“I don’t care!” are three of the harshest words a person can speak. I personally reserve using them in situations where I truly do not care what is going to happen next and I try to never use them when talking about other individuals.
Unfortunately, by the time those words are spoken, we would have already experienced many different emotions which ultimately resulted in the absence of hope.
Hope is very powerful. Bakers Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology defines hope as follows: To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future.
In essence, hope means “expectation”. The absence of hope means that we have an absence of faith. The absence of hope means that we no longer expect our situation to improve.
According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Some refer to faith as blind, but nothing could be further from the truth. Faith is not blind. Faith is placed in God and the promises He has made in His Word. Faith in God means that we expect Him to provide that which He promised. We stand on the hope of God’s promise, in faith, until He replaces it with the reality of His Word.
Lack of hope means that we do not have the faith to believe that God can or will do that which He promised.
It is potentially very dangerous to lose hope as we risk becoming emotional and not spiritual. God knows that we have emotions as, after all, He gave them us. God, however, does not want us to be led by our emotions. We must be led by His Spirit Who will, in-turn, guide our emotions.
Here are four ways to maintain or regain hope:
1. Remain Spiritual
Allow God’s Spirit to not just motivate and inspire us but also educate and guide us. When allowed, The Spirit of God will lead us into all truth and provide a broader, long-term, picture of the plan God has for our lives. God alone knows the thoughts that He has toward us. It is His desire to take us to a bright and prosperous future.
2. Pray
Dr. Peggy Scarborough writes in her book Healing Through Spiritual Warfare that prayer is a missile which launches our mighty warheads. The warheads are the Name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus and the Word of God. As we pray, use the Word of God to confess that which He has spoken about our situation. As we pray, plead the blood of Jesus over the root of our situation. As we pray, use the Name of Jesus. Using the Name of Jesus when we speak with God is like providing an A1 reference when applying for a job. Just that Name alone brings the needed results. Yes, prayer still works.
3. Become Vulnerable and Fall, Allowing God To Catch And Carry Us
God is willing, ready and able to take control of the situations which seem hopeless, but we must first let go of the control we try to maintain in those situations. If we allow Him to, God will show us that He will never let us down, even though we experience disappointments. If we allow Him to, God will show us that He will never leave us alone, even though we may feel lonely. If we allow Him to, God will show us that He has never lied to us, even though we may feel confused. The restoration of hope depends on our willingness to totally trust in God.
4. Assess The Actions That Feed Our Attitudes Of Hopelessness
Sometimes we lose hope because of our refusal to position ourselves in the right place. Perhaps we have allowed individuals with negative mindsets to plant seeds of doubt into our subconscious mind which ultimately results in our conscious mind openly doubting the power and intent of God concerning us and/or the situations we experience. Perhaps we speak defeated words to ourselves so even as we try to proceed, we are resigned that “it will not work.” We attempt to go higher, but have convinced ourselves it is only an exercise of futility.
I encourage you to not lose hope but instead maintain faith in God. Everything God has spoken has happened exactly like He said it would, when He said it would. God has done a wonderful job of maintaining all of eternity. He would not get to our situation and lose His power or forget how to be God.
God is still able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, according to the power that works within us. As long as there is God, there is hope. God is eternal, so yes, hope springs eternal!
Your Turn
Have there been times you have either given up hope or said “I don’t care”?
What did you do to overcome that feeling?
What are you doing to maintain faith in God?
