Without hope life feels meaningless. We know this and yet
some seem content to rip hope from the clutches of another. I began watching
Joel Osteen a long time ago and he was such an inspiration to me that I wanted to
make others feel the way he made me feel. I can’t imagine a greater gift than
being able to bring hope to a once shattered human being. So it often breaks my
heart when I see people rain down gloom on another. Someone is excited about an
interview at a potentially new job but there’s a person in their life ready to
point out how they probably won't get it. Someone starts dating after a long period of
singledom and there’s someone close to them ready to point out all of that
person’s possible flaws. Yet, just as easily as things could go wrong, the
simple fact is… they could go right!
Whenever I feel life trying to suck me into its negative,
hopeless hole I’ve learned to start quoting what God has to say about the
matter. That nothing is impossible with God, that He is directing my steps and
promised to cause all things to work together for my good. God said He would
fight my battles FOR ME and prepare a table of victory for me in front of my
enemies. You can’t let the people around you talk you out of your dreams. Even
the ones who claim to love you, they may just be so beat down themselves and not
even realize how much harm they’re doing by stealing your hope. Still, you would be
wise to do as the bible says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy prowls
around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
I want to encourage you today to not only stay on guard
against the hopeless words some may try to speak into your life but also stay on guard
that you aren’t doing that very thing yourself. I urge you to learn how amazing
it feels when you bring hope to someone – it multiplies in your own life like
you can’t imagine! Even God Himself said of giving, “Test me in this and see if
I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing
that there will not be room enough to store it.” This is the only place in the
bible I’ve found where God dares you to test Him on something. He is inviting you
to take that challenge today, will you accept?
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