HOPE IN GOD!

HOPE IN GOD!

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 43:5

             What do you do in those times when you might be discouraged?  Do you keep looking at your circumstances that are causing the depression?  Or, do you place your hope in God?  He never changes— “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:7).  He never changes His loving care toward us!  So, why are you cast down?  Why are you experiencing turmoil on the inside?  It is because your focus is not on Him.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ4lAVu9VwU

             Listen, fellow follower of Jesus, brother and sister in Christ, what is the worst that can happen to us on this planet… we die?  To die is to be with the Lord! — “We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8).  Is that our confidence?  Is it our preference “to be away from the body and at home with the Lord?”  Do we have that attitude?  If not, why not?  To be with Jesus is to be “at home.”  We are presently not “at home.”  We are living in a temporary tent—

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. —II Corinthians 5:1-10

             He is the God of our salvation.  Our Hope is in Him.  Our home is with Him.  This is not our home.  These circumstances causing us to be cast down distract us from the hope and home that we have.  It is guaranteed!  So, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

             I remember my dad on his death-bed.  The doctors had given him a week to live.  I had never seen my dad scream out in pain before.  He said, “Oh, why doesn’t He just take me?”  We don’t know the answers to all of our questions.  But in that situation, a supernatural event took place and my dad lived another year and a half.

             Why does our Lord work in some situations supernaturally and not others?  Well, even though my dad was in pain at one point, he still knew who was in ultimate control, even though he didn’t have the answer to the “why” question he had.  His hope was still in God, knowing his home was with Him.  May we “hope in God” in the most difficult circumstances.  Don’t be cast down!

Thank You Dear Father for the hope we have in Jesus, the home we have with Him.  Let us finish the race You have marked out for us in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRSGXKsv7IU&list=RDBRSGXKsv7IU&start_radio=1