COME! All God asks of me is that I come.  I don’t have to do anything, be anything, or maintain anything.  He does it all!  Matthew 11:28-29 – COME and you will find rest. Revelation 22 – COME and drink of the free water of life.  John 4 – COME and you will never hunger, BELIEVE and you will never thirst.  God understands the depression, anxiety, and fears that I have felt so consumed by in the past and it is entirely acceptable and pleasing to Him that all I feel I can do is COME and cry “my only hope is You, Jesus!”  COME and BELIEVE are powerful words.  Believing is taking on new meaning and becoming real to me.  Recognize that I BELONG to One who is greater than me, who controls every minute detail of my life, who is completely loving, kind, faithful, and trustworthy in all He does, who I can trust with my life today.  I don’t have to be in control, maintain everything, fix everything, or make anything happen.  All I have to do is COME!  Tell Him everything! Engage Him in conversation throughout the day.  He is living and real and longs for an intimate relationship with me.

Exodus 16:9 – God’s goal is to demonstrate His power and proclaim His name throughout the earth.  It is to this end that He allows (or does not allow) things to happen in our lives.  It is all to bring Him glory.

One of the most life-changing experiences I have ever had was when I was a freshman in college and attended a college retreat one weekend at a church in Kingwood, Texas in 1987.  The theme of the retreat was “My Only Hope is Jesus!” and the speaker was a man named Dave Busby.  Dave had polio and cystic fibrosis and later died in late 1999.  Little did I know how much his teaching would impact my life.  He preached on the scripture below from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 2:13  “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” – NIV

He also preached out of the Beatitudes – Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kindom of heaven!    It is the broken, poor, needy – those who recognize their powerlessness and who cry “my only hope is you, Jesus!” who receive power.  There is no sense in “trying harder” – power is only found in the cross.  When we recognize our brokenness and neediness, we set our broken cisterns aside and run to the One who is the fountain of living water, the only one who can heal us and satisfy our thirst!

What broken cisterns have you created and relied on today?  How are they working for you?

Our only hope is Jesus!    It is through being broken and needy that we receive power.  He alone is the fountain of living water!