November 04, 2016
It is what sustains the soul. It is the lighthouse in dark storms and the lifeboat in troubled seas. It's what keeps you afloat when issues around you seem overwhelming. Hope.
My grandad used to sit on his porch and in response to some questions would say, ""I hope so,"" i.e., ""I'm not sure it will happen, but I wish it would."" Biblical hope is far different. It is the assured confidence that what God has promised He will deliver. And, our hope as believers is based on the “sure and steadfast” promises of God.
For instance, our eternal hope is in heaven. God has made promises for those who have trusted Him that we will leave this life and have an eternal, perfect, glorious home with Him. It is our confident hope. This hope carries us in this life and is our source of peace during the inevitable ordeal of death.
But it’s possible to have hope available, but not active in our lives. There is a step we must take. We must lay hold of hope. If not, we feel hopeLESS.
Hebrews 6 reminds us of this, and it is something we need right now in the midst of the seemingly hopeless moral and spiritual decline we see all around us in our nation.
""In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."" (Hebrews 6:17-20)
Why do I have hope right now? Because God has made me promises—over 7,000 of them in His Word! I have the confident assurance that, regardless of what happens around me …
Lift up your head today. Take hold of the hope set before you and anchor your soul!
March 11, 2025
God knows what He is about. Always include in your request the greatest prayer—the prayer of surrender. “Lord, Your will be done.” This is the prayer, when humbly prayed, that will always be answered and yield the most valuable result from the God who loves us best ... even if the answer is hard.
March 05, 2025
Every created man or woman must make their choice. What will you do with God? Will you embrace or reject Him? Draw near or run away? Trust and serve Him or doubt God and serve yourself? This foundational choice determines everything.
March 04, 2025
As you evaluate your faith, is it “God and?” God and others. God and the world’s ideas. God and my best thoughts thrown in. God and some money. God and a clear path. Or simply: God. Are you vainly clinging to the idea that you need more than Him?
