I'm Trying To Hope, But I Can't

Dear Beloved,

God's grace doesn't just exist to give us blessings and promises. Similar to mankind, God's grace has a purpose and an assignment to fulfill in the earth. God uses His grace to teach us. By God's grace we are healed, saved from sin, delivered from bad situations, but also by God's grace we have space to press toward high prize of Christ Jesus. In that space we will make mistakes, but by grace we get forgiveness that allows us to get back up and continue pressing toward the prize of Christ. God uses His grace to help us learn from our mistakes and bring us deeper in our walk with Him. God's grace is what grooms our hearts to look for the BLESSED HOPE. God's blessed hope is the highest hope and serves as the foundation for all other hope. It's very difficult to have hope in the daily things of life, when there's no hope for the eternal life to come.  

This week I was reading Titus 2 in the Bible and the Lord wrote about that blessed hope, but before He speaks about that hope, He explains the role of His grace:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men (people). 

Teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, that we should live 

soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

(Titus 2:11-12) 

As we see in the first line of the scripture above, God's grace certainly comes to save. God's grace brings salvation to the soul and to life situations. God can save us spiritually from hell and naturally from sickness, attacks on our life, financial hardship, and stressful situations, but that's not all God's grace does. God doesn't just want to save us and leave us the same person, but He wants to save us AND transform us into vessels of light that will glorify Him. He wants to bring us from created image bearers of God to adopted sons and daughters. This means we're not just made in the image of God, but we walk, talk, love, and surrender the very way Jesus did when he walked the earth. God wants to bring us from the noun version of image bearer to the adjective, the DOER, of intentionally living as an image bearer of God. To do this God uses His grace (which encompasses His patience and forgiveness toward us) to teach us how to deny ungodliness (anything that doesn't glorify the character of God) and worldly lusts (sinful desires). 

Before coming to Christ, the enemy has us all in a drunkeness. Our vision is foggy and our stupor says that our sin is better than God, God limited in His power, and He'll fail us just like people have. This is the cloudy, hopeless mindset sin creates. How can a person truly have hope if their mind hasn't been renewed and cleaned of these falsehoods? God uses His grace as the ultimate cleanser. As the scripture says, grace teaches us to live soberly (with a clear mind), righteously (doing what is right before God, not what's right to ourselves), and godly (doing things that glorify the character of God). If you have been trying to use your old mind to hope in God for new things and you keep finding it difficult to hope, this is a major reason why. 

Back when I used to drink alcohol, my body would become extremely dehydrated (because that's what liquor does), but in my drunkeness my mind couldn't focus to get my body the water it needed. My brain felt like jello and it did what my emotions wanted, rather than what my body needed. Similar to the spirit realm, our souls NEED hope in order to endure. However, when our spirits are drunk with the sin of ungodliness and worldly lust, our minds are cloudy and unable to focus on the truth of God that can give us the hope our souls so desperately need.   

As God's grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and we take heed to the lessons, then our minds are renewed and sober to hope in what God calls that blessed hope:

Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and 

our Saviour Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us that he might

redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar (set apart) 

people, zealous of good works.  

(Titus 2:13-14)

That BLESSED HOPE is the return of Jesus Christ to establish his kingdom and rid the earth of all evil and unite eternally with His adopted sons and daughters. Those that are justified by His grace (take heed to the teachings of God's grace) will be heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:7). That blessed hope, the greatest hope is God's promise for eternity. When a person has hope for the eternal future, according to God's word, that creates an even greater capacity to hope in God for the present day. 

Have you been using a drunk mind to believe and hope in God for the impossible? There's a disconnect because your mind isn't clear, you aren't living soberly, righteously, and godly and it's hindering the height of your hope. If the enemy has a hold on your life, he will have a hold on your hope. Grab a hold of God's grace (His patience and forgiveness) and begin listening to the lessons God is giving when it comes to denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. The first step in grabbing hold of God's grace is repenting and apologizing to God for the sins you've committed. Through grace, He will forgive you. Next is to start reading the Bible, start with the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John), read how Jesus denied ungodliness and worldly lusts and pray for the Holy Spirit's help  to do what Jesus did. Then, look up scriptures that speak about the sins you've repented for and read them daily to learn the lesson God's grace is teaching you through His word. Seek out and talk to other Christians, express you desire to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and ask for their guidance and help. Lastly, institute boundaries. Take note of where you're weak when it comes to ungodly things or worldly lusts and put boundaries in place to prevent those weaknesses from being triggered. 

Purification is a life long process, but once you allow God's grace to begin the work in you, your spirit will become clearer and sober and your spiritual eyes will be able to look for that blessed hope of Christ. Then through the blessed hope, all other hope will come.

May your hope be in Jesus Christ,

Anreka

Tell me how this Hope Letter helped you in the comments below!

Are you struggling to maintain HOPE? Herpes To Hope Lockscreens will help you see daily reminders of God's hope and help you when those negative thoughts come! Get your Hope Lockscreen TODAY! Click Below!

I WANT HOPE LOCKSCREENS