podcast:
https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/1a2fa506/hope-peace-joy-thrive-31
I’m tired tonight, but I feel I’ve gotta get this to someone, simple as it is.
What oxygen is for the lungs,
such is hope for the meaning of human life.
Take oxygen away and death occurs through suffocation,
take hope away and humanity is constricted through lack of breath; despair and hopelessness set in.1
We got nothin if we lose hope.
Thank the good Lord, though - if we have faith in God - we have hope
when life tries us, we need to have the embers of our hope stoked, so . . .
consider this 'stoking':
Yesterday, i spoke of the power of scripture to go straight to our hearts, to penetrate our thoughts and guide us. i know of which I speak; scripture is so far beyond the written word.
Earlier yesterday, I prayed the words of the verse I was committing to memory:
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
Then I rewrote it:
May the God of hope fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in him,
so that I may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yes!
Pray God’s Word back to him, and watch him move in your life.
God is the source of our hope.
When we fully trust him,
he alone can fill us with joy and peace,
And then cause us to overflow with hope!
All because of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
Even when experiencing clinical depression or anxiety, these words are still true,
even when we do not feel them at the time;
Sometimes, it takes time.
But hear me:
God is trustworthy, he is able and he is good.
He is the source of all hope and worthy of our trust.
Only he can fill us with joy and peace
And he oft does it in mysterious ways
Go ahead, write out Romans 15.13 for yourself; carry it with you, pray it.
And to make you smile, look at the hope in this little guy:
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was.
The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind."
"Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged."
"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"
Hang in there ... God has you in the palm of his hand, Friend.2
Christine
1 - Dr. Emil Brunner
2 - Isaiah 49.16