God wants you to be born again into royalty, to reside in the holy glory of God with a new citizenship, body, mansion, reward, throne, glory, and eternal life.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation
Philippians 3:20 For our citizenship is in heaven
1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” 38 But God gives it a body as He pleases. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven
Revelation 3:21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne
John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
John 10:28 And I give them eternal life,
Your reward is waiting for you! Don’t lose it! It is there for the taking!
♥Receive your reward now by receiving Jesus as your savior!♥
This was a real legitimate question by a young lady on Yahoo’s Question and Answers!
Here are some of the answers given as suggestions of hope. It is not surprising that the last thing anyone wants to hear about is religion. All want to use the carnal human approach to help the person. Each one uses their own understanding of the world around them and their experiences to try to encourage the person. Some literally shocked me with their comments. Here are some of the things they told the young lady.
1 “you have already received many wonderful answers and some not so good ones too. I agree that, if you are without hope, you may have a psychological or medical imbalance and it is important to rule that out by seeing a professional. When hope is gone, a person needs something to ‘believe’ in. Search your soul for a positive thought and let it flow further – into a belief. It could be as simple as looking at the stars and moon and realizing that many people are looking at the same stars and moon as you are.”
2 “Well, there are two choices. You either end your miserable life, or you take a step in the right direction and reach out to others in need. Doing something nice for someone else, even when you feel you have nothing to give, is always rewarding, and you would be surprised at how much hope it will give you.”
3 “Oh, please… do we have to throw God at the girl and make it sound like that’s the answer? As if God is going to come down and throw his arms around her and make everything better… ’cause gee, that’s what he does, right? That’s why everything is so perfect in this world and why everyone that believes in him so much is such a perfect person, right? Here’s a better answer. Take a good long look in the mirror at yourself and realize that there is hope. And there’s hope because YOU won’t allow yourself to think any more that there’s not.
Trust in yourself… and trust in your best friends to be there for you.”
4 “Count your blessings – reformat your thoughts and think of good things that have happened to you. Do something stupid (but harmless) that you haven’t done since you were a kid”
5 “ACCEPTANCE is the only answer to such a predicament. 99.9% of emotional problems (unless you have a recognized mental condition), stem from not wanting/wishing to accept reality.”
If I was hurting as this person seemed to be, the suggestions above would have been like being hit in the stomach with a sledge hammer. They don’t give good answers because they themselves don’t have hope! Since they don’t want God in their lives they only follow the worldly course of; eat, drink, and be merry because when they die they believe it is all over. They don’t believe in life after death and frantically try to do all they can in this life while they can.
But God does say there is hope for those who are willing to let Him into their lives but there is no hope for those who do not. Job 11:18,20 “Then you would trust, because there is hope; And you would look around and rest securely. But the eyes of the wicked will fail, And there will be no escape for them; And their hope is to breathe their last.”
Hope takes on a whole new meaning when God explains in Colossians: 1:5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, 27which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That glory is something very special! God performs a miracle in your life to the effect that God says in 1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God,who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
God wants to emphasize your hope more succinctly as He states again in Hebrews 6:19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul
That great anchor is a promise so amazing and encouraging because Jesus Christ did something that utterly guarantees that we will live eternally with Him and His Father in heaven. Jesus being fully God came to the earth and took on the form of a man to shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, died on the cross for us while we were still sinners so that we might live, was buried and in the grave for three days and then was raised to life and ascended to heaven to set on the throne of God with His Father. Jesus sent back to the earth the great Comforter, the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers filled with faith in Christ to give encouragement, peace, and hope. It is a guarantee of our salvation and resurrection to eternal life.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
This hope cleanses you from all the pressures, stresses, and problems of this world freeing you from the bondage that the world heaps upon you refreshing your soul.
1John 3:3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
YES! That is why we need to throw God at the girl because He is the answer!
Who am I? Really, who am I? I was born in iniquity and conceived in sin! (Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.) When I grew up and experienced the world I was saturated with its unholy, immoral, and materialistic system. Believing this to be the norm I immersed myself in its carnal ways. (Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.) Mistakenly I thought the ultimate joy was having all the immoral and carnal things of this world. (2 Timothy 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy) After some time I found myself miserable and unhappy, unable to attain the freedom to do as I wanted in the world. I looked at my beautiful wife and wondered why I treated her the way I did. I looked at my baby son and wondered what kind of life waited for him. I suddenly felt like the lowest of the lowest of men. I was sick of everything I knew. Something inside me caused me to do something I had never done before. I grabbed my wife’s hand and knelt beside our bed and said: “God, there has got to be something better than this. Please show us what it is.” My heart was hurting!(1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.)
After a short time my wife and I became associated with a church and God took complete charge of our lives from that time to the present. We went through a transitional period from an old way to a new way and looked down upon by some who knew us. (1 Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you) But now we have a loving family of Godly friends in great abundance. (Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God)
Someone might read this and decide to find out for themselves how to be released from the world as we have and be filled with a joy immeasurable by letting Jesus take the weight of the world’s sin off of their shoulders and putting it all on His shoulders. (John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!) Just follow the message in the Apostle Peter’s first sermon: (Acts 2: 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.) By the grace of God you will be raised up a new creation and walk in newness of life, no longer of this world, but your citizenship will be in heaven from that time forward with a residence in heaven waiting for you to occupy.
Who am I? Who are you? We are all the children of God!
Praise the Lord God and give Him all the glory! Amen!
I love the way God is expressed to me by praise and worship music. His character is often the focal point of praise songs and is magnified to display His Holiness. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—- Galations 5:22-23.
Holy God I am glad that You are the kind of God You are, a God of love. Amen!
Jesus said: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matt. 11:29-30
Easy enough to do. So why is it so hard for anyone to put Jesus to the test? This is a perfect formula for those who may have internal problems and feel pressure from the world around them. If the weight of the world is on your shoulders let Jesus carry it on His shoulders for you. He is willing and waiting. Call upon Him and feel all the stress begin to fade away.