Monthly Archives: February 2015

Dementia & Alzheimer’s: What is the difference?

Alzheimer's Disease

Dementia

Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life. Memory loss is an example.

Dementia is not a specific disease. It is an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.

There are many conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia, including some that are reversible, such as thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies.

Dementia is often incorrectly referred to as “senility” or “senile dementia.” When people refer to it in this way, they usually assume, incorrectly, that dementia and serious mental decline is a normal part of aging. This often leads people to a passive position and belief that nothing can be done. In many cases that is simply not true but leads to the growth rate of dementia.

There are many forms of dementia

  • Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia. At the current rate, 60% – 80% of people with dementia will develop Alzheimer’s disease.

DADS Facts and Stats

Alzheimer's Disease

Beginning Monday, February 9, and continuing for as many days as needed, I will be posting a DADS fact at 2:30. These facts and stats will be related to The DADS Project, which stands for The Dementia and Alzheimer’s Dynamic Saturation Project. This information is gleaned from many quality resources including doctors and professionals I have consulted with and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Why 2:30 in the afternoon?

  • As a reminder that 2/3rds of the people affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s are women. My mother and my mother-in-law had it. Many of you know or know of a person who has dementia in one form or another.
  • In the hope that you might take a couple moments out of your busy schedule each day at 2:30 and pray.
    • Pray for those who are affected by dementia in its many forms.
    • Pray for those who are working around the clock in the search for a cure, a reversal, and a prevention.

Have a great weekend

The Confidence of Hope

Thoughts,

In 1 Peter 3:15 we find these words. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”

The hope that we have in Christ gives us the confidence we need to be able to share our faith. We are able to share and can be ready to share at all times because of the hope that is within us.

Witnessing is a major fear for many people; but it need not be. Because of the work of God in our lives, because of the Lord living inside us, and because of the work of the Holy Spirit, we have a story to tell and can have the confidence to tell that story. Most of us just need some practice and that is precisely what the enemy does not want you do; practice. However, because of the hope we have from God, the enemy’s desires can be thwarted. Today, tell somebody about “the hope that is in you.”

The Hope of His Calling

Thoughts

In these past few days we have been looking at hope as spoken of in the Bible. In Ephesians 1:15-18, Paul shared with the Ephesians, “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

Here again we see the benefit of knowing the truths in the Word of God. By knowing these truths, our spiritual eyes are enlightened to know more than we can know without His enlightenment. Let’s remember this hope speaks of something absolutely certain. This enlightenment also causes us to long for the inheritance we have now; the inheritance we will full appreciate one day.

Paul also included this in the letter to the Galatians where he wrote “For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” The hope of His calling begins with justification at the moment of salvation, continues through our sanctification, and will be completely fulfilled in glorification. We were made heirs of God at the moment of salvation. We have a new ancestry, and a new family. What began at salvation, He is continuing to complete, and will ultimately complete when we are glorified. We see this in Titus 3:7. “That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

In Ephesians 4:4, Paul speaks of “the one hope of your calling” because there is only one way to be saved. All believers have this in common. Our hope is in Jesus and all He has done, is doing, and will keep doing for us. Finally, notice how Paul wrote of this in Colossians 1:27. “To them (and that includes us and all who are saved) God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Our Hope is Sure and Steadfast

Thoughts

In Hebrews 6:19-20 the writer says, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Our hope is sure and steadfast because of our Lord and the truth of the Scriptures. In Romans 15:4 Paul tells us the patience and the comfort of the Scriptures produces hope. We have hope as a gift from God and the more we interact with Scripture the more dynamic our hope.

This hope, this confident expectation, is bound up in the gospel that has been preached and is being preached to us and to everyone under heaven. Today, if you have not acquired this hope, why not acquire it today?

In Colossians 1:3-5, we find that our hope is actually laid up in store in heaven. There we find, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.” Our hope is stored up in heaven because it is in Christ. He resurrected from the dead. He ascended to the Father. He is there making intercessions for us. Because of Him and all that He has done and is doing for us, our hope is sure and steadfast.

The Location of Our Hope

Thoughts

The truth is our hope is in Jesus. In Colossians 1:27 we find these marvelous words. “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” As we see here in Col 1:27, this hope is in Jesus and therefore is in us because we are indwelt with Christ. He is in us and we are in Him.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:3, Paul wrote about patience of hope. In that context as in most contexts when the word patience is used, it refers to endurance. Our endurance to press on in the Christian life is inspired by the hope that we have in Christ. If you will read these words carefully, you will see that once again our hope is most definitely tied to the return of Christ.

We can also say here, Jesus is a better hope. We see that in Hebrews 7:19. “For the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” The writer wrote of Jesus who is our better hope. The idea here is, regardless of what people may put their trust in, Jesus is better.

We also see this in 1 Timothy 1:1. “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.” Jesus is our hope. The fact is Jesus is our hope and our hope is in Jesus. He is the salvation plan of God. He is not one of many ways. He is the way. There is one way; as Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

There is one more item to consider here. In Acts 28:20 Paul spoke of Jesus being “the hope of Israel.” He calls Jesus “the hope of Israel” because Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises to Israel. The location of our hope is in Jesus because our hope is in Jesus.