When Hope Arises

Do you have God’s hope today – a sense of His goodness and purpose in your life? Or perhaps you experienced His hope in the past, but now your circumstances have left you discouraged and full of self-doubt. Maybe life has been so hard that you’ve given up on everything altogether – or maybe you never dared to hope at all.

Let me assure you of something: God wants to lift you out of the discouragement you’re feeling today. He wants to restore you. Redeem you. He wants to give you the hope and confidence that only He can give.

Before I go any further, take a moment and get quiet before your Heavenly Father. Ask Him to help you rediscover His hope again in your heart – to trust God for His goodness even when you find it hard to trust anything at all.

Remember, you are His child, and He wants to be your refuge. As King David once prayed, “When my heart is overwhelmed … lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2). That’s exactly what God wants you to cling to right now.

You don’t have to scratch your head and wonder where His answers will come from. Christ is the author and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). He wants you to know the blessings of His joy and peace … and He wants you to experience the hope that brings new life in Him … hallelujah.

Hope Restored

I love the story of Jeremiah the prophet, who wept after seeing his beloved city Jerusalem captured by King Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah experienced deep pain and discouragement because he knew his people had rebelled against the Lord and disobeyed His Word. And yet he also saw a powerful ray of hope piercing the dark clouds surrounding him:

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

Can you imagine anything more hope-filled than God’s faithfulness? Even as the prophet struggled to overcome the despair of the moment, he found a way to place his trust in the Lord “because His compassions fail not.”

The same is true for you and me. Because we are undergirded by the hope of God, we can experience His joy … His peace … His power. Hallelujah! Hope is a powerful thing, and through it, we can believe in His miracles and expect the impossible.

I know beyond a doubt that God has a wonderful plan for your future. Yet if you are going through a painful time, it may be hard to trust God to carry you through your struggles. You might be thinking, “The Lord wants me to have hope? I can barely get through the day. How can I hope when everything around me is falling apart?”

My reply to you is “How can you afford not to hope?” Hope is the very substance of His miracle-working power. Hope is where you’ll find newfound confidence in His overwhelming goodness.

Believe me, I’m not trying to lessen what you may be going through right now. I’m trying to help you see that putting your trust in God is the only way you’ll find victory in your life and discover a new perspective in Him.

It’s when we take our eyes off our Lord and Savior that we end up discouraged. We begin to sink where we stand, wishing for a miracle breakthrough because we become distracted by everything around us.

Remember when Peter walked on the water toward Jesus … he had to keep His eyes focused on Jesus to keep from sinking. Everything went fine as long as he saw his master and heard His voice – but he began to lose hope and sink when he was distracted by the wind and waves around him (Matthew 14:25-31).

Like Peter, we’ve all faced stormy circumstances at times. If we focus too much on how bad our circumstances are, we’ll quickly sink into the churning waves. But if we focus our eyes on our Lord and Savior Jesus, we can walk in hope-filled faith above the rough seas.

Stepping Out in Faith

My friend, our journey with God is meant to be an incredible adventure of faith, not a life of fear and heartache. And the adventure begins when you learn to hope in Him and trust Him with all that you have and are.

One of God’s most precious promises is that He will be with us amid our trials. Because of that great fact, we can “fear not,” for He says, “I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).

As David learned … God will be faithful to protect and comfort us even if we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4).

As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego found out … The Lord will be with us even in the fiery furnaces of life (Daniel 3:8-30).

As Peter discovered … We may be shaken by the enemy at times, but God will use such experiences to make us stronger and more capable of ministering to others (Luke 22:31-32).

As Paul concluded … nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Why? Because “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (v. 28).

Remember … He is with you today! Because of His great love for you, He’s promised to “never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He will lovingly carry you safely through your difficult circumstances to a new place of safety and victory.

Heaven Opened

I am not only praying that the Lord will show Himself faithful and true to relieve you of your fears and cares amid life’s battles, but I’m also believing Him to bring you new hope in Him.

John in his revelations saw “heaven opened” as Jesus was about to return (Revelation 19:11), and  I’m convinced God wants to open the floodgates of heaven’s blessings for you!

As you are faithful to Him with your time, talents, and treasures, He promises to “open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10). Not only that, but He also “will rebuke the devourer for your sakes” (v. 11), reversing every negative situation the enemy has brought to your life.

Are you ready for God’s miracle-working hope to arise in your heart today? The One who is faithful and true loves you and is ready to bless you like never before – empowering you with His ever-present joy and transforming you with His love and power.

Your Friend and Partner,

David Cerullo