Help! I Need Hope Now!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of
peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Do you feel like the person in the picture at the top, right—adrift and going under in a dark and stormy sea?
Have you thought that maybe you are that person and don’t even know it?
I have heard it said that any area of your life where you have lost hope is an
area you have believed a lie.
How could someone say that?
What does it mean?
If you have lost hope it is because you have lost hope in the object of your
hope. Maybe you had hoped in your skills, or your money, or your good efforts,
or your looks, or your willpower, or in the goodness of man, or in some
universal energy, or ... you can fill in your own blank. All of these will fail
you because, apart from God, there is no good, nothing perfect, nothing worthy
enough and dependable enough to put our hope in. Certainly, if you are deeply
honest with yourself, you know that even you can’t be depended on at all times and in all things.
But, that doesn’t mean we are to be without hope. The Apostle Peter wrote to believers in Jesus,
“always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope
that is in you...” (1 Peter 3:15). Clearly, there is a hope available to us, that can dwell within
us. The Apostle Paul wrote to believers in Rome, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you
may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13). You see, you and I are not meant to be without hope—we just need to have the right object of our hope.
When I was in the military I deployed in to Panama shortly after the United
States went in after Manuel Noriega in 1989. I spent two months as a Cavalry
platoon leader in the jungle looking for remnants of his forces and for
criminals who had taken over in different areas. Officers were normally only
issued 9mm pistols—a cap gun compared to the AK-47 machine guns some of the people roaming around
had. This was totally inadequate when we had to dismount from our HumVees and
sweep a riverbed. But, I ended up with a 12 guage shotgun loaded with magnum
rounds. This shotgun could sweep out anything it was pointed at with a terrible
force. Behind that shotgun my men and I were very bold.
What was the difference in my boldness from a 9mm pistol to a 12 guage shotgun?
It was the object in which I depended. When I depended on the pistol it was an
unsettling feeling in the face of what was around me. But when I depended on
the shotgun there was a confidence that little could shake. I had not changed,
but the object I relied on had.
This is why, as a Christian, we can say, if you have given up hope in an area of
your life, you have believed a lie. This is because our hope should not lie in
anything but the all-powerful, all-loving, awesome God of the universe. Stacked
next to Him there is nothing that can rob us of our hope. Now, of course, He is
not going to bless our “hopes” for things that don’t please Him...but He doesn’t leave us throwing random darts at a dart board of life either. As a Christian
His Spirit dwells in us, leading us in to all truth, showing us His ways.
God has a plan for you, and in Jeremiah 29:11-13 He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of
peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon
Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and
find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” God is good, and He has plans for you! He is the perfect Father. You may not be
able to relate to a good father, but Jesus said if we have seen Him we have
seen the Father. And Jesus loved, He forgave, He was gentle with the sinner, He
healed all who came to Him, He set from from Satan’s hold all who were brought before Him. That is the Father, lived out and
portrayed through the Son! Don’t judge Jesus or the Father by others like hypocritical Christians, or abusive
or absent dads. Judge Jesus and the Father by Jesus. You will be excited by
what you see!
The problem with the whole thing is that we are separated from God. All of us
have sinned. Just look at a few of the Ten Commandments. If you have ever lied—you are a liar. If you have ever looked at someone in lust, Jesus says you are
an adulterer. If you have ever taken anything, no matter how small, you are a
thief. If you have ever had anger in your heart toward another, then Jesus says
you are a murderer. How many of us aren’t lying, theiving, murderous adulterers? And that’s just four of the Ten Commandments. And God says that if we have broken even
one of His laws we are guilty of them all, and the wages (the earnings) of our
sin is death. In fact sin is, truly, any part of us that is not of God or that
does not glorify and represent God. Our sin separates us from God and it gives
Satan (a very real being who the Bible calls a thief and a murderer who has
come to steal, kill, and destroy) a legal right to our life.
Is there anything in your life that has been stolen, killed, or destroyed?
So, where is the hope in all of that? To be forever separated from the God who
made and loved us, and to be the legal target of the destroyer...it doesn’t sound too good. But, it’s not the end. The hope comes in what we call the “Gospel” or the “Good News” of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s Son, and also fully God. About 2000 years ago He came to earth and was born of
a virgin. He lived fully as man and He lived a sin-free life even though He was
subject to the same temptations and weariness we are. Jesus was murdered by
being nailed to a cross. Still doesn’t sound like “good news”? Well, it is. Before He died the Father placed on Him all the sins of man—past, present, and future—and since Jesus was completely innocent, completely undeserving of death, He
could die for those sins...as a substitute for you and I and the death we
deserve for our sins. On the third day He rose and the Bible says He made a
spectacle of Satan and Satan’s hosts. He rose with power and victory—the grave could not hold Him!
The Bible tells us that all we have to do to receive forgiveness for our sins is
to believe in Jesus as the Son of God who came in the flesh, to believe that He
rose from the dead, and to ask Him in to our lives as Lord and Savior. That
decision will, the Bible tells us, produce fruit and change in our lives...but
that “work” is the result of our change, it doesn’t cause our change. When we receive Jesus we are completely forgiven and the
Bible says that our old self is dead. We are “born again” as a new creation in Christ, and we are adopted by the Father as one of His
children! We are new, clean, forgiven, and then we are comissioned by Christ to
go out, in His authority and power, and to show Him to the world, living as He
lived, doing what He did, and sharing the news that set us free with others!
Colossians 1:13 says that Jesus, “...has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love.” This is what happens when we receive Jesus. Our sin is paid for and Satan’s legal power (right/jurisdiction) over us ends and we are transfered into the
kingdom (reign/dominion) of Christ...of God! We have a new authority in our
life, a new purpose, a new source of life and joy...and we have eternal life
with Him in heaven as opposed to the eternal separation with Satan in Hell that
we were bound for! This is Good News, and it is security! The Bible says that
nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in/through Christ
Jesus! Nothing! Born again to the Father! A new, clean person! Forgiven the
darkest of sins and thoughts (some of the greatest heroes of the Bible were
murderers or cowards or adulterers!)!
I know this is a lot to absorb, and yet it is such a little bit of the Good
News and hope found in Christ for us, no matter our past or present condition!
In God is found a hope that does not fail, and Jesus says that He is the way to
the Father, as well as the truth and the life, and that no one comes to the
Father except through Him. Won’t you come? Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the
door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” He is knocking. Will you open the door? He stands with power to heal you inside
and out, to set you free from chains that bind you, to give to you forgiveness,
cleansing, hope, meaning, security, joy, peace, purpose, and the greatest love
the world will ever know! He made you. No one knows you better than He does.
Inside and out. He invites you to the life of faith—the life of living with your eyes and life and hopes and expectations anchored
on Him and the unseen truths rather then the things you see around you.
In Christ’s love,
Erick Reinstedt
Pastor, True Life Christian Fellowship
You can find a simple description of man’s separation from God and how to mend that by asking Jesus in to your heart at http://www.stepstopeace.com. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you ask Jesus to be your
Lord and Savior!
Illustration Credits:
Satan and the Christian in the bubble clipart plus girl clinging to cross
clipart courtesy of ChristArt. Type or paste www.christart.com/clipart in to your browser.
Verse clipart courtesty of Fill the Void. Type or paste www.fillthevoid.org/clipart/free-christian-graphics-main.html in to your browser.
