The world needs hope hope is a powerful word the Latin's have a word for hope and it means breath to give oxygen to someone hope is a reality hope is something that is real hope is what keeps us going that it is only God who can bring hope and new life out of dead situations God himself is the one that provides for us the hope that we need in times like these hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness we learn to cultivate hope the same way we learn to walk one step at
a time there may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope even when everything around us contradicts this hope like father Abraham we will against hope believe in hope or as one writer expressed in the midst of winter we find within us an invincible summer hope sustains us through despair if only we could glimpse for a moment what the Lord has in store for us not only in the next life but in this one as well our hope would be unshakable and despair could never overcome us hope teaches that there is reason
to rejoice even when all seems stark around us and to all who suffer to all who feel discouraged worried or lonely I say with love and deep concern for you never give in never surrender never allow despair to overcome your spirit for the love of the son of God pierces all darkness softens all sorrow and gladdens every heart a traditional Russian saying is that hope dies last which is one Russian explained it means that as long as you are alive you have hope and that even if everything is very very bad around you if you
have hope you can survive while it may not seem like much the smallest form of hope the smallest desire to believe can be the first step in the miraculous process through which God can exalt us so if at times you can't really see very clearly or really not at all if all you can do is hang on to one thread and hope it holds then hang on and hope that will be enough to start the process if you then turn to the savior and sincerely ask for his help he will take what little you have
to offer and turn it into magnificent exalting hope which can be an anchor to your soul in times of distress we can hold tightly to the hope that things will work together for our good this type of hope in God his goodness and his power refreshes us with courage during difficult challenges and gives us strength to those who feel threatened by enclosing walls of fear doubt and despair the adversary uses despair to bind hearts and minds in suffocating darkness despair drains from us all that is vibrant and joyful and leaves behind the empty remnants of
what life was meant to be despair kills ambition advances sickness pollutes the soul and deadens the heart despair can seem like a staircase that leads only and forever downward hope on the other hand is like the beam of sunlight rising up and above the horizon of our present circumstances it pierces the darkness with a brilliant dawn it encourages inspires us to place our trust in the loving care of an eternal heavenly father who has prepared a way for those who seek for eternal truth in a world of relativism confusion and of fear because of the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ we need not fear for we will live forever never to taste of death again because of his infinite atonement we can be cleansed of sin and stand pure and holy before the judgment bar the savior is truly the author of our salvation put your hope in him put your trust in him put your hope in God he will not fail it is the constant exercise of faith in Christ that transforms what would otherwise be merely wishful thinking into the kind of hope that can become an anchor to our soul we have
to plant our desires our hope in him because of his atoning sacrifice Christ has the power to transform all our righteous desires into reality our role is to believe in him and his gospel and teachings enough that he can work with us that we will allow him to shape our desires so that our will aligns with his thus if we want to strengthen our hope we must focus more on the savior especially when we feel hopeless and hope is not well you know I just hope something happens hope is an expectation that something good is
going to happen and see you can do that on purpose you don't have to wait to feel something you can say tonight I am going to change my attitude from a hopeless attitude to a hopeful attitude and I am going to keep believing that something good is going to happen to me until I see it take place listen I know what it's like to go through hard things I know what it's like to have so many bad things happen in a row that you just you're almost afraid to expect anything good because you just don't
want to be disappointed one more time amen and boy the devil loves it when we get hopeless when we begin to think that we've just made too many mistakes to ever recover but let me tell you something nobody can out sin God's goodness did you hear me there's no pit so deep that he can't reach down in it and get you out and god loves you and he wants a close intimate personal relationship with you Jesus didn't die so we could all just have some brand of religion he wants to have a relationship a personal
in your face in your life every day relationship with you and God is a God of restoration and there's nothing in your life that he cannot restore amen so how about if we have a new attitude today is the first day of the rest of my wonderful life that God has planned for me and I'm gonna let go of what lies behind and I'm gonna press on to the good things that are ahead
