It was another busy day in 3ABN’s pastoral department. So many hurting souls! As I disconnected from one call, another immediately rang on my extension. Answering, I said, “Pastoral, may I help you?”
“Yes, I hope so. My name is Joan* and I’m so very tired. I have severe stomach issues, and I’m aching from head to toe. I can barely get around. What’s worse, I can barely see. I’ve always kept my Bible right next to my chair and read it throughout the day to be filled with the hope I find in His Word. But, now when I open its pages, all I see are blurry, black lines. I’m so discouraged, I’m losing my hope. I know my days are numbered. Will you pray for me? I want to go to Heaven; I love my Jesus. I have loved Him my whole life. I never thought I would live this long or hurt this much. I’m so very tired. I seek Heaven!”
“I will be happy to pray with you, Joan. Would you like for me to share some Scriptures with you before we pray?”
A little sob escaped her lips, as she softly answered, “Oh, please share! I’m starving for His Word. I’m in need of hope.”
“I think I know what you need to hear, Joan. I want to read you a page from a book my wife wrote, called Life Affirmations from Scripture. An affirmation is when you take His promises and confess them over your life or pray them back to Him in faith. God says in Isaiah 55:11 that His Word does not return to Him void. And in Jeremiah 1:12, He said He is watching over His Word to perform it.
So, here’s the affirmation titled, “Hope Bubbling Over.” I refuse to allow my circumstances to get me down. My hope is in the Lord. He strengthens my heart and keeps His eye upon me, because I wait for Him and put my hope in His Word. He will fulfill what He has promised—not one word of all He promised will fail. All of His promises are mine as I abide in Christ.
I trust in the Lord with all my heart! I will not lean on my own understanding, but on His Word. I hope for what I do not see, persevering in eager expectation. This hope is the anchor for my soul—keeping me from being double-minded in troublous times. God does not change like shifting shadows. He hears my prayer and He will answer.
I am blessed because I trust in the Lord and put my hope in Him. I will not fear or be anxious. The God of hope fills me with joy and peace in believing, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I am bubbling over with hope.
“And now, Joan, listen to these Scriptures it was created from:”
- Psalm 42:11 (NIV) “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
- Psalm 31:24 (NKJV) “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
- Psalm 33:18 (AMP) “Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him [who revere and worship Him with awe], who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.”,
- Psalm 130:5 (NASB) “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.”
- Numbers 23:19 (NIV) “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
- 1 Kings 8:56 (NASB1995) “Blessed be the LORD … according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised ….”
- 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV) “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.”
- Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV) “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
- Romans 8:24–25 (NKJV) “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
- Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV) “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.”
- James 1:6-8 (NKJV) “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
- James 1:17 (NIV) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
- Psalm 38:15, NASB For I hope in You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God.
- Jeremiah 17:7–8 (NKJV) “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
- Romans 15:13 (AMP) “May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.”[1]
“Wow, wow, wow, Joan. Those Scriptures certainly give me assurance of God’s faithfulness to His promises. How about you? Is God restoring your hope?”
“J. D., thank you. I needed to hear these precious words! Thank you for helping to restore my vision of hope. My spiritual tank was on empty, but now it’s filled with hope again. Thank you for taking this time to encourage an old woman like me.”
On our journey of faith, we all need hope—eager expectation of what the Lord will do for us. Open your Bible daily and get a tankful of hope.
*Pseudonym
[1] Shelley Quinn, Life Affirmations from Scripture, p. 101, 102
