Your Friend, "HOPE."

HOPE:

 "A person or thing in which expectations are centered."

"The feeling that what is desired can be had."

It's the most wonderful time of the year... it is :) 
But in the midst of good tidings and Christmas cheer, it's no secret that the holidays often highlight  we've lost and now lack, or perhaps what we want and do not yet have.  And while we know the reason for the season, feelings of disappointment and loneliness still manage to seep their way in. The year wraps up and we're eager to cross over. We rejoice, but we can also be tempted to mull over missed opportunities, unfulfilled longings, and incomplete endeavors. 

You may be hopeful. You may be hopeless. 

And it could actually depend on the day (YIKES! and #nojudgment)..

But, if your hope needs to be steadied and is under attack - and if you've given up parts of your life to whatever may come, I'm writing to fight with you.

You'll need your hope in its purest form and most proper place to keep at life in every season. 
This is a virtue you cannot forfeit..

You'll need your friend. You'll need your HOPE.
HOPE IS NOT YOUR ENEMY.
(It gets better, keep reading!)

 
When HOPE is properly placed, it stabilizes you.   

It may be hard to HOPE when what you desire has not yet manifested -- especially if you haven't seen anything like it for anyone in your life.. but healthy HOPE will pull you outside of what you've known to be "true" and convince you that yes, "what you desire can be had"  as long as you're breathing on this side of heaven.

 If your hope is in a thing, you're in danger, but if it's not, you're safe. 

Seems simple, but sometimes it's not. 

 ...Where is your HOPE?

  I've learned time and time again not to place my HOPE in the frailty of ever changing circumstances - they can bend in my favor or in the opposite direction, but if my HOPE is in God -- who uses mishaps, delays, and trials for my good,  then I am already sustained and never destroyed.  
I am already established in HOPE and not outside of it.

Hopelessness, then, is a trap and a trick. It warps our perspective and wards off solutions.  It impedes progress and paralyzes pursuit.  Hopelessness will suggest there's nothing to live for - and nothing past our limited vantage points. It clogs our creativity & suggests we quit prematurely. It makes temporary situations seem like permanent roadblocks.   

HOPELESSNESS is the result of an exaggerated thought process - one that insists there are dilemmas too hard for God, and this, is not so. 

In Hosea 4:6, God makes a charge against Israel which serves as a warning even until this present day. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." In other translations of the bible, you'll find it says God's people are destroyed for the lack of vision, or for the lack of knowledge of HIM, or because they do not know HIM.

They do not know He's trustworthy. They do not know His nature. They do not know His heart.

If your hope has been waning, can I remind you that you serve the God of HOPE? 

Can I remind you that HOPE originates with Him, and that He is the only One who can do anything with the HOPE that you present to Him? 

Did you know that God, your Father, can fill you with PEACE & JOY as your continue to TRUST and BELIEVE in HIM ... but only by the power of the Holy Spirit? 

How awesome that He would meet your choice to trust with more strength to trust.. 

Romans 5:5 says that HOPE does not disappoint. Perhaps that's because it runs into more HOPE. And more HOPE runs into God. 

 

Perhaps the word  just means what it says :)

That ...HOPE does not disappoint (or) put us to shame, because God's (perfect) love -- (which casts out ALL fear), has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Check it out :) In every version.. It's fun :)

What a bundle |  Perfect Love. Holy Spirit. Worthy Hope. Weighty Hope. Defeated Fears & Assurance -- deep, deep in our hearts.

This HOPE, this outlook, this CONFIDENCE in our Father can actually produce what hopelessness & lack of knowledge tried to strip away.

Your HOPE is vital. Don't cast it away...

HOPE is knowing your God looks out for the one who waits on Him.  Hope is deciding to be that one..

HOPE brings vision.

HOPE morphs into action.

HOPE reminds us that God has no favorites. He loves us equally, yet uniquely. 

He's not a respecter of persons. He just knows what's best. 

He knows when it's best, where, how, and why it's best... whatever your "IT" may be. 

Hope reassures us that our greatest rewards come in God's timing and not our own.

 

Sometimes, in efforts to protect our feelings, we decide not to HOPE. We don't want to be "let down" so we turn our backs & tie God's hands. We are destroyed from lack of knowledge. And it's more than what we know in our minds. What do we know in our hearts?

 Do we know that FAITH is what moves God's heart?

HOPE is not our enemy. And that's hard to hear if we perceive otherwise - but it's true. 

God wants us to HOPE. 

  It's when we misplace our HOPE that it dissolves and has a devastating effect on our lives.   

HOPE will do wonders when we place it in Him.

 Can I encourage you?

"God... made it perfectly plain that His purpose is not a hit or miss thing dependent on what we do or don't do, but a sure thing, determined by HIS decision, flowing steadily from His initiative"

(Romans 9:10-13 - MSG)

No matter where you are in this year end - place your HOPE in God. 

Feeling hopeless? Ask the Holy Spirit to restore your heart to its health..

Know that with your desire to obey God with your life, what belongs to you already exists. It'll just take time, faith and diligence to run into it. And more than a thing or an ideal outcome, know His purposes are good and better than what you could imagine. It's not always about what we want, but rather what He's been cooking up...

Stay on the narrow road.

Don't give in to hopelessness. 

HOPE in the Lord and be of good cheer..

 I HOPE your heart is lighter:)

If this blessed you, share with someone you love ... Be generous. Pass your HOPE around :)

Related Scriptures:

        "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."

                         (Jeremiah 29:11)

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him. 

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." 

(Lamentations 3:25-26)

"Yet now be strong... and work for I am with you," says the Lord of Hosts"

(Haggai 2:4-5)

"And now Lord, what do I wait for? My HOPE is in YOU."

(Psalm 39:7)

"...Now, HOPE that is seen is not HOPE. For who HOPES for what he sees?" 

(Romans 8:24b)