetual 'unfinished business' of lives and church 'in process' has taken time and is again related to a deeper trust. Handling criticism is another big one and living free of people's moods and 'issues' with us at times has meant that we sleep well, fret less and laugh more. Relational disharmony is highly draining and learning greater honesty, confrontation and listening skills has helped to reduce 'passive aggressive' and unsettling escalation of disharmony. We must learn aswell to live well in our own 'shoes' and not live under our own or other people's comparisons of ourselves.

* Its a lifestyle issue - I have found the following important: rest, protecting a day off, having good holidays, having a date night with Ali and building our marriage is VITAL to emotional well-being, good sex life in marriage is most helpful to our emotional state, taking exercise and keeping in shape helps how we feel about ourselves, getting enough sleep, eating well and general health well-being, Having a hobby and enjoying a glass of wine and fun with friends is necessary to avoid constant intensity and being drained. Laughter breaks fear.

* Its a Spirit issue - quite simply the anointing of the Holy Spirit breaks 'yokes of bondage' of our lives. Emotions get damaged in this trench warfare. I have had to work hard (and still do) to maintain a decent prayer life and enter the 'rest' of God. Entering the 'santuary' of God (Psalms 73) also brings proper perspective to us amidst unsettling emotions and helps ground us in the Sovereignty of God that brings peace even amidst temporary 'defeats' and choppy waters.

* Its a friendship issue - I have found this vital. Having friends that we can be real with and who don't judge us for opening our 'under-bellies' has been a key to remaining emotionally stable. Ladies in particular need this but so do men! Laughter and the joy of friendship is deeply therapeutic to one's emotional state, I believe.The opposite of this is just bottling things up inside and leads to harmful repression of emotions that will one day mount up to the point of breakdown unless dealt with.

The tussle for transparency

"Peace, peace, when there is no peace" — Jeremiah 6:14

"MINISTERS ARE FEARFULLY GUILTY if they intentionally build up men in a false peace" Charles Spurgeon.

Read more in his 'Blast of the Trumpet against False Peace'

www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0301.htm

Cards on the table, none of us wants to be labelled as the insensitive fundamentalist screaming down a loudspeaker to some poor defenseless bystander!

When I first arrived in Dublin to establish a Gospel frontier post(and in the process a church) I made the point of telling everyone I was from Co.Derry (we never called it Londonderry!) and that I was not a 'Paisley type' bigot or narrow minded sort! All true, but the point was that we live in a country blighted by religious stereotypes the perceptions of which had left me back-footed trying to explain what I 'was not' rather than what I am and believe. It takes time to establish trust and I hope that has happened...and that I too have grown up to be less 'perceptions' conscious and more God conscious, less of a man pleaser and more of a God pleaser!

Spurgeon's trumpet blast here is an outcry against Christian people, especially leaders, who have believed the Gospel and received Christ as their Saviour but do nothing to challenge the religious stereotypes of people around them....and in doing so leave people with 'false peace'

Religious stereotypes are nothing new. Jesus had to face them from Jewish leaders who refused to listen to his truth claims and rejected Him for who He truly was ('the Saviour' sent by God to reconcile men to God) This is a great tragedy that continues to happen in our day. Rejecting Jesus' truth claims, hiding behind stereotypes and a 'form of godliness' but denying the need for a truly God saved and tranformed life leads to current and eternal separation from God (in a place that Jesus called Hell) - and dare I say it, a wasted life.

I'd say thats a tragedy worth getting brave for, persevering with stereotypes for, and laying our lives down for.

WWW.SOUTHCITYCHURCH.ORG

Mary in proper focus

Thank God for Mary, the mother to Jesus, who conceived Him by the Spirit and carried Him to birth, brought Him up, fed Him, clothed Him and no doubt performed so many normal motherly functions for Him...God chose to incarnate the Son of God as a man and to have Him born in the normal way, conceived in no ordinary way...So today, I want to honour Mary, to remember her and to thank God for her and for how she endured scorn, shame and the loss of a son on the cross...all for the Kingdom of God, quite a load to carry and from what we know she carried it well!

