Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

While this wasn't the sermon text for this morning, it was referenced by our pastor. My mind just seemed to grab hold of that thought. The Christ that is in me IS my hope...without Christ in me, there is nothing I can do that is right, nothing I can do that is good enough, nothing I can do that will make a difference. It is only through Christ that I can be called a child of God, only through Christ that I can endure this life on earth, only through Christ that I can be assured of an eternity with Him in heaven. And it is my obligation, my responsibility to share this hope with others...both here and through our mission efforts in Venezuela.

It's amazing how everything I hear, everything I read seems to turn my thoughts to Venezuela. Probably because we are in the "crunch time" for the crusade in January. Our Sunday School director put up a display in our room this morning...a Venezuelan flag and an American flag connected with a row of crosses...depicting what we are trying to do...carry the message of the cross to Venezuela. And he had this written on the board....124 days. No, that is not how many shopping days until Christmas. And it is not how many days left in 2007. It is the number of days until the crusade in Caracas. Then he said...if you cannot do anything else, you can pray for the next 124 days.

That is so true. Yes, we need funds...we need assurance that we will have the stadium...we need other things to fall into place in order to hold a crusade in a city of six million people. But more than anything, we need prayer. And everyone of you who are sitting there reading this blog can pray. So we are asking you...please pray. Scroll through the previous postings and find the prayer lists. There are plenty of things to pray about. Be specific in your prayers...everything from the obvious (open hearts to the gospel, souls saved, churches started) to the not-so-obvious (decent weather, health and safety of team members). There are things that need to be prayed about that we don't have listed, because we do not know everything God has in mind. When we held the crusade in Puerta Ayacucho in 2006, there was a Christian radio announcer who showed up, on his own, driving 27 hours, bringing his own equipment, who broadcast the crusade on the radio for 3 hours every night. We did not know he was coming. The pastors there did not know he was coming. But God knew...God sent him. So ask God to put needs on your heart to pray.

I started out this posting talking about hope, and ended up talking about prayer. I guess they really do go hand in hand. Take from this what you will...it may seem like rambling...but it is what is on my heart this Sunday evening.

God bless you...have a great week!

Diane