Happy New Year: Entering The New Year With Hope In and Waiting On The Lord!

Read: Romans 5:2-5, Romans 15:13, Psalm 42:11, Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 10:23, Psalm 130:5, Isaiah 43:19.

Let me be one of the first people to wish you a Happy New Year!!! 2018!

I wanted to thank you for the privilege of serving you in 2017! 

As we close out 2017 and look forward to all that God has in store in 2018, I wanted to share a brief encouragement with you. 

Throughout 2017 God has repeatedly reinforced the importance of Hope grounded in Him as well as the importance of waiting on Him! 

He is our strength and hope and His hope doesn't disappoint! 

"Hope that is grounded in Christ is like a candle burning brightly as it brings light to the darkest of places and the darkest of circumstances." -Randolph Koch

Never lose hope as He is on your side!

Furthermore, in regard to waiting on Him...In the New Year may you make it not just another a goal but may you make it a priority to wait on The Lord!

Include Him in all your goals, plans, dreams and priorities! Don't try to "get ahead" of The Lord! Wait on Him to move forward seeking Him with all that is within you! 

No matter what circumstances you face, may you be filled with great hope in Him and may you look forward in optimism because you know The One Who is your strength and holds your future in the palm of His hands!

As you enter the New Year, may you hold onto hope and may you experience joy, happiness, success, confidence, good health, prosperity and great faith! May you seek Him daily with everything that is within you! 

Let's also purpose to pray for one another in these areas and more and may we pray that God will continue to work in and through us for His Kingdom and Glory!

Please know that I'm here for your encouragement, prayer and more! 

Don't hesitate to let me know how I can be of encouragement to you in the New year and if you have resource or other ideas, please let me know as I aim to create new and meaningful content to serve and build up the Body of Christ. 

Please also remember me in prayer as God guides this ministry regarding what He wants to do through A Shepherd's Heart. Please pray for His wisdom, provision and direction. 

Have a wonderful 2018! Have a hope filled New Year! 

Warmest regards in Christ,
Your Brother and Servant,

Randolph Koch
 Founder and Servant-Shepherd of A Shepherd's Heart

Share this image/encouragement with someone today! Encourage them to Hold onto hope!

Merry Christmas From A Shepherd's Heart!

Hello and Merry Christmas!

I pray that your Christmas celebration is filled with the joy and hope found in Christ!

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and most of all for allowing me the privilege of serving you this year!

This Christmas I'm looking forward to the blessing of spending time with family and friends celebrating the Birth of Jesus!

As we all celebrate, I'm reminded of this great truth from Roy Lessin: 

God Sent Us A Saviour
If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
so God sent us a Saviour.
-Roy Lessin

It's so encouraging to be reminded that God, in His wisdom and divine plan, knew exactly what we needed and loved us so much that He sent Jesus because we needed Him, The Savior! 

Jesus came from heaven to earth, lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cruel cross for mankind, rose from the dead winning victory over death and now is seated in heaven!

May we never forget the deep truths of Christmas as well as the truths beyond the manger!

As you celebrate, here's a little Christmas gift from me to you, I wanted to share again a recording of the Luke account of The Birth of Jesus again from Luke 2:1-35: https://soundcloud.com/user-335546274/the-birth-of-jesus-luke-21-35

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Your Brother and Servant,

Randolph Koch

Please share this imaged with the above encouragement with others! 

Recapturing The Awe and Wonder of Christmas!

Read: Luke 2:1-38, Matthew 18:2-4

Christmas...

It's supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year or so the songs say and for some it truly is while for others...it's a very hard time of year for various reasons.

Christmas for children can often be sort of a "magical" time filled with fun, awe, wonder and excitement. If you're an adult reading this right now, you may remember those times of life and maybe you've lost that sense of childlike faith, awe and wonder?

The truth is that kids don't tend to over-complicate things like adults do sometimes. 

They don't run everything through "adult filters" whereas we've let many things cloud our vision when it comes to celebrating things such as celebrating the birth of our Savior. Even knowing the truth regarding the true meaning of Christmas from God's Word, we can allow the things of life and even some of the trappings of the season to distract us and steal some of the joy we used to have. 

