Jeremiah 17:5-10 English Standard Version

5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength,    whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come.He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”

A tree that is not fed by the Waters is nothing but a shrub.

Bless us O Lord and plant us by the Living Waters. Amen!

Our only hope is that God’s Word is true and that we stand with God in believing by faith in His Son and the promises the Father has made in Christ. If we are connected, we are blessed. If we trust in our own strength we are without hope.

God knows our hearts and He knows our minds. There is no hiding from the all knowing God.

If we think we can hide from Him we delude ourselves. Fantasies of fantasies is the vanity of man, to think we should find hope in anything except the promises of God.

God provides for our needs not our wants.

How many sacrifices do we have to make to get what we want?

What we do not take into account in those sacrifices are the cost to our soul and this relationship we have with God the Father and Jesus the Son.

Luke 14:27-29 English Standard Version

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

Isaiah 45:21-23 English Standard Version

21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
    Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
    there is none besides me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

The Captain of the Starship Enterprise gives an order to be carried out by uttering “Make it so!”

When we read these verses and agree with God we say “Amen” but what we really mean is “God make it so.”

We do not see it immediately no matter how much we believe, hope and obey. Obedience is the issue here because Christ is the Captain of our ship and when He says make it so, it is up to us to do our duty on the good ship Hope.

There is no higher authority than God the Father who sent the Son and poured out His Spirit upon us.

Matthew 24:35 English Standard Version (ESV) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

John 5:24 English Standard Version (ESV) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Philippians 2:16 English Standard Version (ESV) holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

If we believe it then we must obey. He is the Captain of our souls.