When Hope Is Gone

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Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” --Mark 10:27 Are you facing an impossible situation in your life right now? Maybe your relationship with your spouse or child seems like it’s damaged beyond repair. Or perhaps you feel like your financial situation will never recover. Or maybe you’re questioning whether your health will ever be the same as it once was. Whatever you may be going through today, let me assure you of this: God delights in using impossible situations like yours to display His power and glory. Today… if you’re in a dead-end, nowhere-to-run, hopeless, impossible, helpless situation… you’re a prime candidate for the power of God to move in your life. Don’t say, “My life, my home, my family, my future is impossible,” because as Jesus says in today’s verse, “All things are possible with God.” Remember the man who Jesus healed at the pool in Bethesda? He had been paralyzed for 38 years! Nothing anyone had done in all that time had helped this poor, crippled man. Can you imagine the feelings of despair and hopelessness that this man must have struggled with all that time? Yet in Jesus’ divine and perfect plan, He chose to do something powerful and wonderful in this man’s life. And He can do the same in yours! In the midst of hopeless situations, there’s nothing that would please the evil one more than for you to throw up your hands in despair… for you to say, “That’s it, I quit!” But remember what Galatians 6:9 says: “Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” No matter what you may be going through today, please don’t grow weary. Please don’t give up. Wait on the Lord… and remember that all things… even the most hopeless things… are possible with God!   IF YOU'RE IN A HOPELESS SITUATION TODAY, YOU'RE A PRIME CANDIDATE FOR THE POWER OF GOD TO MOVE IN YOUR LIFE!

Transparency

Thursday, April 11, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”

2 Timothy 3:10–12

Most of us have had the experience of being disappointed by people we thought were one thing, but who turned out to be something very different. Paul was able to say to Timothy, knowing that the younger man had traveled with him, heard him preach, seen him persecuted, and been with him in private as well as public, that his life had been marked by consistent godly characteristics and conduct. He was not bragging, but rather telling Timothy that what he had seen in Paul’s life needed to be in his life as well.

While none of us are perfect, we should strive to live in such a way that we would not be ashamed if our deeds were brought to light. If we must put on a front to keep people from seeing what we really are, what we are is in desperate need of a change. It is possible for someone to play a role, even over an extended period of time, without anyone else suspecting what is really inside. For instance, Judas was trusted by the disciples to the extent that they placed him in charge of their money, not realizing he was a thief.

We are called to consistent holy living, not just in public but in private. There should be no distinction between the way we act in church and the way we live at home. We should not be ashamed or afraid to be truly transparent. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

Today's Growth Principle: 

Do those who know you best know that your private life matches your public image?