What a pity though that myths about Mary have been allowed to develop through church tradition that elevate her to a superhuman level and actually rob her and us of the true story of this humble servant - somehow in this there has been a sad loss of 'proper focus'. Mary is not God nor a deity of any form, nor can Mary answer prayers - according to Scripture. The Bible teaches that 'there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ' (1 Timothy 2v5) Mary should be respected but the Bible gives us NO indication that we should ever pray to her or put our trust in her to help us out through interventions while we are alive. Repetition of 'Hail Marys', according to the Bible, are a waste of time and would surely cause Mary great distress if she were not enjoying the perfection of Heaven too much at this time!
Another myth about Mary, apart from her supposed ability to 'answer prayer' is the proposition regarding her 'perpetual virginity', even as a married woman! This is surely a complete myth developed on the back of dogmas developed under Plato's influence centuries ago by 'theologians'. The notion of Mary ever having had sexual relations with her husband has been rejected by a sector of the church because of philosophical reasons. This is the same logic and dogma that has left priests unable to marry in one major denomination and see what effect that illogical and unnatural imposition of philosophical belief upon God's divine order has brought about! Enough said. Mary was a normal woman, a normal wife, who went on to have other children. She was created as a sexual being and was a normal married woman no doubt in this regard. There is NO need to believe otherwise! Just because Jesus was immaculately conceived should not in any way presuppose that Mary had a restraining order from above imposed upon her to make her chaste. Oh what unnecessary foolishness. The final part of the 'dirty lens' that needs wiping regarding Mary is the dogma regarding her own immaculate conception. No! The very point Jesus chose to belong to a family of no great social standing or means, and to a teenage unmarried virgin - was that He is a God of GRACE! He chooses the weak and ignoble things of this world and kisses us with His favour inspite of these traits! One of Jesus' ancestors was a harlot called Rahab, David was complicit in murder, Abraham had betrayed his wife on fear of his life...should I go on? It is WRONG to think that Jesus had to belong to a 'perfect' mother, who is some super-sanitised otherworldly demi-God. The whole point of God's redemptive plan was to visit a guilty world in love. To visit the poor with the riches of His glory, and Mary was an ordinary young lady who was chosen, in no small measure for her 'ordinariness' I believe. She was chosen because she was chosen not because she was 'worthy' of being chosen.

Why pick a fight on this you may be asking? Well, this folks is important on a few levels. Twisting Scripture is never clever, creating your own dogmas and church tradition as authoritative on a par with Scripture is toxic and warned against by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. My main point here though is simply this. Mary was chosen by God to carry the Lord of Glory in her womb because she was chosen, and because she was a normal 'imperfect' sinner. Yes, Mary too was a sinner. This only elevates my admiration of her. Imperfection rather than perfection seemed to qualify her to carry the Lord of Glory!
Lets see Mary through the lens of what is historically accurate and theologically sound. Lets admire her for her ordinariness and yet outstanding qualities of character. Lets resist the faulty premise that Mary needs to be 'elevated' to some other-worldly status and assigned the qualities of a deity type figure. She does not. Grace means we get what we DON'T DESERVE not what we do deserve, Mary must be longing for this to be revealed in relation to her own story.

The same is true for you and I. Resist the false teaching that claims you have to 'clean up your own life' in order to be saved by God. Resist the lie that you have to 'prove yourself' in order for God to accept you. No, the cross of Christ is the proving ground! Even our righteous acts are like 'filty rags' before God, in light of His holiness and glory. No. Accept your ordinariness. Accept your ignoble lineage. Accept your sinfulness and need of a Saviour. When you have done this, you are ready to believe upon Jesus in a new way, in a way that makes you desperate for His Grace, His blood for your sin, His life for your death, His eternity for your lostness.

Thank God for Mary, today I celebrate and honour her - mother to Jesus, and am so grateful for her life and example and thank God that He uses and accepts the weak and ordinary people of this world for His extraordinary and powerful purposes!
JS

The Myth of those who ‘believe’ and those who ‘don’t’

There is a myth that 'believers' are only the ‘religious types’! We are of course all 'believers', it’s just that we may believe contrastingly from one another. Every one of us has a worldview, a grid through which we view the world and its affairs, matters of faith or the absence of it and so on...
However, lets hold it a minute because we all put our ‘faith’ (trust) in something don’t we? Oh, I know you are now feeling like I am trying to corner you and most certainly are considering switching to read something less in your face, I understand if you do as there are moments for everything. If however, my deliberate play on words causes even a modicum of intrigue, then I invite you to read on.

None of us live in a vacuum. We have all had our ‘lens’ misted’ by something. The relativist tells us that ‘all roads lead equally to Rome’, the moralist that life’s deeper meaning is too mysterious and that all that really matters is being a good citizen and decent human being.

