What to Do When You Are Out of Joy, Peace and Hope
“This is a trust based in a God who has nothing to prove and nothing to lose, but who has already proved Himself to the point of suffering and dying on the cross because of His love for you. ”
Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Joy, peace, and hope are three marks of a Christ-follower. Have you looked around? A full year into the pandemic, I see anything but. I see a lot of despair, anxiety and discouragement. From what I see, the world is flush out of joy, peace and hope. Unless it’s hiding somewhere.
If you watch the news, you see a constant cycle of hope that keeps disappointing. Vaccines are coming. Vaccines are delayed. Numbers are going down. Virus variants are coming in. You keep hoping and you keep despairing.
You may think you have to do the work of going somewhere to get the joy, peace and hope, and no wonder you come up short. First of all, where are you going to go? Flights are cancelled to vacation destinations! Secondly, they are in short supply these days.
It’s certainly not in the news or the economy. Scripture says that it is God’s job to fill you with these things to the point of overflow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What do you do when you are out of joy, peace and hope?
Where do you come in? Trust in Him. That’s it.
Wild, brave, obedient trust is the game changer.
This is a trust not based in circumstances.
This is a trust based in a God who has nothing to prove and nothing to lose, but who has already proved Himself to the point of suffering and dying on the cross because of His love for you.
He did this so you wouldn’t have to suffer the anxiety, despair and discouragement of not knowing there is Someone who loves you and who will get you safely through this challenging circumstance and the next.
He will, in fact, get you all the way safely home, to His house, to His world, to His glory, where you could look for days and years and a lifetime and not find an ounce of despair, anxiety, or discouragement.
This is a trust that is continuously both unfolding and deepening.
“As you trust” means that every intention of trust and movement towards trust multiplies your propensity to trust. It unfolds over time, one minute, one day at a time, and deepens as you mature in your faith.
This year at Gather we are exploring the word, “Believe”.
Trust comes up as a synonym of believe and has the added expanded definition of being to place all your eggs in one basket, or gamble it all on, or lay all your money on, that or person thing you believe in.
You can put it all on the line for a God who put everything on the line for you.
It’s really hard to manufacture your own joy, peace and hope. Why? Because we mistake our happiness with true joy. Happiness comes and goes depending on our circumstances.
Joy doesn’t depend on outward circumstances but comes from within.
Peace also is deposited inside you.
Hope placed in anything external, including other people, always disappoints. We’ve learned that the hard way. But God never does disappoint. He never has, and He never will.
Why don’t you open your heart one moment, one day at a time and let the joy, peace and hope of God fill you to overflow? You have been pouring out so much. And God sees you and wants to pour into all of who He is.
All you have to do is trust that He will.
Even for the ability to trust Him, God has placed the super power of the Spirit inside you. The Holy Spirit of God is the power for everything about the Christian life. The Holy Spirit empowers ministry, strengthens faith, and gives the peace and joy that overflows in hope.
You can do absolutely nothing apart from him.
This week rather than praying for joy, peace and hope, because God has already promised that He will fill you with it, pray for the Holy Spirit to enable you, one day at a time, to fully place your trust in Him.
Watch and see what happens.
This is the year to believe. Believe in Him. And I believe in you!
Cathie