May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Three
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4: 16).
This is no complaint, but those who have been blessed know it is a summary of aging. Well, the part regarding “our outward man is perishing” no matter how much we exercise, what skin care is used, or how many vitamins we take age wins out. Can I get an “amen?”
However, there is another part of the verse noting a victory we can win if “we do not lose heart.” That is our part. Belief goes before hope springs forth. Don’t lose heart!
If most of us were objective we would look back and conclude these words from “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” by Isaac Watts speak truth:
“Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.”
“Lose heart” means to be exhausted, spiritless, or weary. We all are challenged at times not to lose heart. It is then spiritual attributes are the only thing that sustain us.
To lose heart is to grow fainthearted to the point of giving up. Luke 18:1 says, “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Two antidotes are noted thereby. Prayer is an expression of hope. Offering a prayer indicates hope in the answer. Who wants to snivel and grumble in God’s presence? In talking to Him evidence your hope His answer will afford your need.
The second antidote is to “not grow weary in well doing.” As best as you can, stay busy in doing constructive things. To gain strength helpfully reach out to others in need.
During a flight from Portland, Maine, to Boston, pilot Henry Dempsey heard a noise at the rear of his small aircraft. As he went to investigate, the plane hit an air pocket, and Dempsey was tossed against the tail section. The rear door had not been properly latched. As it flew open, Dempsey was sucked from the jet. When the co-pilot made an emergency landing, they found Dempsey holding the outer ladder of the aircraft. Somehow, he caught the ladder, held on for ten minutes as the plane flew 200 mph at 4,000 feet, and survived the landing. It took several minutes to pry his fingers from the ladder.
That is the type of grip on life we need as the outer man is perishing. Thereby the inner man can be renewed.
With our outer self “perishing” followers of Jesus long for the day when the words from “It Is Well With My Soul” by Horatio Spafford herald our optimum rejuvenation. “And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds are rolled back as a scroll.” There on the distant shore will be the Lord of Life.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Two
“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).
God does not give us enough just to enable us to survive. He wants to fill us with all “joy and peace” that we may abound in hope. Such often can’t come from within us, but by the “power of the Holy Spirit.”
Everyone struggles. Got that, everyone struggles. As undesirable as your struggle is, it may be purposeful.
The struggles of Isaac Watts led him to write “Am I a Soldier of the Cross:” “Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?” Oh no, you are not alone is your struggle. Your struggle can be uplifting if you, knowing others are struggling, reach out to aid them as an agent used by the Holy Spirit. It dispels self-centerness and gives you a sense of purpose.
At times you may be so challenged you feel you are personally in a confluence of turbulent seas where there is beauty and danger. Hope is your spiritual GPS.
A boy once tried to help a butterfly emerge from its cocoon by cutting it open. The butterfly came out weak and never flew because the struggle was what gave it strength.
Hope helps us endure the struggle because we trust it’s preparing us for flight. Hope enables us to look beyond the cloud of the struggle of a moment to envision how it can strengthen us. Hope keeps the dream of tomorrow alive. It is like a candle shining in the darkest night. It keeps giving its light knowing it can’t dispel the darkness, but it can show the way till the sun shines.
In the text God is spoken of as “the God of hope.” He is the Author from which it comes, not the Subject to which it is expressed. It is He who wants to fill us with hope. He does so when we believe.
A small town was selected for the site of a hydroelectric plant. A dam would be built across the nearby river, submerging the city. When the project was announced, the citizens were given ample time to arrange their affairs and relocate. During those months, a curious thing happened. Home improvements, neighborhood upkeep, and infrastructure repairs ceased. The city looked and felt abandoned long before the citizens moved away, and the waters came. One resident explained: “When there is no hope for the future, there is no power in the present.”
In the New Testament three adhesives are descriptive of hope: “good” ( II Thessalonians 2: 16); “blessed” (Titus 2: 13); and “living” (Titus 2: 13).
Hope is the golden key that opens each of them. Belief turns the lock.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part One
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Hope is the word receiving the most inquiries of any topic on the web. It is an indication people are looking for something more and/or better. They are hoping to gain something that will make life better. There is a volume the principal insight is to inspire hope. It is the Scripture that gives hope. It is replete with accounts of persons who were rescued from the slough of despond by the strong cords of hope,
Immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus His followers were depicted as having lost hope: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24: 21). Had they had a fuller understanding of the written word of God their hope based on it would have flourished. The applied word would have sustained their hope. It does the same for us today. It stimulates “patience and comfort.” giving the tincture of time to engender hope.
At times our hope wavers, but the principles of Scripture are there to comfort us. To do so it must be known and applied. Therefore, studying the Scripture for it may give the truth you will need tomorrow to apply to a life situation. It gives hope. For it to do so it must be known.
Are you in the valley of despair? There is hope.
These words from the old hymn “How Firm a Foundation” by John Rippon are not only worthy of being sung, but lived. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.”
