I woke up this morning feeling the weight of the world. I started my day with the news, something that I never do and it pulled me in and caused me to feel a deep sense of distress. I knew that I also had to get my head ready for my guest radio slot this morning on UCB, but what I had planned to talk about felt trivial in light of everything else going on in the world. However, I kept hearing the whisper and nudge to talk about hope. It’s what we all really need, it’s the only thing that can lift the weight, change perspective and bring some positivity in on such a hard news cycle day. So that’s exactly what I spoke into. I thought I’d leave a snippet of my conversation below in case you need to hear these soothing reminders today, too.
You can also find my other morning encouragement on UCB from this week here. My prayer today is that you’ll be able to lift a little of the weight, exercise the muscle of hope and cling to Jesus as the one who is able.
“ Today I was going to talk about the lie of missing God's purpose for our life and missing the mark. But I couldn’t shake the feeling this morning of God keep giving me the word of hope. And couldn’t we all use a little more of that, on the day that all Covid restrictions are finally lifted is the same day that we get the news of war in Ukraine. So when the word hope kept resounding, I decided to press in and bring some encouragement through that this morning. The lie that even in the hard seasons, relentless news cycles and hardships within our own lives that we feel like there’s little to no hope. The truth and the good news is that when we’re walking with Jesus there’s ALWAYS hope. It’s important to lay the foundation of the “hope” that we’re discussing. It’s not the hope and fingers crossing of willing your favorite sports team to win, or even wishing and hoping for the sun to shine. That’s the verb hope - something WE are willing/doing. No, the hope I’m referring to is an everlasting hope! This hope we’re going to be talking through isn’t the verb hope but the “noun” hope. Through Christ we ALL have the assured expectation that something will happen. For Christians, the hope Christ gives us through His resurrection is not a wanting or wishful hope, but an assured expectation of what we know is to come.1 Peter 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” With that powerful declaration of hope we can assuredly face even the toughest times of our lives with confidence that better days are always ahead. So can I encourage you as we watch the news and walk through the rest of our week, no matter what challenges you are facing, may we position ourselves with the expectation that good things are to come. Just like no one could have imagined the plan for the walls of Jericho to crumble or for the Red Sea to part and offer up dry land. Or a savior to come to a virgin and be born in a manger. Neither do you or I know how problems will be solved, or what miracles we’ll be blessed to see but we can rest in assurance that God knew then just as he knows now. When we believe this deeply, we’ll be confident that God has a great plan and wants the best for us even when what we see in front of us looks hopeless. We can also pray for those across the globe that the peace and hope of Jesus remains close.”
