Dear Ones,
Hope you are enjoying this day! Mine started out in a surprising way as we didn’t have any internet until about an hour ago. PTL it is fixed and back on. I went to exercise class this morning and shortly we have craft time here.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Let us never lose hope, no matter what! Discouragement is the opposite of faith and the enemy tries his best to whisper words that will cause us to feel hopeless and discouraged. He wants to get our focus off the Lord and to fill our minds with all the terrible things that could possibly happen. And if we are already in a hard situation, he will tell us it is going to last forever and therefore hopeless. But that is not so!
More than ever today we need hope and the expectancy that good will happen. As followers of the Lord, we have reason to hope because it is based on a person, not our circumstances.
Just a few minutes ago ( 4 a.m.) as I started up my computer, I discovered there is no internet. Really it was working fine when I went to bed last night! But rather than stew about it (for the enemy knows my frustrations over computer problems), I went to my documents to write this; later it can go into my draft when the internet is running again. Just a minor problem.
But there are hard situations we all go through when we have to wait, and we must guard against losing hope. Instead, we can use it as a time to reflect on His promises. I just read in Psalm 119:147 (God’s Word), “I got up before dawn, and I cried out for help. My hope is based on your word.” As we read the Word, it can teach us and encourage us and give us a new way of seeing things. Maybe we struggle to find hope for a loved one to come to the Lord, or for a child to get healed, and so we wait. Just think of David and how long he had to wait. He was anointed King when he was 16 but didn’t become king until he was 30. But he says in Psalm 27:14, “Wait with hope for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Yes, wait with hope for the Lord.”  Would we have given up hope if we had to wait that long? God has so much to teach us in our waiting times if our hearts are open.
I love what Paul writes to the Christians in Romans 15:13, “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Let us not be discouraged but keep hoping, keep believing, and never give up.
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for faith to live in hope, no matter how long you wait.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy