Tag: hope

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The scripture for today, August 24 is Romans 8:24f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

Cover-Bible Women-Createspace“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Sometimes we go through a period of our life in which it is difficult to have faith that God exists; or even if he does exist, that he cares what happens to us. During those times, we may not be able to have faith. But we can HOPE. We can hope that God exists, we can hope he cares what happens to us. Even the weakest person can hope. And hope holds us until we are strong enough to, once again, have faith.

So the next time your faith wavers (and it happens to everyone at some time in their life), remember, you can still hope.

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The scripture for today, March 25, is Lamentations 3:25 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Sun Rays on Road-green

Notice, this does not say the Lord is good to those who have faith in him. All they have to do is hope he exists and hope he loves them.

Some people have been raised by atheists, or have attended a university where professors criticize theists (believers in God). Or perhaps they have had a major tragedy in their life and can’t understand how a good God could allow that bad thing to happen. Or maybe
they live among people who believe all the gods in the world are the One God, so don’t pay special attention to any of them.

Life can be confusing, so confusing that we have trouble having faith in God. But we can still hope! Keep hope alive. Let the Lord be good to you.

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The scripture for today, February 16, is 2nd Thessalonians 2:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-COVER---Star-Song---flat“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”

How amazing! God, the Creator of the universe, and Jesus his only begotten Son, actually know who we are. If he didn’t, he couldn’t love us. Love is not in the abstract. It is specific. And it is specifically for you.

Not only that, but we are given eternal encouragement. Our friends may only encourage us when we are doing something that would help them. Our family members may encourage us as long as we do something they would do. But God’s encouragement never ceases. It is always there. There when we feel alone, when we feel forsaken, when we feel helpless, when we feel hopeless.

And yes, God gives us good hope. Sometimes things in our life may be going so badly that we have trouble having faith in God. But we can still hope. The candle of your faith may be flickering, but your hope can still be a flaming hope, a large hope, a good hope.

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Sun Rays on Road-greenThe scripture for today, January 5, is Colossians 1:5 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the Word of Truth, the gospel.”

Does your faith have its ups and downs? Is it strong sometimes and weak sometimes? Do things sometimes go so wrong that you have trouble having faith in God? You can still hope. Do you grow angry at God sometimes? You can still hope. During such low times when faith does not come easy, you can still hope. Hope is the springboard of love.

And stay close to the Word of Truth, for John 14:17 says the Comforter is the Spirit of Truth, and John 17:17 says Truth is the Word of God. When your emotions are pulling you down, rely for a little awhile on only your logic, your intellect, until your emotions heal. Some day they will.

So keep on hoping ~ the springboard. And some day it will return to being faith.

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The scripture for today, December 21, is Matthew 12:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-COVER---Star-Song---flat

Revelation 21:2, 9, & 26 says something similar regarding the New Jerusalem which is the Bride of Christ which is the Church:

“The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.”

The nation you live in may not be in good hands right now, or it may be thriving with high morals, or it may be diving into poverty. But your nation can hope ~ hope in Jesus.

Never lose hope. You are just one person, but there is great power in one. Jesus came to provide that hope. In your own way, in your own life, use your power of one. Show your nation how it can hope, how it can have glory, how it can have honor.

The scripture for today, June 15 (6/15), is 1st Timothy 6:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

…which God will bring about in his own time ~ God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords!”

But it’s hard to know just when God’s time is.  You may think it is when an opportunity arises, but something happens and it doesn’t turn out.  So later another opportunity arises, but something happens there too and it still doesn’t turn out.  

This verse can carry you from hope to hope.  Your life is like a line drawn across a piece of paper, and you have to stay on that line.  But God looks down and can see the entire line at once, and he can also see everything going on around you.

Rather than give up on God and decide he doesn’t really love you like he claims, amidst your tears of disappointment, stretch your spirit and praise him anyway.  Acknowledge him.  Then rest until his own time.

 

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The scripture for today, June 11, is Job 6:11 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“What strength do I have, that I should still hope?  What prospects that I should be patient?”

Many people use the expression, “patience of Job.”  But he had on-and-off patience, for he was very sick.  By descriptions he gave of himself ~ sores, rancid breath, low voice, partial blindness, skin turned hard and black, bloating, nightmares, extreme pain, unrecognized by his closest friends, some believe he had a grotesque form of elephantitis leprosy.

What did he need from his friends?  He surely didn’t get it, for they spent their time trying to prove that he had sinned and God was right to be punishing him.  His reply?  “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!  Will your long-winded speeches never end?  What ails you that you keep on arguing?” (Job 16:2f).

So how do we comfort someone who feels utterly hopeless?  We certainly don’t put the blame on them, nor do we tell them it’s “all in your head’ or to “snap out of it”.  We can share times when we felt hopeless.  We can weep with them.  We can hold their hand.  We can sit with them in silence.  We can pray aloud for them.  (Some people have never heard their name mentioned in a prayer.)

And we need to let them talk.  Sometimes they will say things they don’t mean in the long run, but at that brief moment they do.  Or sometimes they need to talk through things they are unsure about.  They may even say contradictory things.

At one time Job said, “Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household… .God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me” (16:7f).  But another time he said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth….I myself will see him with my own eyes ~ I and not another.  How my heart yearns within me” (19:25f)

If you have a very sick friend, let your heart yearn with them.

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