None of these thoughts developed in a vacuum.

Even Kevin Myers, the gnarly social commentator (Irish Independent) recently admitted in his column (September, 2010) that the opponents and detractors of protagonists of ‘Creationist’ views of the world’s origins (‘Intelligent Design’) are way less credible than the views of their ‘fodder’! It takes someone as ‘worldly’ as Myers at times to get people to sit up and ask some serious questions of what we believe and why we believe it.

The Biblical expression of how to interpret God's place in the affairs of His will can be summarised in the word Sovereignty. God being a Providential God who has ultimate control and power over His creation but has refused to harness the creation in a tight fisted grip of robotic dictatorship. No, the ultimate accolade we can give God is simply to recognise and respond to Him as He truly is, not because we have to but because we want to. That was the ‘risk’ of a Sovereign God granting human freedom.

Common worldviews or faiths that many hold in differing measures, even sub-consciously, in our day:

1. Atheism – the belief that eminates from evolutionary theory, that there is no God or higher power. Remember Atheism is surely also a ‘faith’ in something, even if it leads to a ‘faith in nothing’!

2. Polytheism – the belief in many gods or higher powers. Hindus’ pay homage to a host of gods and idols and may at times offer worship to one in order to appease another. Some Christians have suggested that idolatry is no less prevalent, albeit in a more sophisticated form, in 21st Century western society, a problem God lambasted Israel for in the Old Testament writings!


3. Deism – a belief in God that is based on reason based on nature and science. Sees the universe like a machine, believes in God but as a distant and remote being who is not involved in earthly affairs. The Bible and Christianity in general are based upon God having revealed Himself through Jesus Christ, to witnesses, in His Scriptures (inspiration) and so on. Deism refer to any ‘revealed religions’ as they call them, as ‘superstition’, including Christianity.

4. Astrology – star signs etc given a platform of inspiration and guidance from ‘other-worldly’ cosmic sources. Witchcraft and Satanism are also faith based practises active today.


5. Chance and fate – many believe in ‘Murphy’s law’, some in a haphazard ‘happy-go-lucky’ way, others have a deeper sense of ‘Fatalism’ which can have a more sinister effect on people’s lives. Even religions such as Islam and Christianity can be steeped in fatalism eg. The will of Allah as a carte blanche statement following events, Hyper-Calvinism which has twisted the Bible’s teaching on pre-destination and given it a fatalistic bent.

6. Relativism - a common post-modernism, that there is no such thing as absolute truth, that it is a subjective matter. In this case there is no one way to salvation for example, no one God to believe in, we can all chose our path, take whatever medecine 'suits us'. According to the Christian worldview this makes a mockery of the work of Christ on the cross as the only means of salvation.

7. Moralism - this puts faith in man's own 'goodness' and worth. It involves measurement against some subjective perception of right and wrong and often comparison against others, as the means of 'righteousness'. Many from nominal Christian backgrounds base their lives upon such assumptions. Again, the work of the cross is side-lined under such a view.


These are just a few of the worldviews that shape what people believe today. Even if a person wouldn't label themselves as belonging to any one of these ideologies (or others) it is most likely that there are at least trace elements or in some cases dollops of some of these influencing worldviews. Everyone believes in something, no one exist in a vacuum, my question is:
Do you believe that what you believe to be real is really real at all?
Jesus Christ spoke plainly of Himself. He said, ‘I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No man may some unto the Father but through me’

This was an exclusive claim. He came to bring salvation to a world of all kinds of worldviews. Many rejected Him and continue to. Is what you believe to be true still really true to you, or true at all?

Any comments?

Compassion in your gut

Brendan Manning tells a story about going to down to pray for a dying man in hospital. The man's 35 year old daughter had come to his house in tears because she had three times asked her Pastor if he could go down to do the same, three times he agreed, but three times got side-tracked in busyness and administrative duties and forgot or overlooked this most urgent and vital of pastoral duties. What a tragedy!

God is a God of compassion. He is surely longing to release His compassion upon a hurting and broken world, through us his 'compassion bearers'. Are we too busy or distracted or discouraged to notice what is happening around us? The flicker of sadness in an eye, the depth of despair or loneliness in a look....do we have eyes to see and ears to hear what is happening around us, or are we too self-involved to notice? May it not be so Lord...

