Memory Verse: Acts 27:20"When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved."
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The Word for Today devotional by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) says:
Don’t despair. ‘When the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope.’ The last thing we throw overboard when we face a crisis is -hope and when we throw that away, we’ve pretty much ‘had it’.
Are you wrestling with an issue that’s been battering you back and forth? Have you come to the point where you’ve thrown things out, and now you’re at the point of despair? Remember, the sailors on Paul’s ship ‘finally gave up all hope’ because they forgot that God was in control.
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Read More:What to do in a crisis (1)
They forgot He had a plan. And they forgot that He can inject hope into an absolutely hopeless situation. When the Bible speaks of ‘hope’ it’s not talking about luck, or chance, or accident. No, it’s talking about focused faith!
‘Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD’ (Psalm 31:24 NIV 2011 Edition). ‘The eyes of the LORD are on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the LORD he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name’ (Psalm 33:18-21 NIV 1984 Edition).
Read More: What to do in Crisis (2)
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‘Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God’ (Psalm 42:11 NIVUK 1984 Edition).
‘Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope’ (Romans 15:4 NIV 1984 Edition).
So the word for you today is: Don’t despair, but ‘Put your hope in God’.
Bible in a Year: Deut 1-3; Mark 10: 32-52;
