There is Hope!

There is Hope!

The prophet Jeremiah was used by God to foretell of the coming judgment against the rebellious southern kingdom of Judah if they would not confess and turn from their grievously sinful ways. But when Judah refused to heed these warnings from God, He sent the Babylonian army to destroy Jerusalem and remove most of the surviving Jews from the Promised Land. Despite the personal torment and suffering Jeremiah experienced during the decades of his prophetic ministry, once judgment came, he mourned deeply for the loss of life, the horrendous suffering, and the exile of his fellow Jews to Babylon.

The book of Lamentations documents Jeremiah’s profound grief during the aftermath of God’s wrath being poured out on Judah. The tragedy of it all. The suffering and anguish of individuals and a nation. However, in the midst his intense grieving, Jeremiah recalls the unchanging compassion and unending goodness of God.

The Burden of Despair
No matter how desperate the situation, there is always hope in the Lord!

• Lamentations 3:19-21 (NLT)
• 19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness
• is bitter beyond words.
• 20 I will never forget this awful time,
• as I grieve over my loss.
• 21 Yet I still dare to hope
• when I remember this:

The Basis of Hope
Our merciful Heavenly Father is always ready to receive those who turn to Him!

• Lamentations 3:22-24 (NLT)
• 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
• His mercies never cease.
• 23 Great is his faithfulness;
• his mercies begin afresh each morning.
• 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
• therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Blessings of Inheritance
The eternal treasures of God are graciously poured out on those who trust in Him!

• Lamentations 3:25-27 (NLT)
• 25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
• to those who search for him.
• 26 So it is good to wait quietly
• for salvation from the Lord.
• 27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age
• to the yoke of his discipline:

All of us endure difficult days, overwhelming circumstances and the burden of grief. This can lead to feelings of helplessness and despair. But praise be to God that there is always hope in Him!

Hope in Him – Turn to Him – Trust in Him 

Prayer

Father, thank You for being unchanging, faithful, merciful, generous and so much more. Help those who have already surrendered to You to find ongoing hope in a personal relationship with You. Please touch the hearts of those who have rejected You, or who have never heard of You. Draw them into a reconciled relationship with You through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray these things in His name. Amen.

Come Hungry. Come Thirsty.

Come Hungry. Come Thirsty.

In order to survive, our bodies require food and water. Our bodies express these critical needs in the form of physical hunger and thirst. In order to have eternal life, our souls require a different kind of food and water. Our souls express these critical needs in the form of spiritual hunger and thirst.

After 40 days without food, when Satan tried to get Jesus to sin by proving He was the Son of God (turning stones into bread), Jesus addressed a much more important issue than His physical hunger – He stated the critical truth about God’s Word being an essential aspect our spiritual lives.

• Luke 4:1-4 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

While talking to the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus turns a conversation about immediate physical thirst to a lesson about spiritual longing for eternal life – He shared the truth that He is the only way to everlasting life. 

• John 4:13-15 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Physical hunger and thirst are among the most natural experiences in life. Spiritual hunger and thirst are among the many extraordinary supernatural gifts given by God to man.

We hunger for truth. 

We thirst for eternal life. 

Come hungry and listen to Jesus – let Him satisfy your hunger for the truth found only in God’s Word!  

Come thirsty and believe in Jesus – let Him quench your thirst for eternal life that is found only in Him!

• John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for giving us a hunger for truth and a thirst for eternal life. Please continue to use these supernatural gifts to draw many to salvation in Jesus Christ. Also, please keep those who have already surrendered to Jesus hungry and thirsty for You, Your Son and Your Spirit. We hunger and thirst for you!! I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.