The Gospels record that Jesus was 'moved' with compassion. Not only was he 'moved' with compassion but he allowed the compassion to 'move him' to take action, and bring healing and comfort and dignity to the broken and shamed. The original word for 'moved' is rooted in a language that is literally - a pain or wrenching deep within the bowels and gut! Now that is graphic and descriptive alright!

Brendan Manning offers this stunning but most provocative challenge to all believers of the goal of our faith being to be expressed in love and compassion. I leave you with the quote and may God meet you today in your need and out of the comfort you receive cause you to be a blessing to the hurting and broken. God is love.

Quote by Brendan Manning,

"You are never more Christ-like than when you are choked with compassion upon the brokenness of others"

Any comments?

A prophetic word given by Ali Shiels March 2010

Prophetic Word – Arise Dublin March 2010
Ancient Wells Prophetic word:

The following word was given at an 'Arise Dublin' meeting and was sent around the Arise Dublin network at the request of the Arise Dublin team:

While worshipping, the Lord showed me a picture of Ireland, and dotted all over our nation were WELLS. The Lord showed me that these are Ancient wells…. Wells that have been dug by saints of old.
But as I looked closer, the Lord showed me that the wells were stopped up. They were filled with grit and sand and mud…… where once pure fresh water flowed, now the water was stagnant, and dirty and not flowing.
The mud I believe symbolizes TRADITION, RELIGIOSITY, and SELF!!
The mud symbolizes where we have clouded and ‘dirtied’ the pure fresh water of God, by living lives that have been focused on SELF, on chasing after the things of this world, and not after Him…….

Then the Lord showed me that the time was now upon us, where He was going to unblock and unstop those Ancient wells. Where once again, the fresh pure water of God would flow through our land and wash over our land bringing new and fresh water to a thirsty and dry nation. As I looked, the wells did not just begin to flow, but the water EXPLODED up and out of the wells (much like when we strike oil, and the oil shoots up meters into the sky), and flowed out through the streets….. I saw clean, pure water flooding our streets and flowing through this city and this land……..

I believe that the Lord is encouraging us, that we have served him in a time of drought, and have proven faithful, but that now a time is upon us where we will experience an ABUNDANCE of His Spirit, where thirsty hearts and lives will ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. It is a time of REFRESHING for the church in this nation. A time where we will begin to reap from the foundations of the wells that were dug hundreds of years ago…….

Ali Shiels (South City Church)

Beyond Hope Deferred

A Proverb of Scripture says

'Hope Deferred makes the heart sick'

Every one of us knows that horrid feeling of deflation where hope seems to have ebbed from our souls like a sagging party balloon. From being over-looked when teams are picked in the play-ground, the teen-age crush turned heart-break, a redundancy that comes out of left-field - 'restructuring' - a recessionary term that classically understates the trauma caused, to the greatest diappointments life can throw at us - marriage dreams shattered, tragic deaths...the list goes on and on. The potential for 'Hope deferred' seems endless.

Bill Johnson has described the HOPE God gives as 'the soil faith grows in'. It provides the necessary spiritual context for faith to take root and grow . Clearly despair is metaphorically soil that has gone toxic, the heart has grown sick as hope has been deferred.

Hope is the light that shines the way ahead for us. The Bible portrays many promises that seem utterly elusive amidst 'wilderness' experiences of utter despair and darkness.

History tells us that God is not a God though of heartless and tantalising mirages

but rather a God of substance,faithfulness and justice who is true to His Sovereign plan even when life appears to take detours and descend into dark times.

Many are indeed experiencing those 'dark times' in our times where 'Hope deferred' has made their hearts sick. Its a horrible place to be in. The Gospel is Good News and is found in the Person, the Hope of the Nations, the Promised One, Jesus Christ. The Gospel by definition is hope for the hopeless and in this more than some 'comfort blanket', but more substantially - mercy to the undeserving, Grace to the lawless, all because of one PERFECT SACRIFICE for sin.

Any of us who regard ourselves as followers of Christ are supposed to be the mid-wives of this hope into the world, ambassadors of another kingdom. For this to happen, dear friends, let us throw off the chains that bind us, and drink the delights of our God, even in tough times, that will help make sick hearts rejoice! Look beyond the mists and drunken confusion of your own disappointment and hope once more...its Christ in us that is 'the hope of glory'

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Romans 4v18