Christmas Gift Suggestions from The Giver of Good Gifts!

Read:  Galatians 5:22-26

Christmas is the season that is often called, "The Most Wonderful Time of The Year" when we celebrate the birth of Jesus and hopefully a little peace on earth and good will toward all mankind as well!

I really enjoy Christmas time! I enjoy going to Christmas concerts...watching Christmas movies...enjoying Christmas music...enjoying Christmas goodies...enjoying Christmas decorations and giving gifts (not that I'm always organized in advance and kind of a last minute shopper...yes I am one of "Those". Lol) and there's much more that I love about Christmas!

The problem though is that I find that we can get so caught up in the trappings of the season to the point that sometimes we focus on the gifts we can give or receive or maybe even the activities of the season and we forget The One Who is The True Gift Giver. 

As a follower of Christ we exchange gifts with one another because God first gave to us in the first place through Jesus' arrival that we celebrate during Christmas...The most important birthday ever!!

May we remember that God is The giver of good gifts! 

Hold Onto Hope!

Hello! 

Wanted to to share a 60 second video encouragement with you about hope...God's hope! 

Please play the above video or check it out here: https://youtu.be/kNb9S4K1BC4

Hold on to Hope!

Blessings in Christ,
Your brother and servant,

rlk

P.S. If this video was encouraging, please pass it along and if you'd enjoy more video encouragements, please let me know!

Cultivating An Attitude of Gratitude

Hello,

For those in the USA, I wanted to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

No matter where you call home, I'm thankful for the Lord and you! 

For all of us - no matter where we live, I pray that we truly cultivate an attitude of gratitude all year through and below are two brief encouragements related to having a mindset of thankfulness, gratitude and praise!

Also, check out this brief video prayer of thanksgiving unto the Lord via Instagram or Facebook:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbz4v5Dj3v
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeartofAShepherd/videos/1781204878620045/

In Christ Alone,
Your Brother and Servant,

rlk
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Gratitude Part 1: 

God is worthy of your praise, thanksgiving and devotion!...and His love endures for you endures forever! 

He is worthy of devoting your life to Him serving Him with a whole heart, mind, soul and spirit!

When you pray...praise and thank Him for all that He's done and all He continues to do in and through you! 

Praise Him through every season! Through the seasons of peace and the seasons of storms.

Don't wait for holidays or some other special occasion to praise and thank Him! Make it a habit and again as I've shared before...have an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude! 

When you take your first breath in the morning and open your eyes...breathe out thanksgiving to Him for life and a new day to serve Him! 

Never stop singing and speaking His praises! 

____________________________________________________

Gratitude Part 2:

God is worthy of your praise, thanksgiving and devotion!...and His love endures for you endures forever! 

 

He is worthy of devoting your life to Him serving Him with a whole heart, mind, soul and spirit!

 

When you pray...praise and thank Him for all that He's done and all He continues to do in and through you! 

 

Praise Him through every season! Through the seasons of peace and the seasons of storms.

 

Don't wait for holidays or some other special occasion to praise and thank Him! Make it a habit and again as I've shared before...have an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude! 

 

When you take your first breath in the morning and open your eyes...breathe out thanksgiving to Him for life and a new day to serve Him! 

 

Never stop singing and speaking His praises! 

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Choosing To Live Significantly

Read: John 15:5, John 15:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Ephesians 2:6, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 3:12, Philippians 4:13

On some level, we all want to be significant. We want to feel valued which in and of itself, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as we don't pursue it or live it out in an unhealthy way.

With this, we can often struggle with feeling insignificant or unworthy, and more. You may struggle with feeling insignificant at times as well. You are not alone...the world is full of people searching for significance and struggling with the very same things.

Unfortunately, some confuse significance with fame or popularity which it is not. They identify their worth by what they do or accomplish. In addition, some want to seek fame …the next viral video or YouTube. Some feed on how many “likes” or followers they receive on social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

Some will also try to bring you down and make you feel that you aren’t important, worthy or worth something…but as for you...hold onto God's truth and don't believe the lies spoken to you or that you speak to yourself!