May 4, 2026; 2 Timothy 3

Daily Dose of Hope May 4, 2026   Scripture: 2 Timothy 3   Prayer:  Almighty God and Risen Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, We come before you today with praise and a sense of awe. Even though you are incredibly mighty and take care of us in such fundamental ways, we struggle to stay focused on our faith.  Help us gather our scattered and distracted thoughts.  Help us take a moment of silence and remember who you are...Holy Spirit, speak to us today.  We want to hear your voice.  In Your Name, Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  We are almost done with our letters from Paul.  What a journey it's been!  I would love to hear what you have learned from these thirteen letters.  We will finish this reading plan on Tuesday, and then go directly into the names of God.  If you were in worship today, I hoped you picked up the new reading plan.  If not, or if you live outside our geographical area, then there will soon be a link on our website and our Facebook page.    Today's reading is 2 Timothy 3.  In this third chapter, we find Paul giving Timothy advice about staying strong in the faith.  The world will always be a source of temptation and evil, there will be false teachers, and there will be many challenges.  He tells Timothy to stay grounded in what Paul taught him and in Scripture.   In order to not be swayed by the winds of the world (no matter what century one lives in), we have to be grounded in God's Word.  God's Word is authoritative and offers us a basic instruction manual of sorts.  While we don't understand every story and verse, there is a purpose for every single word.   Some of my favorite Scripture from Paul is Colossians 2:6-7, So then, just as you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  Just as in Paul's time, the world will bear down on us, providing all kinds of temptations and distractions.  We have to commit to grow our roots down deep into Scripture so that we won't be uprooted and swayed when hardship, challenges, and temptation enter our world.  Obviously, we need to do this as individuals but we also have to commit to do this as a body of believers.  We meet Jesus on the pages of Scripture AND God's Word provides a metric by which we can measure everything in our lives.  It's essential.  Together, rooted in Scripture, we will be immovable.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki