Don’t be hopeless
The rising spate of unpleasant happenings around the world is forcing many people into hopelessness; the times have become so hard that many, including Christians, have no hope for the present or the future.
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul a made a minister - Colossians 1:23
WHAT TO DO WHEN HOPELESSNESS SETS IN
Your current circumstance might look hopeless, but you must remain assured that there is hope for you.
The Scripture expressly tells us that even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.
For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”.
The currency for hope in the midst of hopelessness is the faithfulness of God. If you look to yourself, to others or the circumstance, you might lose hope, but if you look to God and his track record of faithfulness, you would have an anchor for your hope.
When you are becoming hopeless, turn your eyes away from yourself, others or your circumstance, and look to the faithfulness of God. Also, pray that God strengthens your heart to trust in him till your time of refreshing comes.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOPE IN GOD BECOME YOUR REALITY
The scripture is full of God’s promises for us. These promises are a collection of all that God is committed to doing for you as an heir of the kingdom.
When you feed on these promises by studying the scripture, you become hopeful and full of faith, trusting that God will surely do that which he has promised in his word.
God’s promises can make you hopeful, but hopefulness is never the destination. It is God’s desire for us, and our desire for ourselves that we do not hope in vain, but receive that which we hope for.
While the first step to making your hope your reality is studying the word of God, it is not all there is to it.
To transform God’s promises into reality, you need to be awakened to the truth that faith grants us the spiritual right and responsibility to put God’s promises into practice in our lives.
If God has said it, you have the right to go ahead and live it. Just as Abraham did not allow himself to be frustrated because of the inability of Sarah to conceive, you must not be frustrated.
Rather than get frustrated, Abraham became stronger in faith through a lifestyle of praise and thanksgiving.
Forever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven - Psalms 119:89
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb - Rom 4:19-20
As easy as this sounds, it might be impossible for someone who is not grounded in the faith. it is only a well-grounded faith that can lift you out of hopelessness to receive the promise.
Hannah also demonstrated living the promise before receiving it by having a change of countenance after she prayed.
She said, “May your servant find favour in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something , and her face was no longer downcast. – 1Samuel 1:18
IS YOUR FAITH GROUNDED?
Is your faith grounded and settled in Christ? Are you fully convinced that God is able to do what He says He will do? What is that temptation and challenge that is making you feel unsecured and unhappy?
The Scripture reveals that there is nothing you are going through that has never happened before, and nothing is happening that is beyond God’s control and intervention.
Your faith in God and His promises is the key that settles His Word in your life. You cannot truly believe the promises of God until you act upon them in faith.
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead - James 2:17
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith— of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed - 1 Peter 1:7
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it - 1 Corinthians 10:13
DELIBERATE CHALLENGE
You have no reason to live a life of hopelessness unless you have chosen not to believe and practice what the Spirit says through the scripture.
PRAYER
Lord I pray for anyone reading this who has slipped into hopelessness, that your love for them will be revealed anew in their present circumstance and they would be able to see the glory that awaits them on the other side of the challenge they are dealing with in Jesus name.
Do not postpone it any further, it is time to become a Deliberate Christian. A deliberate Christian is one who leverages grace to be and do all that the scripture commands to live a truly Christ-like life.