A Life of Hope

Hoping?

Zechariah 9:12  NIV 
 "Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you"

I have some questions for you:

What are you hoping for?
What are you expecting in life?
Are you looking for something good to happen?
Are you expecting to be disappointed?
How crooked is your path?

So many people are feeling hopeless these days. However, Jesus did not die for us to be hopeless. He died so that we could be full of hope.

The devil wants to steal your hope and he will lie to you. He'll tell you that nothing good can happen in your life or that the things you care about won't last. If you're struggling with a difficult situation, he'll tell you it will never end. But you have to stay full of hope and remember that the devil is a liar. God can change everything! In snap finger quick time Jesus can turn your whole world around and make your crooked path straight again.

Listen to  these promises:

Isaiah 42:16 KJV
"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them".

Luke 3:5 KJV
"Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth ... "

Isaiah 30:18 NIV
"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him"

The Bible is literally filled to the brim with messages of Hope. Here are just a few:

Psalm 119:114, Psalm 31:24, Psalm 39:7, Lamentations 3:24, Romans 8:25, Romans 15:4, Proverbs 13:12, Psalm 43:5, Psalm 71:14, Ephesians 1:18, Hebrews 3:6, Acts 24:15, Colossians 1:27, Romans 15:13, Psalm 146:5, Hebrews 10:23, Hebrews 6:19, Psalm 52:9, Ephesians 1:12, Ephesians 4:4, Psalm 27:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 6:11, 1 Peter 1:3, Isaiah 26:3, Micah 7:7 ...

And that! is just the tip of so, so many Passages that speak of Hope.

Our Father is good, and He has good plans for your life. If you will maintain your hope, especially in the midst of troubled and uncertain times, He has promised you "double for your trouble" (see: Isaiah 61:7) . So refuse to give up hope. Start expecting God to do something. And that "something" is going to be really, really awesome!

Repeat After Me:

Satan is a liar and we as the many membered body of Christ will not listen to him and lose hope. We fully expect the Lord Jesus to do great things in (and with) our lives. Of which we will rejoice and give thanks!


 

Rain Dancing

Storms in the Valley

II Chronicles 20:15 NKJV 
"And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 

We may not have to fight a huge enemy army as spoken of in 2 Chronicles 20, but every day we battle temptation, pressure, and the ever present enemy Satan, and that can feel just as overwhelming. The enemy wants us to lose every battle that we ever face. He wants us to rebel against God or at least throw in the towel on Him. But what he forgets and we must always remember is that as Believers in Christ, we have God's Spirit in us. If we ask for God's help when we face struggles, God will fight for us. And God always triumphs.

Storms in Life

Job 1:9-10 NKJV 
"So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Satan attacked Job's motives, saying that Job was blameless and had integrity only because he had no reason to turn against God. Satan wanted to prove that Job worshiped God not out of love but because God had given him so much. Satan is constantly and sadly; often accurately analyzing why many people trust in God. Many people are fair-weather believers, following God only when everything is going well or for what they think that they can get out of Him. Adversity destroys this kind of superficial faith. But adversity strengthens real faith by causing believers to dig their roots even deeper into God in order to withstand the storms that spring up from time to time.

How deep does your faith go?
 
Put the roots of your faith down deep into God so that you can withstand any storm that you may face. And then when hard times come - and come they will; the enemy will make sure of that- dig even deeper into God and trust the this very same God that pulled you through the last storm is more than capable of getting you through this one as well.