Recently, I posted the above picture and encouragement on Instagram and Facebook. I received a few comments. One, in particular, brought to mind God’s power of revelation. “When is Jesus coming? … I feel like we’re being sold lost hope,” they wrote. That’s a powerful statement, and there’s truth to it.
Where does hope lie? Does hope lie in lessons taught or behaviors practiced? No. It needs to come from Someone greater. Are the dark circumstances throughout the world causing hopelessness? Hope can’t come from earthly conditions. Likewise, earthly incidents can’t take hope away. True hope only comes from the Creator. Literature, videos, and sermons based on what we’ll experience some day when Jesus returns or when we reach Heaven inundate us. There seems to be a lot of hope in a distant event as if we can’t enjoy a relationship with God now. That is discouraging. We can enjoy a relationship with God now. And furthermore, we can experience His qualities of peace, joy, and love now too. Ultimately, I want to encourage all that God holds the answer. He IS the answer to every question. Here is my Facebook response:
“Jesus came and died a Savior for the lost. Those words, “The Son of man is come to save that which was lost,” came from Him. I agree though. We’re being sold a lost hope. Perhaps it’s a “false” hope, sold by man.
When hope lies in what others are telling us or in what we’ve studied and work to apply we will struggle and lose hope. No amount of studying and applying techniques will bring about true peace. It’s not something in the distance, just beyond reach, taunting us until we figure out how to feel it.
Peace, joy, love, and freedom are qualities of God, our Creator, and are experienced personally when we are in a deep and intimate relationship directly with Him. This can be immediate. When we become fully centered on Him, ask His Holy Spirit to fill us, and dwell in His Presence, those qualities fill us and hope is found.
It’s nothing that can be experienced by learning or trying, earning or applying. The hope and joy of God comes by revelation from Him only. That is why it takes a relationship with Him to fulfill it. We don’t have to wait for a future coming, our death, or Heaven in order to have hope fulfilled.
Jesus said He must go so that He could send those of us who ask a Comforter (the Holy Spirit) which will guide us individually into all truth. Talk to Him! Get to know Him. Invite His powerful light in. God does comfort and heal.”
So let me encourage you to turn to God. If you’re lost and broken and in need of peace, or if life is difficult and you’re weary, look to Him. It truly is that easy. God is the ONLY One who can fill you with peace and joy. Ultimately, there is no twelve step program that imparts true peace or love, because those are God’s qualities to impart. Face Him and talk with Him. When you seek, you will find. Be insistent. Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit. His Spirit living within you also fills you with His qualities, and you can rest in them, drinking of them. You will find comfort there so desperately needed.
God sends His Holy Spirit to fill those of us who seek Him. When is Jesus coming? Is His coming a lost hope? Direct connection to Jesus through the Holy Spirit quenches that question. Certainly, it comforts and encourages us to continue on in hope. Through His Holy Spirit, God reveals truth to us. Revealed truth imparts hope that is concrete. Rather than a sense of lost hope, we can sit at the feet of our Savior, enjoying His presence today.
Blessings on your journey with your Creator,
Rebecca
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