Prayer - Hopeful Living

"Now Jesus was telling the disciples a parable to make the point that at all times they ought to pray and not give up and lose heart,"

Luke 18:1 in the Amplified Version

[This is the 6th message in this series]

If there is anything this world needs more of, it is by far this thing we call hope.

And hope that is not like what the world peddles, not that fake or false kind or hope that only lasts for a little while, but real hope.

I used to own and manage a business which dealt with essentially bringing hope. It was a great business venture and we helped a lot of people. But that business enterprise ended, like everything else in this world.

Real Hope

There is one real and lasting hope and one that is not transient but eternal.

In this world we will have trouble and this we are certain of. But only God has the kind of hope that humankind needs to make it through this world and into the next.

We can only do so much and we can only hitch a ride on a limited number of worldly wagons with the worldly kind of hope such as luck, talent, skill, education, technology, connections, schemes and other things inborn or acquired.

And many people do find success in this world, at least with the earthly definition of success. But everything in this world is fleeting and constantly changing.

Successful people do not even say at their deathbed that they were happy or contented with the life they have lived. Most if not all of them would say that if they had a chance to do things over, they would surely do a lot of things different. At the deathbed or when one is about to face certain death, people will come to a stark realization that nothing this world offered was really important or essential, and so regret creeps in during those last few moments.

Only the One true God, the Creator, the Maker of the universe is eternal. His Word and His Spirit is eternal.

And when we hitch our hope on His hope wagon, it will be enough to carry us through our day and through that day when we draw our last breath.

This new year, let us start each new day spending time with Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, through His power who is at work within us -- Our Father in heaven. He has been waiting in our secret place.