Imagine a cup placed under a running faucet. As it fills to the brim, it starts to overflow—not because it’s broken, but because it’s full.
“May the God of hope fill you… so that you may abound in hope.” God doesn’t just give enough to survive—He gives enough to overflow. This is the life of someone who trusts and believes, filled by the Spirit.
In 1941, Winston Churchill addressed a school and famously said, “Never give in. Never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in.” Hope is the refusal to give in when things fall apart and everything tells you to quit. It’s trusting that God has the final word.
Sailors drop anchor during a storm not to stop the storm, but to stay steady through it. Hope in Christ is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19). It doesn’t remove the storm, but it holds us firm while we persevere through it.
Drop your anchor that you might be stable even in your storms. We all know there are storms on our life’s horizon. Search the Scripture today that you may be firmly anchored tomorrow in the hope that gives life its meaning.
How to Have a Strong Heart – Part Four
“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” Psalms 31:24.
The words “be strong” and “take courage” indicate that we may face challenges. The phrasing of this verse indicates there are times of weakness and a need for strengthening. We don’t want such times, but we should expect them.
There is a little word amid the promised provisions of strength that we don’t like to comply with. It is the word “wait.” Yet, it is a strategic component of being strengthened. It is the training field for hope. Waiting on the Lord develops hope.
We are not to passively endure, but to actively express hope. Keep it alive.
In Isaiah 40:31, it says, “but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.” This beautiful imagery reinforces the notion that our strength is renewed in God’s timing.
Waiting is often t-u-f-f. It taxes our patience and gives an opportunity for doubt and fear to develop. Hope counters both. The strength that comes when hope alone survives can’t be developed otherwise. It cultivates faith and prepares us for what is ahead.
In the time of waiting we often feel all alone. Not so, note: “all you who wait for the Lord.” It is a collective experience knowing others have waiting times.
A vital source of encouragement regarding being “in the Lord” is companions in the faith. You can not only gain strength from others, you can be a source of strength for others. In giving encouragement you put muscles in your own.
This battle cry for hope does not include a promise God will remove our challenges. He rather empowers us and thus enables us to be overcomers. He promises to be our companion in our struggles. This enables us to “be strong” and “take courage.”
We often experience our fear and failure when we have depended on our own ability. A “I can handle this one, God” experience leads to certain spiritual implosion. This should teach us to wait on the Lord and get Him involved by faith that fosters the kind of hope only He can provide. Hope in the Lord.
God holds the spiritual GPS, therefore follow Him when yours fails. As a matter of fact, knowing yours is inadequate start off following His. Manifest a faith-filled dependence.
As you confront challenges, and you will, life offers no exclusion clauses, resolve to be pre-committed to “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27: 14). “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3: 5,6).
How to Have a Strong Heart – Part Three
“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord” Psalm 31: 24.
Hope is the happy anticipation of good, favorable and confident expectations. Earnestly anticipating and expecting through experiencing delay and disappointment hope lives.
Little wonder God calls hope “the anchor of the soul” (Hebrews 6:19).
Hope realizes that it sometimes takes God time to work. It is the catalyst which makes divine ferment possible. It is the incentive which leads to unrealized perfection. Without hope man is less than a beast, he is a malfunctioning organism.
The media has exposed us to persons devastated by hurricanes, tornadoes, raging fires, floods, and crimes in homes, schools, and streets. Many have been absolutely inundated with sorrow and grief resulting from these tragedies. Some have rebounded, some have not. Often one thing makes the difference —- hope.
Doubts often slip into our lives like termites in a building. These termite-like thoughts eat away at our faith. This happens when:
* Things I think should not happen, happen.
* When things I think should happen don’t happen.
Then what do you do?
* When things I think should happen NOW, happen later.
God knows what He is doing regardless of the waiting period.
These three things cause termites of doubt to work. It is then the All-Pro of termite extermination is needed. That is, hope.
Famed American cardiologist, Dr. R. McNair Wilson, remarks in his autobiography, Doctor’s Progress, “Hope is the medicine I use more than any other…. Hope can cure nearly anything.”
“Saturday Review,” reported, “Hope … is medicinal. This is not merely a statement of belief, but a conclusion proved by meticulously controlled scientific experiments.”
To be most effective this hope must be Christo-centric. Timothy expresses this in four all-inclusive words: “Christ Jesus our hope….” (I Timothy 1: 1).
There are two ways of looking at life’s defeats and delays:
THE WAY OF THE DISILLUSIONED – Some attribute the disillusionment of hope to youth. Life having not fulfilled the disillusioned one’s aspirations, thus, they resolve to make the best of it by being tough. Such a one guards self against the awareness of hope. They become fearful that it is a sign of weakness. They become oblivious to it as a source of strength.
Hope in the future fills the present with energy.
THE WAY OF THE CHRISTIAN – Hope accepts trials. It exists alongside the potential for despair. Hope isn’t blind – it sees through the eyes of God.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus. blood and righteousness.”