HOPE
“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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you. You will seek me and find
me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
Life is hardly perfect, is it? Families are torn apart by all sorts of tragedies. People lose their jobs. And the list goes on. In the seemingly wild and fast paced world
you probably live in, sometimes you might wonder, is there any hope?
Maybe things in your life are going pretty well right
now. Your parents are seemingly great,
your children are turning out even better than you planned; but you have this
deep-seeded feeling that something is missing.
You can't put your finger on it, but it is just an emptiness that never
goes away. Do you ever wonder if there
is any hope or meaning in this life?
Hope. It's a little
word but with big meaning. It can make
all the difference in the world about your life. What is hope anyway? Maybe it is an expectancy of something better
that's going to happen. Maybe it is a
longing for a new day or a way out or even a way through. No matter how you view hope, God knows and
understands. No matter what kind of hope
you need, God already knows that too.
Hope. It's what God
wants you to know that you can have. He
tells you in Jeremiah 29:11-13 (written above) that not only does His plan give
hope; but that God is hope. Read these
verses above. Then, look at it piece by
piece and see if you can figure out what God is trying to say to you.
God's plan
gives hope
God made you and has a plan for your life
Can you even believe it? God has a plan for your life. It is not a plan that is the same for
everyone. It is a separate plan that He
designed for you alone. Oh, the plan
that God has starts out with some basics, but each plan has a little different
twist to it. Think about it this way,
most of your neighbors probably go to the same few grocery stores. They will likely all come home with food in
the basic food groups. Yet, if you were
to look in each pantry, you'd see lots of different stuff. It's the same way with God's plan. There are some basics but it looks a little
different and God knows the recipe that each one needs to make it a perfect
plan for that person.
In Jeremiah 29:11, God says that He knows
the plans he has for you! Wow! To think that God has a plan for you might be
a whole new thought! And, to make it
even better, God says that His plan is to prosper you and not to harm you, to
give you hope and a future. So, throw
out all those thoughts you may have had about God that make you think that He
is out to get you. This verse clearly
states that God wants the best for you.
He wants you to do well. Now
"prosper" can be a little confusing if you are thinking in physical
terms because God is thinking in spiritual ones. Of course, He wants you to do well but this
is not saying that He wants you to be rich.
He knows there are much more important things in life than having things
or lots of money. No, God desires that
you have the best that He offers and does not want anyone or anything to harm
you…His precious creation! He wants you
to have hope! And what's more, He wants
you to know that you have a future here on earth as well as in heaven. Not only does God love you, but He also
adores you enough to help you with your life on a daily basis. Look at these verses in Psalms 139:13-16.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me
together in my mother's womb. I praise
you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I
know that full well. My frame was not
hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together
in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days
ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16
Read that last line again.
God has your days all planned out for you. That means that you still have choices with
your life but that He has a direction planned out. He even knew you before you were born because
He decided just how He would fashion you.
So, it is no wonder that there is hope for you …the Creator of the
universe not only made you but also knows what will make you happy and desires
that you have a wonderful hope-filled life.
Hope is found in God
Hope can come from a lot of different places. Hope can come from just anticipating an event
or even from something much more important like finding hope in what your job
will be.
"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes
from him. He alone is my rock and my
salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he
is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in
him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is your refuge. Selah." Psalm 62:5-8
When you acknowledge Him alone as your salvation, the Word
of God says that He will be your hope and that you cannot be shaken. Oh, you may feel shaken and bounced around a
bit, but the good news is that it won't have a lasting effect. You can depend on Him as your secure and
mighty rock, your very foundation for all that this life on earth holds, as
well as the life to come. The Bible says
to pour out your heart to Him and trust in Him.
When you do, He is your refuge and you can hide in Him.
Trust
in Christ brings assurance
When you give Him your heart and your trust, then you do
have that assurance to know that He will always be there for you.
Trust in God brings hope
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
How do you trust in God, you say? You do this by placing your life in His
hands. It means that you trust Him
enough to be the boss of your life, as well as save you. Think of it this way, it's just like a little
girl who jumps in a pool and trusts Daddy to catch her. She knows he will and won't let her
drown. God wants you to trust Him. He knows what the best plan for your life
is. It would be harder for an adult to
jump in the pool and believe that someone would catch her. That's why the Bible says to come as little
children.
"And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you
change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven." Matthew 18:3
Most of you still want to hold on. God tells you that He is the God of
hope. When you trust in Him, He fills
you with joy and peace. When He does,
you then overflow with hope because of the Holy Spirit that is now living
inside of you. Yes, trust in God brings
hope to life.
Hope leads you to Christ
Therefore, since we have been justified
through faith, we have peace with God through your Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2
When you hope in God, He shows you what
His Son, Jesus Christ, did for you on the cross. God sent Jesus to die for everything you
ever did or will do wrong. He was the
perfect sacrifice for your sins. And
because of Christ, you can now come to God because you have been made right or
clean or holy. Now that is hope! You can then have the peace and hope that is
offered. And you can rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God your Father in heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Christ brings assurance
And this is the testimony: God has given you eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. He who has
the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in
the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal
life. 1 John 5:11-13
What an incredible passage this is that is
found in 1 John. Because of Jesus, you
have eternal life. That means that when
you die you will go to heaven and live forever.
You can have everlasting life because of Christ. The writer, John, wants you to know that if
you believe in the name of Jesus, you can have this assurance. Basically, if you really trust Him, then you
never have to doubt your salvation. And
certainly this gives you hope in life!
Call
on Him
The real hope begins when you call on God through
Christ. You call to God by talking or
praying to Him. Look at what God says in
the verse following:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will
I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Wow, what a promise.
God wants you to call on Him by praying and seeking Him. And when you do this, God hears your prayers.
Call on His personal
name
Your God is a personal God.
You call to Him by praying to the Father and through the Son. In other words, you pray to God and in the
name of Jesus Christ. You see, God sent
His personal Son to die on the cross for you and He has a personal plan for
your life. Your name is important to you
and to God. He wants you to call on His
personal name.
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
Only in the name of Jesus is salvation found. No other name is the right name. Some have trouble understanding this but
God's Word is clear. God sent Jesus to
die on the cross, not someone else. And
Jesus is still alive. Christ is the only
way you can get to God.
Pray and talk to Him
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great
and unsearchable things you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3
Why do you have hope?
You have hope because the God and Father of all desires to commune with
you. He is waiting for you to call
Him. His line is never busy, He never
puts you on hold, the voice mail never picks up, and He is never out of the
office. Not only is He always available,
but when you take the time to call, He tells you great and mighty things that
you would not know any other way. He
gives you secrets to survival in this life.
And my friend, that is hope!
