How to have hope despite circumstances
In 1.Corinthians 13.13 Paul talks about 3 things that will remain and one of them is hope. Since there are only 3 things, there must be a real significance in those including hope. Why is that? It is because hope helps us to keep going. Have you ever met a person that was deeply depressed and didn’t see hope, feeling hope again. It changes the perspective of that person and slowly helps them to get out of depression. So hope is really significant. But what generates hope in your life? Is it the moment when you get an increase in salary? When you find out that the worst you thought of was just something small? Is it maybe when a bill was lower than we thought it would be? There are many things in our life that can generate a moment of hope. That is good and we need those kinds of hope boosters, but reality is, that those won’t bring a lasting hope. Have you ever thought about for how long you were hopeful after an increase in salary? 1 month, maybe 2 months? But eventually you come back to square 1 with feeling hopeless because it is still not enough to cover all the old bills as well as the new ones we accumulated.
But when we look at our father in heaven we can actually find true hope, a hope that will not go away. Think about Noah and how he saw the rainbow; that moment was such a huge sign from God for a great hope for the future and gave Noah hope. The hope of God will change our perspective and it will just fill us so much that there are no more places for hopelessness. When we lay our hope foundation in Him it will change the perspective of our life. In Jeremiah 29.11 it talks about plans God has for the lives of his people.
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.
When you look at this verse you see that when we follow the plans of God for our lives they will lead us to a hope and a future. But to find that we need to shift our focus away from the hope boosters and shift it to Him. I’m not saying with that don’t accept hope you get from a salary increase or any other thing, but don’t let this be the foundation of your hope.
Reflect back on your life and see what used to bring you hope. Asses what hope came from God and was lasting and which one was just a short term hope brought in by things. When you addressed that ask God to help you lay a true foundation of hope in your life based on Him. I promise you, it will change your perspective in life.
Hello our friend
We hope you had a week towards many restored relationships. How did the questions from last weeks blog challenge you the most? Share it with someone close to you.
Last week we were teaching in the DTS School which was wonderful. Our hope is that each one of them got a deeper understanding of His father heart for them. Pray that God will keep speaking to each one of them more intimate in the weeks to come. We also had all the normal ministry things going on and it is so great to see how God keeps on working in those. We feel blessed to have a great team of people. Keep praying for a great openness for the gospel in this season to come.
Thank you for joining us in Prayer as well as financially. You are a blessing to us!! May God bless you richly.
Have a blessed week
Markus and Jen