Years later, my friend and I reconnected. I was talking about my life and the direction it had gone. I asked her if she remembered the day we gave up hope.
“I gave up hope, that day,” I said. What about you?”
Her response? “I kept my hope.”
How dumb could anyone feel? I really thought I was being so smart when “we” declared ourselves hopeless. I thought I had it all figured out. Self Help, now New Age, had me thinking I knew more than I knew. I was overconfident, and it kept me from seeking the personal relationship with God I really wanted.
Lip Service
“They praise me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” I don’t even want to deny anymore that this has been me. I had given up on God because I thought He had given up on me. When you’re struggling in your faith, the devil is right there to agree with your very struggle and every doubt. He says things like:
“God doesn’t want to hear from you, anymore.” “There’s no sense in praying.” “Too late, now.” On and on and on.
Until I realized I’d given myself too much credit for everything I was going through, I continued to suffer. Now, I realize the importance of trusting God with His Word and the assignments He gives us. When we take the risk of believing Him – with no physical evidence whatsoever – we grow, we learn, and we become everything He wants us to be, which is greater than we can be by ourselves. Even if you became the wealthiest, most popular person on the planet, you’d still have to answer to someone to get there. If it’s not God, then it’s the fake god and his minions who want to take us away from our Creator in torment.
Torment is a result of hopelessness. We can’t do any better than we already are without spiritual help. The question is which spirit are we going to allow to help us. The Holy Spirit can and will help us accomplish the work we are born to do, but we have to ask God what that is. Don’t wait. Don’t try to add to what He told you to do, just do what He says. Spend time with Him, daily. Read His word. Sit with Him. He will give you clear instructions. Otherwise, you’re just doing what you think you should be doing. When you do these things, eventually, hopelessness will turn into hope.
God’s hope brings peace. There’s nothing like God’s peace. It relaxes your muscles and opens your heart and helps you feel confident about what He’s called you to do. The world could be falling apart around you, but you will remain standing because of that peace, because of His hope, because of His love. Psalms 91 says, A thousand might fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near. This means that if you stick close to God and hear His Holy Spirit from within, then you will be safe while everything and everyone around you is falling.
It hasn’t been until recently that I began to give into the fact that having hope is best, but not just any hope. My hope has to be in Jesus. WE all need hope in Jesus. When my friend and I were talking about giving up hope, it was really the only thing we had. It’s the only thing all of us have. I’m realizing that giving up hope is a sin, and it’s something that requires repentance. Faith is a part of hope and love. If I don’t have hope, then I don’t have faith and love, which are the basis of Christianity.
I wanted to do things my way!
