| Jesus Turns Your ‘Hopeless End’ into ‘Endless Hope’ |
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| By Rick Warren — May 12, 2015 |
“This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us … and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” (2 Corinthians 1:9-10 NIV)
In whatever situation you find yourself right now, what are you expecting God to do? Some of you aren’t expecting him to do anything. But God works in your life according to your expectation. That’s called faith!
Paul knew this. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1:9-10, “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us … and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us” (NIV).
This is phase 6: deliverance.
The purpose of the dead-end is to teach you to trust in God. Why does God let things get so bad and so out of control? So he can force you to learn to trust in him instead of trusting in your own ingenuity and cleverness.
What’s the promise when you trust God? He has delivered you, he will deliver you, and he will continue to deliver you. When God delivers you in this last phase, he uses three different kinds of deliverance:
- God uses circumstantial deliverance. Sometimes God miraculously alters the circumstance, and the Red Sea splits. That will happen many times in your life, but it’s not going to happen all the time.
- God uses personal deliverance. Instead of changing the circumstance, God changes you from the inside. You get a new dream, a new vision, a new attitude, and a new perspective.
- God’s ultimate deliverance is Heaven. God has not promised to remove all of your pain in this world or solve every one of your problems. Because we are on Earth, there is pain and sorrow and suffering. The ultimate deliverance will be one day in Heaven where there will be no pain, no sorrow, no suffering, and no heartache.
There is only one way to get to Heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). When you’re at a dead-end, Jesus can take thathopeless end and turn it into an endless hope.
Are you at a dead-end? I invite you to take that problem, that situation, and your own life and give them to Jesus Christ.
Talk It Over
- No matter what phase of faith you are in right now, what are you expecting God to do in your life?
- Have you trusted your life to Jesus Christ? How does that change the way you face a difficulty or dead-end in your journey of faith?
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| Today’s Scripture |
“...Let them say continually, ‘The LORD be magnified, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.’ ”
(Psalm 35:27, NASB) |
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| He Delights in Your Prosperity |
God desires that you be blessed and prosperous in all that you do! He desires that you be so blessed that you can turn around and be a blessing everywhere you go. He wants you to have so much peace, joy and victory that when other people get around you, it spills over onto them. In the Psalms, David said, “My cup runs over.” He was saying, “I’m so full of God, I’m overflowing!
Don’t settle for a barely-get-by-mentality. Jesus came so that you can live an abundant life. That means an abundance of joy, an abundance of peace, an abundance of health, an abundance of finances. You may not see it right now, and maybe you haven’t experienced it in the past, but don’t get complacent and just settle where you are. Get a vision for your future! Get a vision for what God wants to do in your life — He delights in your prosperity!
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| A Prayer for Today |
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“Father, thank You for Your hand of blessing on my life. Help me develop a vision for the abundant life You have in store and show me how to be a blessing everywhere I go in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
PS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVlSsQkY3ro |
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