Hope! the antidote to despair

The antidote to despair is hope.

But how do find hope when all you feel is despair? What if you just feel down or blue or just blah for no reason?

HOW do you get back to the place where you recognize HOPE again?

Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

We have the GOD OF HOPE on our side!
We have the POWER fo the HOLY SPIRIT in our corner!

if we BELIEVE

we will ABOUND in Hope!

not just have hope, no, no.

ABOUND in Hope!

Overflow with Hope!
Despair will drown!

by BELIEVING ….

Hope and Faith are connected. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Psalm 43:5 – Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Psalm 62:5 – For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

Psalm 71:14 – But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.

Proverbs 10:28 – The hope of the righteous brings joy,

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Lamentations 3:24 – “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

So choose to believe, choose to remember that God is faithful and He will give you Hope!

Hope as the antidote to despair is part of my strategy for Maintaining Good Mental Health

Jesus, the Bible, Prayer, the Spirit, the Gospel, God – Which is Most Important?

I struggle sometimes when I hear or read from pastors or teachers who focus on just one of these things – Jesus, the Bible, Prayer, the Spirit, the Gospel, God without seeming to want to reveal the importance or relevance of the other pieces.

To me, they are all intrinsically tied together.

There is no gospel without Jesus.

There is no Bible without God.

The Bible is the story of the Gospel, to which Jesus is the central character.

The truth of the gospel comes from hearing the Word, having our hearts opened by the Spirit, because we asked for help in our prayers.
Romans 10:17 – So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

God loves us and all these things are His precious gifts to us.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

He GAVE us His Son, allowed Him to be tortured and put to death and to do battle with Satan so that death could be defeated for us. 2 Timothy 1:10 – but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Then He sent His Spirit, to comfort us, to give us power, to intercede for us.
Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words

He gave us prayer as our communication tool.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

He gave us His written word.
Preserved over 1000s of years, revealing His ultimate plan and covenant with us. The whole of the Bible reveals His truth and his covenant with people.
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

They are ALL intrinsically connected.

I think God gave me a passion for His word and I’m so thankful. It’s part of my personal gifting in my love of words and books. My love language is words. But that doesn’t mean that I should value God’s Word over prayer, or over the message of the gospel, or the help I receive from the Spirit, or God’s faithfulness.

In the same way, someone may have the gift of evangelism and is passionate about spreading the gospel.
Another has the gift of intercessory prayer.
Someone else has a heart for the poor.

While we need to follow our God-given passions and gifts, I believe we need to be wise and prudent showing respect for others gifting. We need to always bear in mind the big picture of all His tools and gifts.

Put on the Armour of Light

Romans 13:12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

I’ve been studying in 1 John 1 this week and learning about walking in the light and came across this verse in Romans about putting on the armour of light. I like the picture of that in the context of keeping away from the darkness and keeping the dark things of the world at bay.

Can Christians stop being hypocrites?

Why is the word ‘hypocrisy’ almost perceived to be synonymous with Christianity?

Why does it seem like Christians are some of the most judgmental people on the planet?

And what can we do to change this?

How can Christians hold each other accountable in a way that is mutually up-building rather than judging?

Paul says in Romans –
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:19

We must pursue what makes peace.
We must pursue things that are mutually up building.

It can be really difficult within the Christian culture, within our small groups, and Christian circle of friends to really refrain from being critical and judgmental to each other.

I have been struggling with this for some time, and I really needed to ask God to search my own heart. And be warned when you ask this of God!

Although well aware of my own imperfection, He showed me an or area of our life which has the potential to be a stumbling block for others.

Romans 14:13
Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

Paul is saying this like – let US stop judging people FROM NOW ON.

It’s like he’s saying we all do it, but can we JUST DECIDE TO PUT AN END TO IT?!

Does it matter if someone believes it’s ok to have a beer in the weekend, and another doesn’t, or another friend practices yoga, and another allows their teen to wear short skirts to church, or picks up groceries on Sunday or downloads music or tells a little white lie here and there?

I think this verse sums it up nicely.

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. Romans 14: 22

These are the kinds of things to keep between yourself and God, and your friends’ faith is between them and God.

Testing what is good and acceptable and perfect to God.

I spoke about this to my quizzers last week as we are currently memorizing Romans 12.

Romans 12:2 says ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing, you may discern what is the will of God. What is good and acceptable and perfect to God.

And even though I am sure that they had all heard the whole ‘do not be conformed to the world’ sermon before, I wanted them to know HOW they were supposed to go about being transformed, having their minds renewed and testing what is God’s will and what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I told then that this was their formula for testing

Testing * (Praying + God’s Word) = Discernment and Knowledge(God’s will, Good, Acceptable, Perfect)

And since they are memorizing God’s Word, they have a distinct advantage.

When I read something or hear something, even if it is from another christian, I can test it against what I know from memorizing God’s word, and I can pray.

These are iterative processes:

– being transformed – constantly
– the renewal of your mind – daily
– testing – does what I read or heard line up with God’s Word – over and over again
– Discern – pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern – constantly

In fact, this is the process Martin Luther went through when the Spirit led him to discover the truth about being saved by Grace.

‘Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, “Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory,” in order to confirm what he had found.”‘ (Richard Bucher,Martin Luther’s Love for the Bible”)

These processes (‘running through the Scriptures from memory’ along with prayer) will help you answer the following questions:

– what is God’s will?
– what is good?
– what is acceptable?
– what is perfect?

(April 10, 2014) Edited to add
If you are looking for more help on How to know God’s will for your life, I highly recommend Sean McDowell’s post ‘How Do I Know God’s Will for My Life?’