Hope Is Alive

My message today is to bring you encouragement: hope is alive. Hope comes from God (1) and not anything else!  What do you see with your eyes today (2)? What is your point of focus? Are you looking for hope and living in faith (3)? Dictionary.com tells us that “despair is the opposite of hope”. If you are looking for despair, you are going to see it; but if you are looking for hope, you will see it. You have to see hope with spiritual eyes. These supernatural eyes see beyond your current situation, its turmoil and struggle, and they see your future. Do you have these spiritual eyes? If you don’t, you need to ask God to give them to you. How else can one live above their circumstances (4)? Paul learned to find contentment, while living life on earth and to look to God for help and deliverance. Paul also understood that there are always troubles to face, but with God we can face anything!  Paul also tells us not think it’s odd if trials occur (5). Knowing this FACT helps us to look above and beyond them to the author and finisher of our faith, whose name is Jesus (6).  When we look to Jesus, we will not grow weary and lose heart!  Let’s face it. There is only one true hope, and His name is Jesus (7)!

When the going gets tough, those who are in Christ hope in Him all day long (8). Now that does not mean that one who is a Christian and for a short moment loses sight of their hope and anchor (9), who is Jesus, that he or she is out of Christ’s love. The word reminds us, through the prophet Jeremiah, that we have a hope and a future (10). If we are in Christ, we are in His love (11 & 12). The Bible is clear and states that nothing can separate us from God’s love: not famine, persecution, and or present troubles hardships (13).

The world throws us a despairing message most of the time; but if we are in His word (the Bible), we know and remember that hope is ever present (14) and that devil is a liar (15). Staying in the word helps us  fight the bombarding  attacks we face day-after-day, like a loss of a job, home, a relationship, etc. The devil wants to hit us where he can hurt us the best. But if we stand strong and take heart (16) like Job did amidst his trials or tests (17), we see that in the end, God will restore it all (18). Job knew God at the start of his test, but at the end he really knew Him! Job 42:5 states, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (19). He knew a God that is there no matter what. He was with him in despair and devastation.  Friends, times are bad and the Bible tells us that in the last days it will harder to live (20), but our times are in His hands (21). We know that we have hope because God is our savoir and anchor, but we also know that there is hope as we go through the process. The Bible tells us that we will suffer as Christ did, but in these sufferings comes hope:

Romans 5:3-5 ³ Not only so, but we^[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5:3-5&version=NIV)

There is truly a hope for you in God (22). Hope will not disappoint (23). Hope will come and restore you (24). If you believe in Jesus, you have this hope (25)! If you know someone who is down, please share this info with them. Please lead them to the only one true hope there is!

Footnotes from www.biblegateway.com to ponder:

1.       Psalm 62:5
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

2.       Psalm 39:7
“But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

3.       2 Corinthians 5:7
For we live by faith, not by sight.

4.       Philippians 4:11
I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

5.       1 Peter 4:12
[ Suffering for Being a Christian ] Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

6.     Hebrews 12:1-3 New International Version (NIV)

12-1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+12:1-3&version=NIV

7.       Hebrews 6:19
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

8.       Psalm 25:5
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

9.       Hebrews 6:19
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

10.   Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

11.   Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

12.   Romans 8:39
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

13.   Romans 8:35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

14.   Psalm 71:14
As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.

15.   John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

16.   Psalm 31:24 Psalm 31:24
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.

17.   Job 23:10
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

18.   Job 33:26
then that person can pray to God and find favor with him, they will see God’s face and shout for joy; he will restore them to full well-being.

19.   Job 42:5 ^- My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2042:5&version=NIV

20.   2 Timothy 3:1
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

21.   Psalm 31:15
My times are in your hands;

22.   Proverbs 23:18
There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

23.   Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

24.   Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

25.   1 Peter 1:3
[ Praise to God for a Living Hope ] Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,