Song of the Day
“Living Hope” by Phil Wickham
Scripture to reflect upon
- 1 Pet 1:3,
- Ephesians 2:4-7,
- Rom 15:13,
- Acts 4:11-12,
- Ps 42:5 NIV,
Devotional thought
As a Pastor, my job gives me the opportunity to officiate funerals. As such, it is my privilege to help people in their darkest moments of grief and uncertainty to remember that there is hope. I try to do this effectively in anything that I do, whether that is marriage counseling, grief recovery, leading worship, or just random conversations that God sends my way!
Why, because it may be the single most important thing that we have to hold on to when all else fails us! Hope is that essential element of our faith that lifts our heads, gives us enduring strength, and compels us to press in to our God in our lowest moments!
“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope.”
Hal Lindsey
That is why I love that the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is our Living Hope! That means that hope is available to everyone because it is not dead! It is alive and everyone is able to have it freely. God, who calls us up out of our darkness and sets us free, made us alive together with Christ! He fills us with hope everlasting through the salvation and freedom we have when we receive the gift of salvation given through Jesus!
I remember speaking to a gentleman who was upset and told me that he lost all the joy he once had, and he was asking how to get it back. I suggested to him that it wasn’t joy that needed to be his focus, it was hope that he needed to have restored. Romans 15:13 tells us that when we learn to trust in God, the God of hope fills our hearts, and the bi-product of that hope is joy and peace!
So, if you are having trouble finding joy and peace in your life, instead of overly focusing on those things maybe all you need is to refresh yourself in the God who gives us a Living Hope in His Son, through the power of His Spirit!
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
Psalm 42:5 (NIV)
Prayer
God of hope, I give You thanks for providing me hope forever! A hope that is alive and active in my life. I seek You and ask that You will fill me with hope to a level of overflowing, so others will also know the hope that I have in You! Thank You Holy Spirit for reminding me of these things today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
